Road Rage

Welcome to the internet.

 

Tony, you need to be the first Priuschatter to install a pair of truck nutz on your car. $15 and 5 minutes with a screwgun will take care of the problem. If that doesn't work 100% try painting them fluorescent orange in case people can't see them too good from way up there. You can compensate for the mileage hit by going up about 1/2 LB on your tire pressure.

 

I suggest that "if you can't beat them, join them!"

By that I mean drive your Prius in PWR mode like a sporty car, and nobody will tailgate you again (or they actuall can't, even if they want to). That's what I've been doing and I actually got a thumbs up from a Mustang driver once.

I know, I know, someone is going to thump his nose at me saying I'm gonna get 20mpg, send my Prius to repair every other week, blah, blah, blah. Many postings here have already dismissed this simplistic viewpoint and I don't even want to waste my energy to answer this anymore, so please don't waste yours.

I don't mean you just drive like a jerk and expect to get high mpg. You'd still have to use hypermiling techniques. I drive (somewhat) agressively, gets 57 mpg, and nobody knows I'm hypermiling. You can have the cake and eat it too, you know? I consider this a win-win situation. You don't just get them off your back; you might even get some admiration, like: "Wow, look at that Prius go. I never thought a Prius can do that! Did that guy mod his Prius or what?"

BTW, I don't mean you should tailgate other cars in return. Just go with the flow, show them something when not affecting others. Don't challenge others and create road rage.

Happy Priusing!

 

Have you ever driven a real sports car? The Prius is not a quick car no mater what mode you put it in.

Your Power mode crusade is rather amusing. Just let people drive the way they want to drive.

 

I am so used to being tailgated, honked at, yelled incoherent stuff at, cut off, etc., that I just paste a huge grin on my face as they pass by.
Some days, I grin so much, I know that I'll get even more wrinkles.

Yes, they're always looking for a fight.
I win, 'cause I'm not gonna give it to 'em.

Then I check my MPG-meter-reader one more time .... "61.6 @ 412 mi."
Yup, life is good.

 

(I know you weren't talking to me, but I'll comment anyway --- )

I had an MG Midget & Austin-Healey Sprite 'back in the day.'
But for the last 5 years, my '90 Miata has been a surrogate-MG. (Meaning, it's super-reliable, the one quality lacking in those others)

I drive it like a Prius, top-down, enjoying the clear blue sky, courteous & careful, shifting the 5-spd (ok, that's not like a Prius), smiling & waving my hat at the honkers, my bicycle hooked on the rear. ....

And all of a sudden, I'm hypermiling the Miata. 42 MPG on a 12-gal. tank. (Manufacturer sticker says "25/30"). Not bad for a 20 yr. old sports-car.

(and here come the comments that a Miata, based on the old Mazda GLC, isn't a sports-car).

 

The quickness of most cars, including the little Chevy Aveo, and of course, the Prius, depends a lot on how hard you step on it. I'm talking about keeping with traffic kinda quickness, not street racing kinda quickness (which I definitely do not condone). Please do not quote other people's posts out of context.

Road rages are mostly triggered by emotional drivers who may have some personal issues and looking for scapegoats. I'm just suggesting that we don't give them the chance to use us as scapegoats.

So my friendly suggestion to the op about driving in PWR mode to deal with tailgaters is, according to you, a "Power mode crusade", while your "ECO mode can handle everything" attitute is not a crusade?

Your "amusing" really mean "annoying", right? Just like the tailgaters feel that Prius drivers are "annoying" and they go into Road Rage because other people does not drive like them. Well, if I'm annoying because I don't suggest the same opinion as yours, that I should shut up or risk being banned? Do I sense some kind of "Chat Rage" here, folks?

May I humbly suggest, sir, that you "Just let people chat the way they want to chat"?

 

You won't get any from me. Most of the old British sports cars had their roots in mundane British sedans. Triumph TR2,3 and 4 used an engine that was originally from a tractor. The Brit cars were much closer to their mundane sedan roots than a Miata ever was.

 

I just had my own out-of-the-blue experience of road rage a couple of hours ago from a rusty Ford minivan driver. I was stopped at a red light waiting for it to turn green so I can turn left to a side street from a main road, with nobody behind me. Just about one second b4 the light turned green, a rusty old Ford minivan (before the Freestar, I don't even remember what it's called) pulled up behind me with its engine racing. Right at the moment when the light turned green (about one second after he stopped), I step on the gas immediatedly and was hugely surprised by his blasting horn from the back. He then swerved his Ford out wirh screeching tires to the opposite lane, flipped his finger at me and passed me in the intersection and swerve back cutting me off and literally blew black smoke from his tailpipe to my face, and disappeared two blocks down the road turning somewhere else like a hurricane.

