I pissed off an SUV driver today, unintentionally...

Maybe it is me but driving for me involves plenty of stop and go on the interstate and your typical suburban local roads. Nothing that exciting

 

No, it's not only you. Most of my daily commute is also quite uneventful. Sometimes I even set the cruise control on 60mph+1. But this is like Facebook, what you see is just the highlights from our cumulative equally boring drives .

 

Well, I've heard that it prolongs the electric motour and battery to drive it under 70mph during break in and to fluctuate speeds as well. At least that's what the service tech told me, I don't know if it's true. But I do know that in the owner's manual somewhere it says the break in period is 600 miles I think. I think you're probably fine though, half the time newer cars don't really need to be broken in as much compared to older cars.

 

I'm still going to baby mine till 2K, only a few hundred left ::scratches right foot::

 

Me too. But for other eager drivers, let them have at it (at their own risk of course).

 

Not to say the other driver wasn't out of line, but it depends on the situation - in a parking lot it's okay, at an intersection with lights, it's not. Pulling away in regular EV is just poking along and if you do it in regular traffic, all you're doing is holding people up which can be perceived as being rude. Even when I use the EV button, cars in front of me will pull away from me when the light turns green so anything less is too slow. What irks me is when I see a hypermiler trying to save a couple cents on gas at the expense of everyone else around them. We have to remember we all share the road together!

 

Here in Washington, there are many local roads 2-3 lanes with bicycles permitted to travel and take up the entire right lane. They are also required to stop at lights and signs, so a Prius taking off with EV is pretty comparable. Passing a slow vehicle or a bicycle is part of driving. It takes minimal effort and sometimes enjoyable . I think sharing the road means to be considerate with all driver types on both sides of the extreme. If it was a one lane road, that's a whole other issue.

 

Generally agree - nothing wrong IF you're not affecting others around you. It's when driving too slow, or doing something that other drivers are not expecting, meaning you're disrupting the flow/speed of the general traffic around you is just being inconsiderate unless a cyclist or pedestrian or other valid reason exists. When I'm alone at an intersection I'll take my time pulling away since the only flow of traffic is me. But if I'm turing a corner from a stop sign and pulling out in front of someone, I'll generally get up to speed so they don't have to slow down below the speed limit. It's all about being reasonable and using common sense - now if we can just get people to understand what common sense means...

 

I'm sure it's acceptable to you but not to 99+% of the drivers. You forget that Prius is NOT an electric car. ICE is for acceleration and high speed driving, EV is for slow driving on parking lot. Taking it slow on green light simply means few people behind you are going to make that left turn. Once I got a ticket because a slow poke was deliberately taking his time turning left and I was caught with red light in the middle of the intersection while following the idiot. Thanks to people like you all prius drivers are hated and stereotyped.

 

The weird thing is....why so many people that dislike Prius, think they have a right to voice that opinion to the person that drives and owns a Prius.

There are a LOT of vehicles I witness on the road and in the world around me that I dislike for a variety of reasons. But whether they are driving ahead of me, behind me, aside me, or parked in a parking lot, I don't feel it's my right or business to confront the driver or owner and let them know how much I dislike their vehicle.

Listen, honestly, I've been impatient and occasionally gotten behind a Prius that I thought was going too slow. But that's about where my thinking about the situation starts and ends. If I don't like it, I carefully and safely move to pass.

And that's the exact same attitude I would have about the situation if it were a Prius or a BMW. And to me? I've probably been behind more "Sports" cars that are moving slow by choice of the drivers than Prius. It's actually MORE frustrating to me to be behind a vehicle designed to go 0-60 in less than 6 seconds, that for no apparent reason is being driven like the driver is a Grampa recovering from prostrate surgery, than it is to be behind a Prius that is being driven conservatively.

But there seems to be something about "Prius" that makes Non Prius people think they MUST demonstrate or voice their displeasure about the vehicle.

 

You might be right here. I don't want to sound too paranoid, but I always suspected that big oil companies worked very hard behind the scenes to discredit hybrid cars. We all know about the Hummer is better than Prius "study". There could have been a whole lot of astroturfing involved to turn the Joe-six-pack away from efficient cars. The same way big oil worked hard to discredit global warming and succeeded for the majority of clueless population.

 

Must be something in the air lately...

