man, they love to tailgate a prius

That is a fix-it ticket in some states...

 

Interesting thread. I have always had a problem with driving aggressively and taking off too fast at stoplights until I got my new Prius. Now my driving has calmed way down and I normally just set the CC to the speed limit and get 50+MPG on the straight, flat roads down here.

I have noticed more tailgaters now than in my Nissan Sentra but most people just pass to the left if they're in a hurry and I haven't run into any specific Prius hate that I know of so far.

 

I just got a blue one and have found that people will goose it hard to get around and then sit right infront of me at the light. I also have a wrangler and drive them about the same. I think it's a psychological thing where people feel a prius should always be slower.

 

For many years I did not own a car, only motorcycles. The mindset I developed was that the idiots in cars who appeared to be bent on my destruction were too stupid to be angry with, and should simply be identified early and avoided. I would urge you to adopt the same attitude.

 

I also rode motorcycles before I owned a car. I found that any communication with or acknowledgement of a tailgater only prolongs or aggravates the situation. If you play dumb and ignore them, it takes the "fun" out of being an a-hole so they just go around.

 

I may be digging up an old thread here, but it's truly astonishing how much Prius hate I've received just over the past week. For the East Coasters who said Ohio is much more relaxed, driving-wise, it may be true, but there's still the 10% or so of drivers who behave like total idiots.

The number of tailgaters you get in a Prius is absolutely ridiculous, even when I'm in the far right lane of the highway or otherwise minding my own business (sometimes even as I'm doing 5 over the speed limit).

 

I usually try to be mindful of traffic flow and not be goofy with the pulse / glide / stealth stuff when traffic is heavy. Even so, I agree that there is a psychological thing with folks who assume a Prius is going to be something that only gets in their way. Kind of like seeing that city bus ahead of you in your lane --- you just don't want it to be there.

My best economy comes during non-rush hour times where traffic isn't dictating inefficient driving behavior. But I also have been know to drive like a mad man when it suits my fancy.

 

Has this thread reached a conclusion about tailgating: Is it more prevalent when driving a Prius or are some drivers just d*&^heads?
My wife used to drive 50000km (30000 miles) as a state manager and had her fair share tailgaters and the sub-species who couldn't stand to be overtaken by anyone. BTW this was in a Citroën C5 Wagon (a what now?).
The freeway had a de facto speed limit of 120km/h (75mph).
Some drivers were "goldfish poo" (a wonderful Japanese expression for tailgater) and would stick behind her car even if she slowed to the point of travelling backwards.
Some drivers would overtake and then slow down below her speed, so she would overtake just to have the moving speed hump repeat the process. Sometimes she would turn off to a servo (gas station) or drive thru (drive thru) just to get rid of them. Since our GPS was also a log book, I could see that sometimes she hit 140km/h (87mph) to outrun them. I told her to have the Police non-emergency line 131444 (311?) on the phone to report the other driver so that it was easier to explain the speed camera fines... but that fortunately never happened.

So based on one case study from a different vehicle I'd say that if you drive a lot on the same long stretch of road for a several years, you are bound to encounter some d*&^heads.

I haven't noticed tailgating especially since driving the Prius. Canberra is notorious for rear-end collisions because of relatively high road speeds and general lack of attention. Our previous 2 cars had suffered that fate. The split rear screen makes it difficult for me to see turn signals of other cars from my high vantage point.

Good to see comments from some that the Prius has made you a calmer driver; it certainly has me. Made my wife a less calm passenger however when I drive gently and slowly and with little relation to the speed limit when there's no other traffic. (She switches off ECO mode when she drives!)

 

Off topic, but switching ECO mode off (going back to "Normal" mode) does not seem to impact mpg in my experience. It's been suggested it does change A/C behaviour, and that might slightly improve MPG.

But apart from that, I think if you've got a light touch on the gas pedal there's no real difference. I found ECO's gas pedal response just too slow: it almost makes you tromp harder, trying to get a response. At least for me, throttle response in Normal is more what I'd expect.

 

Living in SoCal we deal with all kinds of traffic and crazy impatient drivers. I do notice a difference when driving the Prius vs. my other car. I notice more people tailgating me in the Prius and giving me dirty looks. It's not like I'm driving below the posted speed limit. I'm usually driving the speed limit or a few mph over.

