Does the Prius calm drivers?

I'm also much calmer when I drive the Prius and it has carried over to when I drive my wife's Previa.
The downside is my 13 year old son in the back saying, "Dad! You're going to slow!"

-
Another way the Prius calms people down is by appearing at the dealer's after you've been waiting six months.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jmccord @ Jun 10 2006, 12:05 AM) [snapback]269034[/snapback]</div>

I remember back when I got my Explorer, my husband remarking " you certainly drive much more agressively in this than the Honda Civic". It was true. But since I bought the Prius, I have experienced the Prius Zen. A much more mellow( I like that word), gentle driving style. But when I get back in the Explorer( once a week to keep it in good running order), I tend to revert to that agressive driving. Maybe it is because it is larger, higher and it is older now, and I don't care about dents and dings. I don't know. When I drive the Prius, I am a different person.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(B Rad @ Jun 10 2006, 08:28 AM) [snapback]269173[/snapback]</div>

I really like your atvar! As a "child" of the 60's it moves me, man! Far Out. I really think that the MPG read out should be required on all cars. It needs to be a in your face read out. Like MPH in small print and MPG in the center.

 

Since having a child, I have become a more conscientious driver. With the Prius, SHE has become more mellow in the car. THAT is quite amazing. LOL She loves to watch the MFD, especially when I first turn on the car. She calls out, "Toyota," and it cracks me up every time.

I am more calm and mellow, too, though. I was driving solo to a friend's house in North Orange County a few weeks ago and a cop came up in my rear-view mirror. I didn't do anything. Didn't glance at the speedometer. Didn't tap the brakes. Didn't change lanes. Nothing. I calmly continued driving as usual. THAT was a big surprise to me!!! LOL I have reached the point where I drive the speed limit most of the time (upcoming splits in freeways and passing occasionally notwithstanding) and am comfortable doing so. I like arriving at my destination calm and smiling instead of feeling rushed and irritated.

I like the term "the Prius Zen".

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mattleb @ Jun 9 2006, 11:33 PM) [snapback]269047[/snapback]</div>

That is good to know as I will be using my Subaru Legacy Wagon also for a second vehicle. I am picking up my prius in the next week or so and can't wait .

 

I am also calm, cool, and collected whilest driving my Prius.

Well, except for that one time when some guy cut me off in traffic and I went after him with a baseball bat when I caught up with him at the next stoplight.

But except for that one incident, I've been a model driver.

Oh, and the other time when someone was tailgating me so I got over but then forced them into a ditch as he tried to pass.

But except for those two incidents, I've been relaxed and at peace with the world behind the wheel of my Prius.

Wait, there was this other time...

 

I tell all my friends that the Prius has helped break my left lane addiction.

I am the person that used to race myself from point A to point B and do my best to break my time...not anymore. I drive the speed limit--the first time in 19 years of driving. I can attribute all of this to the Prius.

"How I broke my left lane addiction and found Zen in my hybrid..." Sounds like a freelance article I should write...

 

What makes me kind of sad is that my kids would rather drive with their Mom, since I drive "too slow", a habit I've picked up watching the gas mileage in my Prius. My kids are teenagers, and are acutely tuned into what other people think about them, and what other people may think of them by association with slow drivers like me.

And my wife tells me that she really hates it when people drive below 65 mph in the right lane on the freeway when that's the speed limit.

I'm not changing my driving habits to make my kids and wife happy, but...

-Roger

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mattleb @ Jun 9 2006, 11:33 PM) [snapback]269047[/snapback]</div>

I busted out laughing when I saw this because my wife said a few days ago:

"hey, you need a push?"

I was going 57 in a 65 zone.

This actually was bugging her. So I went up to 60.

I love that "Prius state of mind" comment earlier too.

There has to be something to this. I always was a left lane driver. Now I am clearly a right lane kind of guy. I love seeing those 50's in the miles per gallon area of the mfd.

Me thinks I am gonna continue this "Prius state of mind"

Cheers

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rogerSC @ Jun 11 2006, 05:59 PM) [snapback]269742[/snapback]</div>

Interesting posts. Right now my kids are more focused on fighting than criticizing my driving and my wife only complains if I coast down a mild grade.

Which I do not do if cars behind; I have noticed I am much more aware adjusting my driving based on whether cars are behind me.).

What is the perspective from the women....do your partners support your changed driving habits?

Another couple of PhD thesis......

 

Hi Gang,

After reading all these posts about the benefits to the owners sensibilities, I would like to add this.

IMHO,

The car is meant to be driven, just like any other cars. It is a bit different looking than most cars but its still a car that we use on our daily needs. It cost a little less and pollutes a little less as we drive them. This does not make us any smarter than others who use more gas and pollute more. We as a group should not have chips on our shoulders and deride others. I, for one, feel no calmer than others for the fact that I use less and pollute less. I feel that until the global warming trend is reversed or stopped, we should never feel
calmer or proud of ourselves. Remember that USA is the largest consumer of fossil fuel products in the world. We are not the largest population. We are the largest consumer/polluter. Are you still calmer??

