It must be me, could only be me but... When I'm driving at any speed in my Prius, it feels like I'm going alot slower than the speedometer displays. Weird thing is everyone else around me is doing the same thing(with exception of the violent offenders), even though we are all at the speed limit of a road. It doesn't matter what speed I'm travelling, it's like someone has subtracted 10miles per hour. I've never experienced this in any car before. Is this a function of the large windshield and the distant display readout in front of me? ZC1 (I knew drugs were bad for me, why didn't I listen to my mother)
i think every new car feels like that... about the only reason i can think of. new means effortless movement.. while the old rust buckets i used to drive rattled, made noise, wind creeping through poor seals, etc.. gave the sense of speed.
Seems that the Prius takes away many of the sensory indicators of speed that we all had for years. The large windshield makes road speed seem slow. No tachometer to check rpm. No shifting of the transmission to register in our head. The gas pedal isn't connected to the engine. The gas pedal feels the same at any speed. The engine doesn't rev up unless we force it when climbing a steep incline. Very strange, but peaceful. And, as my friends' recalled driving back to Tyndall AFB from Panama City, Florida, they saw a police car on the side of the road. One said slow down, the driver looked down and said I'd better speed up, we're only going 10 mph. Yes, the pot had something to do with it. Jerry
One thing that contributes to the feeling, I think, is the lack of shifting kicks that we all grew up with. You knew you were going faster, you could feel the transmission shift, or shifted it yourself. The smooth, continuous acceleration up to cruising speed is so easy, and you need to watch the speedo to make sure you aren't going too fast.
You might want to make sure your speedometer is set for MPH and not kM/h. :roll: My kids love to push that button when I'm not expecting it - especially when we're in a 25MPH zone (really freaks me out to see me doing over 40) or a 65 MPH zone (they love to see triple digits).
Another factor is that you sit fairly high in a Prius, almost like in an SUV. For a small car (okay, medium) the Prius has a very upright seating position. Raising your viewing point reduces the sensation of speed. That's one of the reasons sports cars feel fast; you sit down low with your eyes at pavement level. Tom
Right on. My "other car" is a 98 Chevy truck which sits even higher off the road, I feel like I'm going backwards on the freeway sometimes, but she's doing 60+.
It's a combination of smooth ride, quiet ride, lack of engine noise and sitting high in the seat. You get used to it and it goes away after a while. When you get in another car it will rattle and whistle in the wind like no car you have ever been in.
