I got things straight with them today. I had to get a little raspy with them, but in the end the dealer did try to make things right for us. I think all is good now. I don't want to smear them publicly, but I will send over a PM with a synopsis of what transpired. The important thing is... the Prius is back on the road! Cheers!
You know, when a newbie actually announces themselves, and starts off by praising the car/subject of the discussion board, it sure goes a long ways towards making people feel warm and fuzzy towards them. JP, the first rule of this board is YOU MUST POST PHOTOS! We love to see Prii. Really. Welcome to PC!
I read your link. Very interesting ideas. They wouldn't work here in SoCal bumper-to-bumper highway traffic. If you leave 1.5 car lengths in front of your car, 2 cars will try to fill it.
Hobbit this a cool article! I had read it before when someone posted it on DIGG. I think you are right. When you use this strategy in a Prius you are sure to reap high MPG gains. I've tried this technique in a regular car and it does seem to work to some degree. Cheers!
Here are some pics of my ride. It's fresh off the boat. No mods yet other than my new "ultra high mpg" seat covers...
Sweet! You've got a little pinstripe thing going on too... I like that, except for the hard angle at the back end... I like the fairly soft lines of the Prius, and that sorta competes... but hey, it's your car, not mine! Now the next thing you'll need is a custom avatar
I get that counterargument of "...but someone will fill the gap and cut you off!" all the time. The answer is to make the gap *bigger*. In most cases, the car that passes you and then jumps in is going faster already so it doesn't affect you. For the ones who try to get into too small a gap and then slow down in front of you, if you give them *more* room to play in then they don't affect you either. You help overall traffic flow at little or no expense in travel time to yourself, you make the situation at on-ramps much easier for everyone, and arrive much more relaxed as a general rule. . I do this all the time in the somewhat legendary Boston traffic, so I can tell you firsthand that large following distance is a good thing. Far too many people have lost sight of the benefits. . _H*
I just want to say welcome to our newbees and to judas_prius I want to say I love your user name. Why oh why couldn't I have a clever user name? Good luck with the paint repair. --------------------------------- Should I Have Used Caps On The Start Of Every Word? And should I have written the post in bold font?
And even if other drivers squeezing in DID affect your drive time, how much would it hurt? If you let 50 drivers ahead of you (let's say each one takes up about 30 ft on the road, given the length of their car and the close following distance they use) in a half-hour commute at avg 30mph (44 ft/sec), then you're looking at 35 seconds added to your drive. Let's be REALLY conservative and estimate 1 minute. That's one extra minute you get to spend relaxing, enjoying your ride, and practicing your pusle/glide technique. I do this around Boston too. I can tell you, more often than not, the people who race past me see me again and again. It happens on the freeway, but even more on local roads w/ lights. I always get a kick out of cruising past people repeatedly because they're waiting at lights and I've timed it just right so I don't have to stop.
Woohoo! Got my avatar now. Used Paint.Net. Came out pretty good! Its the old Judas Priest British Steel album cover... Except now it says.. "Judas Prius - Plastic & Steel". LOL
I can certainly attest to that, having lived in both LA and Boston. The only difference between LA traffic and Boston traffic is about 65mph. Same number of cars, same distance between them, the cars in LA are lucky to be going 10mph, the ones in Boston will be doing 75mph. Anyone whose driven rt 3 in rush hour knows what I mean. Rob