 

I have had my Prius for 4 weeks and I do notice the tailgaters. Yesterday, I drove 1.5 miles on the battery with an SUV tailgating. When I turned on my street I though that he used 30 cents worth of gas in the last 1.5 miles and I used 0 cents! What a good thought.

 

I also drag a 30 foot fifth wheel trailer from time to time during the summer, I get a lot of tailgaters when I am trying to go up some of the hills going to the lake. I figure it just isn't their lucky day, that's all. Guess we could all get us some of the bumper stickers that say " I may be slow, but I am ahead of You". I feel if I am going the speed limit or over, I have to apologize to nobody, if they want to get mad, too bad.

Arkie

 

I've read that this happens to Prius owners and I don't understand why there is so much hatred of Prius??? This makes me glad I drive a 2002 Prius which nobody ever seems to recognize as a Prius.
I do not understand the hatred. Made in Japan? So what? it may get the american carmakers off their butts someday - 20 years after the first Prius's maybe- to make a 50mpg car of their own! Too slow? Chill out! Too many assholes out their in a big f'ing hurry. Traffic is NOT a race! Sorry but this pisses me off and I start ranting!

 

I have not personally noticed this while driving the Prius in the past month +. You get the occasional tailgaters regardless of the car.

What I do notice is many Prius owners not staying with the traffic flow -- I don't know if they are purposely doing this for the MPG or if they have the car in ECO -- not understanding that they are slowing down and speeding up. The Prius is more difficult to maintain speed on the highway in ECO - not sure. But it is very annoying when you have someone in the middle of a three lane road going too slow ... plus dangerous.

I do know that when I'm driving out to my weekend place and the road is about to go down to one lane -- I don't want to be behind a Subaru or a Prius for the next 12 miles.

 

You're kidding, aren't you?

The Prius has no more of a problem staying at a specific speed (using cruise control, or maybe your foot only) than any other vehicle I've ever driven. I find that ECO is perfectly acceptable for almost all of my driving, except when I need to pass someone or merge quickly into traffic (thank goodness for power mode).

And, even when I'm going 8 over the speed limit, they STILL tailgate me -- it can't be because I am somehow impeding traffic. I think it's because they want to be jerks or are in a big hurry (and some of them get pulled over a few minutes later.)

 

The more expensive gas is, the less of that I see. The opposite, I tailgate some pickups that crawl to save some gas.

However, the rare times I'm behind a Prius driver afraid to cross the mid point on HSI is annoying.

 

pickups that crawl are good . speeding prius is bad
slow = better

 

Last night I was on the highway doing 70 (in a 65) in the middle lane. Traffic was not bad at all. I had something worse than a tail hater. I had a van come up behind me at high speeds, go to the inside to pass me, and flew by me litterally an inch from hitting me, and then cut me back off. He could have passed me easily in the passing lane, and it wasn't like I was doing 10 under the speed limit (which is no excuse for his behavior anyway)

However, I was in my Town & Country. The fact is that there are a lot of jerks on the raod that don't care about anyone else. they get behind the shell and vent their frustrations in their lives out on everyone with the anonymity of being a driver. I can only hope that karma catches up with them.

If I had been alone, I likely would have pursued him, gotten his plate and called the cops. But this isisnt Prius-specific. I observe this behavior all the time and it happens to me a lot and I am not a slow driver by any stretch. Heck, just look how often people don't use their turn signals!! I estimate only 10-20% of the folks use their turn signals on my daily commute.

 

No I'm not kidding .... the Prius when in ECO requires more driver input to keep it going 70mph on the highway. The car slows down at every hill - in ECO you must push the peddle much more than an average car to keep it at speed.

If you only drive a Prius -- maybe you get used to it .... but I see this every day on the highway. It is not the car .....it is the driver.

The other thing -- hatchbacks always look like the car behind is closer than they would be if you were driving a sedan -- people say the same thing when they drive my station wagon.

 

Prius's 0-60mph is 10 or 11 sec amd most vehicles will get 7-8 sec considering the transmission is continuous with the prius. It's a common occurence for me when I enter the highway. I don't mind them though and I just make sure I turn off Eco mode so it won't piss them off. I think this has been stated in the manual to use power mode. But we love to save gas. It's addictive.