I take a small pride in that I pollute less than most of fellow Americans as I drive my Prius. But believe me,
I am still pissed-off at our car makers for failing to come up with more fuel efficient and less polluting products. Toyota is a foreign product. I would rather drive Ford, Chrysler or GM if they produced more efficient cars at a resonable price. As we all know, cars are cosumer goods, just like the cell phones. :mellow:

 

Andy,

Nice argument, but I beg to differ. The Prius, true, was meant to be driven the same ways as other cars, but the original poster was asking whether the driving experience changed an owners driving habits. I believe the majority of the responders feel that it does.

Just as SUVs are aimed for the off-road enthusiasts, the Prius is aimed towards the consumers who have differing agendas to those SUV drivers. There's a saying that everything begins at home; and it's ironic that people who try to be friendly to the environment, whether through gas savings or low emissions, here in the US at least, are depending on a foreign company. It is also ironic, that the said foreign company, is the only car company trying to expand its manufacturing facilities in the US while the big three are seeking cheaper labor outside the country.

===
Not related, but a funny scene at Cars: Sarge, the Jeep, has an off-road boot camp. There's this whiny H2 with spinning rims saying "but I haven't been off-road before! Oh, I got mud on my wheels!!!" :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Orf @ Jun 9 2006, 11:34 PM) [snapback]269023[/snapback]</div>

For SURE! MY Honda Accord is getting better mileage now that I primarily drive a Prius. And my 50 mile commute has fewer effects (or is is affects?) on my mood.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Orf @ Jun 9 2006, 07:10 PM) [snapback]268967[/snapback]</div>

Instead of trying to make the MPH's go as high as we can, we try to get the MPG's to go as high as we can.

And then there's the calming influence of cruising down the carpool lane past the cop who has pulled over a BMW who was trying to drive there solo, just as I can do legally in the Prius

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Andy Ling @ Jun 12 2006, 09:23 AM) [snapback]269899[/snapback]</div>

Andy, I beg to differ with you, too.
Being aware of a problem (global warming) and doing something about it (buying the lowest emission vehicle available today) is smart. Being ignorant of a problem, and choosing to drive a high emission, low mileage vehicle is not smart. We need more leaders and followers to stop the global warming trend!

 

I have found that I've become a much more mellow driver since I got the Prius. I find myself seeking out the 35-40mph roads around town instead of the 45mph roads so I can drive them at the speed limit on only battery power. I've also found that by listening to classical music (XM channel 110) in the car instead of my usual rock/punk cds, it mellows me even more and helps me really enjoy the drive.

But all the mellowness in the world doesn't keep me from racing big trucks and revving sports cars that are sitting next to me at red lights every so often. It's fun when you can out-accellerate big powerful trucks and tricked out sports cars. As I leave them in my dust, I can't help but think to myself "Ha! You just got beat by a chick in a Prius!". I'll usually just accellerate pretty briskly up to the speed limit, then coast it to the next light...sometimes I guess just have to prove to myself and to others that the torque in the Prius pretty much kicks the asses of most other cars.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rudiger @ Jun 11 2006, 02:39 PM) [snapback]269648[/snapback]</div>

I totally know how you feel because I've been in many many situations like those. But I couldn't chase after them or do anything rash because I didn't want to turn it into a road rage or probably because my parents were always in the car at the time.
Regarding the topic of this post, I have definitely become a more mellow driver as well. I was surprised when I found myself feel glad to be in traffic or driving behind a huge, slow-moving truck (so I can up my MPG, knowing that no more jerk can cut me off in these situations). I also carry my "Prius Zen" attitude when I drive my other car, Toyota Celica. I used to go 70+ all the time in the Celica, but after driving the Prius, I now drive the Celica at or below speed limit as well, braking way in advance and accelerating slowly

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Andy Ling @ Jun 12 2006, 07:23 AM) [snapback]269899[/snapback]</div>

Hi Andy,
I also beg to differ from your view. I myself do feel proud to be living in a country that gives people freedom and all kinds of social services. I think the US is probably the greatest country in the world. Having said that, I have heard and/or read about so many Americans who try to inflate their American ego or patriotism by driving those gas guzzlers from the Big (Bad) Three. They, including the infamous "malorn" ignorant fool, base their arguments on Toyota being a "foreign" company and its "conspiracy" to take away American dollars... Here's what I think: When will these people learn that the whole world doesn't revolve around America? When will they start to accept that the Earth is round, that the Sun is the center of the solar system, that the Prius not only saves gas but probably lives also, that our universal address is "Planet Earth" (so why is Toyota a "foreign" company when it tries to save the EARTH's natural resources and environment? Were those SUV/Hummer/Supersonic car drivers trying to prove to everyone that they're better because they can drive faster, change lanes without signaling, cut 1 inch right in front of other drivers, have single-digit MPG? That they are better because they are "American"? Have you ever stopped to ponder why Americans are probably the only ones in the planet that have such overbloated egocentrism about their country and being a its citizen?
I'm sorry I went a little overboard. Btw, I'm a Vietnamese who is an American citizen. I have lived in both worlds for a major part of my life, and I have never felt that my citizenships should in any way affect my decisions of what's right and wrong.