Yesterday I was rolling 50 in a 35 on a back country road. A piece of junk old S10 Blazer was flying up behind me so when I had a chance, I pulled over and let him go. A mile later, now 60 in a 45... A Trailblazer rolls up behind me. No place to pull over again so I said screw it and hit the Power button, 75 in a 45 and the only thing slowing me are the crap oem Yokohamas, idiot now on my bumper. So we catch the first SUV whose riding another bumper. So, I'm now the middle of an @sshole sandwich with nowhere to go. Idiot behind me just couldn't accept a Prius and now 2 others in front of him. Unreal. When I had a chance and a place, I pulled over and showed him he was #1. He stopped in the middle of the road as I pulled back out but then changed his mind and we all went our merry way. Redneck intelligence at it's best. I wish I had the car lowered and the 17s, could've been more enjoyable for a minute or two.

 

I totally agree. Every time I see a Hummer, as an environmentalist, I want to punch something. But I don't freak out or get mad (unless they piss me off directly) and so I don't get why Prius is scapegoated. OH GOD FORBID I HELP SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT AND CONSUME LESS PETROL! HOW DARE I! LOL. People have issues. Seriously? Our country (USA) consumes enough petroleum as is, must we add more pointless vehicles to it? There has been a proven statistic (lol oxymoron much?) that shows how the increase in obesity in America is leading to larger cars being purchased. So you can imagine the amount of SUVs and trucks being put on the road. The part that pisses me off is that they think they have some god-given right to consume all the natural resources. I see so many SUVs, Hummers, Trucks, etc. that have just ONE person in them and it makes me so annoyed. It's like not only is it bad for environment, it's bad for our country to consume so much oil, AND TRAFFIC CONGESTION! Imagine how freer the roads would be if people in SUVs and Trucks just STOPPED the B.S. Trucks were made for lugging things around, I've only ever seen maybe 1 or 2 trucks in my whole life lugging heavy stuff around a car couldn't. And the whole argument that they might only drive a few blocks a day and thus consume less petrol than a Prius longterm is such a lie. This is AMERICA. We drive EVERYWHERE. Don't give me those B.S. lines. I can't stand the rudeness from SUV and Truck drivers. I have noticed that smaller cars like other Hybrids, Honda Fits, subcompacts, etc. are much more forgiving and more courteous. Maybe SUV and Truck drivers think because they have more horsepower and a larger engine that gives them the right to run others off the road.

 

On the freeway I am often in between Wolfpacks, simply by doing the speed limit. It's not safe to confront an aggressive driver, he could be carrying a gun and on drugs. Let him go ahead. He will get it in the end.

 

Agreed, it is better not to confront them, but when cornered don't assume all Prius drivers are mellow and unarmed

 

Good point.

 

I had a guy tailgating me in his SUV right before Christmas. I slowed down so he'd pass me (perfect total clear lane open right next to us). He got closer. Finally at the red light I rolled down my window and he rolled down his. I have really dark tinted windows so he was probably expecting some pretty boy or a chick (warning: broad sweeping generalization). As soon as my window got halfway down, I was already going at him. He looked shocked and goes "uh uh uh was I... was I following that close?" I said "YEAH you were driving like a total a**hole! If I had to stop for anything, you'd be crawling up my freakin back!!" I said Merry effing Christmas and started to roll my window back up and he apologized!

I dont EVER confront other drivers but that one day, all the stars were aligned and everything just rolled off my tongue. I drove away and started cracking up laughing. You ever have those times where you wished you had said/done something differently? This wasnt one of those - I felt I said everything exactly how I wanted it to be said. And that the guy apologized to me, when he had probably be geared up to give me a butt chewing was SOOOO self serving. hahaha

 

holy crap is that a mp5? lol

 

YES! I have similar experiences, however, more often because I am a New Yorker and we don't keep calm, we are loud. Today in front of Lowes a guy in an Escalade started crawling up the back of my car. I was like, ok, it's a parking lot and there are pedestrians, Wth. Then he gets so close I think she is going to hit me. He then beeps. So I say screw this, grab my titanium baseball bat that I keep in the car, roll down the window, pull it out and say, "do you really want to f*ck with me today?" he literally put the car in reverse and sat there in his car just staring surprised. haha people really do get taken aback when Prius drivers defend themselves. I love it!

 

This is so true. The judgement of science is upon us all! People say Global Warming is controversial, I say hell no! You ARE entitled to your own opinions, you are NOT entitled to your own facts! But of course, the Sheeple would prefer to just be ignorant and mindless! I have a great video you all should see of this idiot pissing a lady in a Prius off and THEN making HER look bad because she let it rip.

This guy is an IDIOT!!!!