New Prius 2010 gets no respect on roads

i think it boils down to this......

lead....follow....or get the hell out of the way......

 

I never knew Star Trek was a documentary....

 

I drive a lot and usually end up in the car for at least 90 minutes per day.

I work for Toyota, I love the cars, love the history of the company, and I HATE the Toyota Drivers... sooo much of the time...

Usually when traffic is banked up and you eventually overtake a few people and get to the front of the pack, you find a Corolla, Camry, HiAce, Prius etc at the front going 10-20klms under the speed limit... And I cringe... After all, I drive a vehicle that invariable is covered in Toyota emblazoning and stickers asking people to consider a new tomorrow for their Hybrid...

We have some common pre-conceptions about drivers in Australia - V8 Driver = bogan, likes to drop skids, drive like a tool and probably beats up on their partner and drink drives, Camry drivers are the "beige brigade" wear white clothing, have a tissue box on the back parcel shelf and usually accompanied by a bowling hat...

for me, I'm a young bloke, and in a company vehicle, promoting the company - I sincerely believe that I am assisting in dispelling one great Hybrid Myth - That they are all slugs, don't go fast, cannot accelerate, and you wouldn't want to be behind one...

CONSTANTLY have people speeding to get in front of me, cutting me off, doing ANYthing in their power to not be behind me... When it DOES happen, invariably, I will have already crossed the intersection and be on my way to 70kph before their vehicle is even in motion...

No real idea where I was/am going with this, maybe just adding my 5c.... lol

 

You might consider the age of the drivers. In my area Camry's and Prius are generally driven by an older crowd and we all know that most old drivers tend to be slow and oblivious to the world around them while driving.

 

Here is my story.
I have my 1st ever Prius for almost 2 months now and very much enjoying it. I drive 55 miles one way 4 days a week to work and have a completely different experience in this context.

I drive very consistently and never put pressure on the GAS.
But I drive at a very good speed on the highways and try to keep it at 63-70 mph speeds all along. Never try to apply brakes un-necessarily and I am able to maneuver (changing lanes / passing other slow moving cars/trucks ) the car easily even without applying brakes (unless it is a must).

Guess what!!, I am observing for that past one month now, there are 3 or 4 guys who are following me everyday - (typical commuters) the moment they see my car on the highway. they never overtake and pass me even if I slow it down to 50s ( I tried that )

I think some people like driving consistently and if they like your driving , then they simply follow you - may be thinking - let's follow the no non-sense guy ahead..

And of course there are those Prius haters as well who never like to follow a Prius even if you go at 70+ mph.

But I do not care at all for them. I go on to the left most lane only for passing and come back to the 2nd lane ( 4 lane hwy ) and no issues so far.

But what it tells me is that there are folks who like to travel at Prius speeds as well. because consistency always wins the race. I have seen cars passing me at 80 mph and I catch-up with them all after 3-4 miles.

 

If you commute on an 8-lane super slab to get to work, then you're going to run into that 49th person out of 50 that's a jerk.
That problem's been around since cars had big fins on them---and it ain't gonna go away even if we all switch to golf carts to get to work, since somebody will always have a bigger, faster golf cart---and the attitude to go with it.
Me?
Well....cars don't have fins on them anymore, but they do have AUX IN jacks. I just listen to my book, and let the jerks in the bigger, faster cars duke it out with the jerks in the smaller, slower cars.

Life's too short to sweat the small stuff---and traffic is small stuff.

 

Equalizer?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9XAC-BvUyo&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - Shonky and the SoundRacer V8[/ame]#!