4th generation coming 2015!

It's all in how you treat them. The fumes really don't matter unless its an old diesel. Do you honk? Do you tailgate which is dangerous? Do you give room when you pass. Do you give the finger for someone just riding their bike (they were taking a lane, but it is two lane road, riding on the shoulder is dangerous.

It seems that driver did everything wrong, and in the comments section this seems to happen with a lot of prius drivers. Me I've noticed some of the hate, but I also notice a lot more when prius drivers are driving badly (too slow for a lane, too close to bikes, etc). Survey in the Bay area showed prius drivers were more likely than average to drive badly near pedestrians. I haven't noticed the pedestrian thing here, and lots of rude entitled car drivers when it comes to anti-bike attitude. I was going to defend prius drivers in the thread, as not being like that woman with the peace sign bumper sticker, but the middle finger out for cyclists, but others had done it before me. I don't think driving a prius makes people more rude when driving, but we do have a lot of rude drivers that chose a prius, and the car stands out.

 

interesting. i see both sides of it here. there's a lot of talk about drivers respecting bikers, but i have experienced rude and dangerous behavior from bikers, with no provocation. it's a two way street.

 

When I used to bike to work (when I lived closer and had no kids), I got to see it all first hand.

IMO, it's usually not that car drivers are specifically mean to cyclists, but more that they simply can't see them. And from what I've noticed, a lot of cyclists don't make it easy for drivers to see them. An awful lot of cyclists don't ride defensively enough IMO. Instead, they'd just rather get mad at drivers whenever anything happens or comes close to happening, regardless of whose fault it is.

---

BTW, not a biker but a pedestrian:

Just the other day I was going about 65 km/hr in a 60 zone, in the city. There was some woman standing on a median in the middle of this 6-lane roadway. At the last minute she decides to run into the road. I slammed on the brakes and stopped short of her by just a few feet. Wth?!?

It turns out she saw her bus on the other side of the street and made a run for it. After she realized she was still alive, she just kept on running across the street across the next two lanes to catch her bus.

 

+1, and why would you dress into those hard to see multicolor team jerseys? it isn't a race. Put something one color bright, better yet reflective vest. 0.5sec in driver's reaction time could mean life or death for cyclist. And how about not running red lights and stop signs?

Said that when I commuted on bicycle I had people intentionally riding me off the road or trying to block b/c they were irritated to see bike moving at the same speed or faster than them.

 

I don't like those team jerseys but mainly because I think they look cheesy. I do like the material though, and own some shirts like them, but more plain looking. The material wicks away sweat much better. Some of the good ones, besides being bright, also have some reflective components to them. I also put reflectors on my bike and helmet, but some people don't like them because they think they look stupid.

Well, yeah they do look stupid, but as you said, this isn't a race. This is commuting in city traffic, so who cares.

Wow, that's harsh. I have never had that happen to me.

 

Oh I replied to a comment about "striking fear in the heart of rednecks" to talk about the negative attitudes some people have toward the prius. A lot of it is plain wrong, but its not just rednecks that don't like the prius.

Some of the legitimate problem is demographics, somehow prius attacks some people that simply are rude drivers with hippy bumper stickers, as I recently heard about in one of my groups (social cycling). But I included a Chicago tribune article from about a year ago about negative prius attitudes,
Prius pushback: Hybrid inspires some hatred - Chicago Tribune

So one thing toyota should do when it releases the gen IV is try to broaden the demographics

They mention advertising, but I think they have done a poor job with that so far, but .... maybe on the next gen prii.

So we have styling as a possible next gen improvement (it has looked mainly the same for 2 generations or 12 years), that includes interior and exterior, and toyota may be doing this. But efficiency is important so the new looks will probably as aerodynamic if not more.

Looks like lower tco is more important to the buyers than being lower in emissions than a camry though. That probably should tell toyota marketing that we don't need that hippy dippy crap they have been traditionally doing for the prius.

 

They make/sell reflective tape in different colors, so you can pick one which matches your bike the best. I always had the light and blinky mounted, just in case, even if you are absolutely sure you'd be back before dark.

Well you can't win so you just ignore it. (At least what I did).

I had seen bike messengers with cut down baseball bet which they had used to smash windows with. Some carry bottle with urine to spray on cabbies through rolled down window, or so I was told

But most of the time the best way to avoid issues to pick safer route if there is one.

 

Someone have a stop watch to see how long this lasts?

 

red flag.. anyone?

 

BTW, the 2001 Prius and 2001 white iBook attracting the pretty girls post is 100% true.

I guess back then the Prius was a real anomaly, a groundbreaker (aside from the Insight), and 99% of laptops were ugly black boxy plastic things. Make it a white Mac with a few curves and the girlz are all over it.

Ah... those were the days...

The only other thing that I purchased that got me that much interest were an iPhone 3G (the first model in Canada), and a motorcycle.

Oh and babies and pets I guess.

 

hit the stopwatch! i'm guessing they were more interested in you than the prius, i have never gotten anything but dirty looks,

 

I think it may be regional we have rednecks (their wives) driving Prii around here - no prob. It is a mainstream car here; may be different in TX.

IMHO instead trying to tailor Prius to everyones tastes they should start cranking out prettier cars, and get HSD in their common models like Corolla and Camry. Well they have hybrid Camry, but the ski pass through is a joke it needs to be done properly. And BTW the prius haters gonna hate it just b/c it says Prius. If you put Prius sticker on F150 it will be the same; just saying.

The TCO (gas mostly but the timing belt/brakes too) was the reason for us in '09 and again 6 years later. Did not care for looks, bought for MPG, but end up liking the cargo space. Would have been much happier if it only drove like Mazda.

 

the camry problem is more about price than trunk size and pass through. not enough people are willing to pay the hybrid premium, it doesn't matter what you put it in. you get a pretty darn nice camry for under 20k with great mileage.

 

Thread crossover!!!

 

If gen 4 Prius really is based on Toyota HR Concept,then that would mean bad news for me .
I think I have never seen a car more ugly !

 

The reference to that vehicle was not in quotes, so hopefully not true. Visual aid (fainted hearted look away):

 

I disagree !
I think there's a clear difference between gen 2 and gen 3 .
Outside and especially inside !

 

^The front end especially.

 

Yeah, the flying bridge.