Don't Believe Prius Owners Get Respect On Road

Gas is $3.50 a gallon, so where is the "obvious financial advantage?" There is none. Nor is there an environmental advantage. Its been proven that a gallon saved by a Prius owner is burned up by that F250 Quad Cab passing you in the right lane (because all you are doing by saving a gallon of gas is reducing demand, which holds down the price at the pump, which allows Quad Cab driver to put the pedal to the metal.) Driving a Prius is a social statement, and a poor one at that. My Prius has been the victim of two "Prius hate crimes" as we call them here in Central Florida: an arrow shot into my left rear tire, and a smashed out right rear light lens both accompanied by Prius hate words keyed into the paint. And really, the gas mileage benefit is also cult Kool-Aid. Prius owners will never admit you could take any vehicle and put lawn mower tires on it, make the sheet metal so thin you can't lean against the car without denting it, de-power it so it can barely get out of its own way, weaken it it so much you cannot drive over a speed bump without throwing the alignment out of whack, and otherwise strip it of all joy -- and Voila you have 40 mpg. Which brings up another dirty little secret -- shhhh! --- the mpg drops a few every year as the battery deteriorates. My 2007 is down to 31 mpg at 90,000 miles, despite numerous trips to the Toyota dealer. They day I am rid of my Prius will be one of the happiest days of my life. I will never drive another Toyota. Have nice flowery day!

 

Sorry, I should have qualified my opinion with YMMV.
I generally weigh in a number of factors when making a purchase, MPG is by no means the #1 thing for me, but its sure nice and does make a dent in the overall lifetime cost, at least in my situation where gas is around $5.90 per gallon. Anything comparably sized to my prius v would be getting half or a third of the mpg I get in "my local driving" which consists, for the most part, of sitting in lineups of traffic and waiting for red lights to turn green.
Heck even a smart car or chevy spark would be struggling to get 25mpg in these conditions and would by no means meet my other needs/wants in a car.
Ok so there may not be an obvious financial advantage for most people, obviously "not" in your case, but there is for a lot of people. I'm fortunate to live in a more tolerant neighbourhood so have never been exposed to these hate crimes you speak of directed at a "car", that is unfortunate and i can understand if that happened to me i would question if it was worth driving a prius and endangering my life. In the end its just a car.

 

I think you are in the minority here. Lot's of '07 Prii (and older) are on the roads today and most are still getting great mpg. Yes. The battery will eventually degrade. That's a given. There's plenty of threads in the Gen 2 forum about this. Owner's need to plan ahead for eventual problems with their aging cars. It just happens that the rest of the car will outlive the battery.

With regards to the Prius hate you experienced, You are waaayyy in the minority here. I think that maybe you live/work in a bad neighborhood - OR - perhaps one gets treated by the way we treat others... I think that there is more to your story.

Have a dandy day!!

 

I agree with you.

For me, since I drive a Prius , I'm more "zen" on road. I try to keep right line by respect for those who drive corectly.

In few years, the majority of the car on road will be electric or hybrid and then, the habits will change also.

But in Carolina's and Georgia, I drive only in right lane because everybody are on the left line

 

I can understand the right lane/left lane frustration. I generally am not in a hurry, and leave plenty of time to get to where i need to go, cruise with traffic in the right lane. But occasionally I am running late and appreciate it when "slow drivers" stay out of the left lane so i can pass! IMO most left lane hogs are just oblivious to whats going on around them, not intentionally trying to aggravate or "force the speed limit" on others, the same people who forget to turn their signal light off after they change lanes(or maybe most drivers in vancouver are just old or high on weed ). Doesn't help, at least in Canada, the signage on a multi lane freeways usually just says slower traffic keep right, thereby some assume they are going "fast enough" so they just ride the left lane. Should be, keep right except to pass.

 

I've had my 2013 Prius 3 since Halloween and find that I am driving much faster than I realize...rather quickly! She has some get up and go, way more than I anticipated! I have learned how to drive her, and am not gunning the gas. I like to believe other drivers are jealous

 

that will also be the day the prius will be happy again.

i hope this prius will soon be free again.....

 

My 2008 has 120k on and last tank was 54.5mpg. Lifetime average of 45mpg. You are doing plenty of things wrong.

 

Ah, you're full of it. Consumer Reports tested a 2002 prius with over 200k miles on original battery to find it got only 1 or 2 MPGs less than a fresh car of same model year.

40 MPG? Seriously? How could one get a Prius (liftback) down to 40 MPG? Lower tires to 15 PSI all around? Drive in 20F weather year around??

Not going to argue the stripping of joy statement, yeah, it could handle better and needs a much more tastey interior.

What forum is this??

 

No BS. The car seriously gets as low as 31 mpg and not higher than 38 mpg over the past 4 months. I've tried every last tip and recommendation I've been able to dig up -- 3.5 quarts of 5W oil, wheel alignment checked and rechecked, tire pressure at 44 psi, fuel injectors cleaned, speedometer is calibrated dead-on, tankfulls of of ethanol-free gas, replaced the 12V battery, etc.

 

I have a company Prius...and it's winter.
I don't buy gas for this car, and since I grew out of the hypermiler thing I pretty much drive it like I stole it.

I get between 45 and 50.
I'm DEEP in the 50's when I try to get good mileage.

If you're knocking down less than 40, something is very seriously wrong with either your car or your driving....or maybe a combination of the two.

I don't know what else to tell you.
Good Luck!