how often do you try to beat people off the line?

How to leave someone at the light in your Prius.

Don't let them know they are in a race.

 

I very much prefer a very well timed light, passing them with silent finesse rather than power.

 

I indulge similarly on occasion. This weekend I overtook someone in a Dodge Charger R/T on a 2 lane road because I was in a hurry and he was tooling along. He was so angry when he saw what I was driving.

 

1) I believe that the Prius gets great steady state MPG, and poor accelerating MPG, I try to get the acceleration over with quickly. So I am often brisk off the line.

2) My contractor drives a Ford diesel pickup, I once was at a light next to him and 'raced'. I was careful to just keep up, not 'beat' him.

 

Do it all the time in EV Mode....just kidding.

I do it when someone who has been tail gating me is behind me. Zooming away, making them the guy holding up traffic, seems to keep them from tailgating. If they are beside me, I'd as soon they just get ahead of me.

 

"How often"? It happens almost always. I often have to pause and look to see who is running the light that they are waiting for! The best is sometimes they go flying by me down the road, only to get caught by a cop or photo radar.

Prius "bait car"?

 

I am like Jimbo and accelerate briskly off the line so I can get up to speed quickly and then glide where possible or at least steady speed. It is not unusual to beat the car beside me off of the line. It is amusing to see their looks when they realize a Prius is leading them. Some, not all, will immediately accelerate and pass.

 

Actually the people where I live drive fast. I have to accelerate briskly just to keep from pissing anyone off. I do not routinely beat anyone off of the line, nor attempt to do so, but occassionally do.

For the way that I drive the brisk acceleration works better for me to get up to speed quickly and then glide quicker or get to steady state driving.

 

The pulse requires short powerful burst of engine power. This is usually faster then most people's acceleration. I often accelerate fast as well. There is still a very real stigma of the Prius being slow. When they see one not just keeping up with traffic but doing it with no effort, it slowly degrades that stereotype.

 

The Prius is actually a fairly quick car from zero to about 20-mph all things considered, but it shouldn't be confused with a sports car.
Yeah...if you have a moron behind you at an intersection, you might be able to catch them asleep at the switch, and it's pretty fun as far as that goes. A vehicle with a proper traction control system will be able to dash away from the light when the streets are wet, leaving a muscle car spinning its wheels furiously trying to get a toe hold on some asphalt.
A G3 is also not speed limited (at least not until you get well past 100 mph) so you're also able to outrun many vehicles with several times more BHP, many of which are electronically governed at about 90.
Racing is one of those deceptively complex tasks that involve a lot more strategy that just spending six-figures on a bunch of horsepower , pointing the car in the right direction, and pressing the "go" button.
Of course it's easy to "win a race" when you're the only one who knows that there is actually a race in progress... It's also easy to surprise folks when Priuses are thought (incorrectly in many cases) to be a rolling hazard to automotive navigation, driven by "one of those people."
Prejudices are a real pain in the stern sometimes....

 

I pick on the Bubba's in their pickup trucks occasionally. It's a bit easier in the rental Prii as they don't have the heavy wheel/tires my Plus Perf has so they are quicker off the line. It would be so neat to have full read/write access to the computers so the electric motor torque limiting could be turned down to allow the Prii to get better 0-60 times

I bought my Prius to have a cool looking Hybrid that gets good mpg's. I don't care about hypermiling as my Plus Perf package will never get those high figures

Mike

 

People cut me off every single morning 10 to 15 mph over the 40 mph speed limit.

I bet I pay more taxes for the road than those idoits, I am driving speed limit with two kids and I reserve my rights to drive on the road.

LT26i ? 2

 

It's a Prius thing. For whatever reason idiots just have to tailgate a Prius or cut them off. Don't let it bug you as they are the ones that will look like an old fart earlier from self induced stress.

Mike

 

I haven't tried beating anyone off the line. While I hear that we have decent 0 - 30 mph acceleration, I'm not overly interested in testing it out. As far as acceleration goes, even if I'm halfway in the power band range, I'm "underaccelerating" 90% of the people in my area (especially if merging onto the highway).

What would be fun would be the Prius Nitro pack. Get the car to 20 - 30 mph and then hit the Nitro. The car would spin the tires, stick out its tongue, make a "Beep Beep" sound, and then blast away lifting the asphalt off the ground.

 

I don't see any advantage to coming off of a stop light and poking along. It's disrespectful to everyone else and potentially dangerous, with no practical advantage as far as I can tell.

I also watch the crosswalk signs so generally know exactly when the light will go green. Then I accelerate briskly (not flooring it), and easing up appropriately. If I'm really leaving the car behind me in the dust, I'll throttle back sooner.

On the whole, I pass more cars than pass me, and I'm not the one holding up the pack, and I still got 48 MPG (actual) over the first year when I bothered to keep track of it.

 

There is a time & place for Hypermiling or going with the flow of traffic or driving like a bat out of hell. A non-Plus Perf Prius will still get 40 something mpg driving it like you stole it

Mike