Here's the question: Was he
1. drunk or on drugs?
2. hurrying to look for a washroom cause he was going to piss his pants any moment?
3. the kind of person who just HATE PRIUS DRIVERS?
4. ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!

 

Empowered by vehicles that do zero to sixty in under 10 seconds instead of 15.

 

Agreed, but may I add: also by vehicles that do 0 to 60 in OVER 15. So let's just do 0 to 60 in, hmm, maybe between 12 to 13, which is I guess just about everbody does on the road. Ahh, what a coincidance, the GenIII Prius can "only" do it in 10 point something. Don't floor it, guys, or you'll trigger a road rage with your 0 to 60 in 10...ish.

 

You are the one who said drive it like a sporty car. The mental image that conjures for anyone who has indeed actually driven such cars looks nothing like a Chevy Aveo pulling away from a stop in a normal manner nor is it the image conveyed by advertisers when they call a car "sporty". Nice backpedal but you chose the words, not me.

This is another part of your crusade. I'm curious to know what all your opinions regarding road rage are derived from? Do you regularly see Prius owners pulled out of their cars and beaten up on the side of the road because they didn't use Power mode?

I don't have a crusade or an agenda other than calling you out when you post one of your irrational tirades. Personally I don't care what mode a Prius driver uses unlike yourself who decided to spam the forum with tirades about the PWR button and road rage crap.

Nah, I wouldn't suggest that you be banned for your crusade. Instead I will just continue to be amused by your irrational behavior, your tireless crusade to save Prius drivers from road rage incidents and liberate the :hail: almighty Power Mode button!

 

Or maybe OFF his drugs.

 

My 2006 Prius does not have a Pwr button. I am now concerned that I will be the target of Road Rage for not driving in Power Mode. How can I avoid this catastrophe?

Tom

 

I'm not crusading for PWR mode. I'm crusading for accelerating your Prius (pulse) crisply keeping with the flow of traffic. I just think that the PWR mode facilitates this crisp acceleration the best. If your Prius does not have the PWR mode, simply step on it (no need to FLOOR it, I hope).

I experimented with the ECO mode many times and found that it has its good use in parking lots, side streets with 40 km/h (30mph) speed limits, your own driveway, etc, but not for "normal" driving in heavy traffic. You'd have to FLOOR it most of the time or you'd impede traffic and may trigger road rage.

Most road rages are triggered by slow acceleration, not neccessary cruising speed (the op stated that he drove above speed limit but still became the victim of road rage). It's the perception of slowness that ticks off those who may have psycological problems and have not graduated from anger-management classes.

I also think that the visual image of the tear-drop/bullet shape of the Prius makes people subconciously relate it to sporty cars; yet the fact that most Prii on the road accelerate whimpily contradicts extremely with their subconcious assumption. This may have a hand on triggering these road rages too. Are there any psycologists in our chat forum here?

 

Thank you very much for sparing me from the guillotine. I also thank you very much for confirming that you are continuously amased, not annoyed by my "tireless crusade". I hope my "crusade" does open up your mind, if for just a little bit.

BTW, I learned a lot from hypermilers like yourself on the internet in my 30+ years of driving. I may be a "junior" member here in this Prius chat forum, but I'm not a junior member of the society, nor a junior member of hypermilers. I developed my own Power Pulse/Cruise Control/Neutral Glide hypermiling technique in my 15 years of driving the Honda Civic which had a EPA rating of 8 L/100km (29.4 mpg) and attained 7L/100 km (33.6 mpg); and my EPA rated 13.3 L/100km Caravan got me 12 L/100km average.

I'm SOOOO delightly that I finally take the plunge and purchased the Prius (made a BIG dent in my retirement fund account) and approaching 4L/100km/h (59 mpg) with my Power Pulse/Cruise Control/Neutral Glide technique. I am having the cake and eating it too.

Thank you, thank you very much.

 

Thank you for your praise. The op started this chat about how to handle road rage, I'm glad I'm allowed to put in my 2 cents.

Thank you again.

 

I don't know when Danny is going to add those sarcasm flags. I really need them.

Tom

 

Let's just get this one thing straight. I'm not a hypermiler. After a decade+ of racing I am just now able to put MPG above 1/4 times on my priority list. lol I completely understand your point and parts of it are valid. I just disagree how far you take it.

2000 Trans Am (heads/cam/nitrous Best:11.12@123mph)

2000 GMC Z71 (cam/turbo best:12.33@110mph)

2000 C5 Vette auto (exhaust. best: 12.5@111mph)

My buddy's race team

Despite my messing with you, I am glad you're here and happy you bought a Prius.