Driving in Eco mode can be somewhat embarassing

Neat story. What a nice guy too. It is a good thing you didn't have a V8, or you might have lost the Bibles.

 

Look, you should thank God this guy was not coming up to shoot you, or at least shoot your tires!

Driving extremely slow in ECO mode is not the only, and not even the best, way to get high mpg. If you're only getting 56 mpg driving that way, I'd say it's not worth the risk of being tailgated and causing road rages.

I'm driving mostly in PWR mode, accelerate to traffic speed VERY quickly, set it to cruise control, look way ahead to determine very early before traffic stoppage when to neutral glide and then slightly tap the brake to regen-slow down. I'm getting 57 mpg average and I don't get tailgaters.

This time you were only embarassed. Next time you may not be that lucky!

 

Good story, but what does it have to do with driving in Eco mode? All Prius modes are equally fast if you press on the gas pedal.

Tom

 

That's exactly my point too. You can still be driving wimpily in PWR mode, or driving like a maniac in ECO mode. But the term "ECO" does give the new and uninformed Prius driver the wrong impression that it is the best and only way to get higher mpg. And the ECO mode's slow gas paddle response hints to the rooky Prius driver that driving whimpily is equivalent to higher fuel ECOnomy.

If he's getting 56 not 60-70 mpg driving like that, it's just not worth it, IMHO.

 

It should be titled

I am stupid or what!!

 

Cool story. The guy in the camry is rather nice to inform you of your bibles and let you off after hitting his bumper.

 

Well, you don't know how the OP's driving other than the fact he's driving in ECO mode.

The fact he mentioned ECO could suggest he's driving or accelerating slowly but he might simply be driving smoothly. The Prius' roof slopes downwards at the front so a weighty object on top could easily stay there a while.

Also, there's no reason to assume that the Camry driver would have got out of his car if the OP hadn't have had something on his roof.

I don't worry about tailgaters, I figure they just want to get past me so they can speed.

 

Besides that, he can't be too worried about mileage or he wouldn't drive around with bibles on top of his car. All that extra drag can't help.



Tom

 

i was embarrased just reading it as i could picture myself doing the same thing. nice guy behind you. i was thinking he was going to yell at you for going so slow!

 

That's a great story, but if you ever decide to sell the car I'm not sure potential buyers would believe you.

 

This is the kind of story that makes PriusChat fun to read; thanks for sharing. I have to say it was a bit cringe-worthy though, but only because I could see myself doing something like this... haha

 

Good grief man! So just because a few people hate the Prius we are suppose to stoop and drive like idiots too! Hate to break it to ya, people are going to hate the Prius no matter what for all different reasons.

 

You guys take this crap way too seriously. If people hate prius drivers, let them. They are entitled to just like a lot of prius drivers hate hummer drivers.

 

Nobody asks you to drive like idiots. The 680000 Prius haters are not all idiots and they don't all drive like idiots. Driving to match traffic flow does not qualify to be called driving like idiots. The rest of the world of "normal" drivers are definitely NOT ALL IDIOTS (I hope you don't think that way).

All I'm suggesting is to drive your Prius to match the traffic flow, and not to be singled out as impeding traffic. If you save a few more mpg worth of gas while a whole bunch of other cars loose just a little mpg because their ICE-only car become less efficient at lower speeds, does it eat into your concience? Or you'd say, "I don't care, as long as I'm on top of the mpg pecking order, the rest of the world can go mad at me as they wish, it's not my problem"?

To be honest, I'm one of those "Prius haters" who actually get really frustrated by those drivers who drives in their own heavenly peace and flips their bird mentally to the rest of the world of frustrated drivers behind. It really doesn't matter whatever car they drive, I just saw one BMW driving that way impeding traffic in the left lane for the whole 1/2 hr trip this morning. He caused so many cars to swerve around him on the right that made "accidents" waiting to happen (to other people, not him, I'm sure).

I'm sure he's still enjoying the rest of the day in peace while the whole bunch of drivers bogged down by him may still be suffering for being late to work, late to catch the train, bus, or late to attend an important meeting. I hope nobody got fired because of his "peaceful offering" this morning.

Problem is that the Prius stands out and easily recognised and single out and sterotyped as the traffic impeder's car.

Now the fact that I saw through the real reason why so many people "hate" Prius drivers and still bought and drive a Prius myself, you've gotta give me some credit. But please give yourselves more credits by not just saving a few more mpg for your own car, but help the rest of the world not to loose even more mpg or even their jobs because of your slow driving action.

p.s. I think we may have some misunderstandings here. I'm not against driving slower and save more gas when traffic allows, I'm just against doing so in heavy traffic and causing everybody else to be inconvenienced.

 

You are promoting hate crime with this "we/they" mentality, I'm afraid. I'd like to see myself as one of "they" also, and not singled-out as against "they".

You don't have to hate hummers anymore. They are humming to the way of the dodo bird by natural elimination. On the other hand, the Prius should be on the upward path of world domination. We, as Prius drivers, should be promoting the "love" of Prius, and not ignoring any reason for "hate" of Prius. Just imagine if the whole world all drive Prii (or equivalent), the worldwide gas consumption would immediately got cut in HALF!

Bye, bye global warning...err...warming. (Yeah, yeah, I know! I'm over simplifying, but you know what I mean.)

 

I agree. I use a lot of the techniques described on PC to achieve good gas mileage but I refuse to do extreme things like coasting in neutral or impeding the flow of traffic, even in the slow lane.

 

I will continue to drive at the speed limit even if it impedes the flow of traffic, period. My gas bill for last month (whole month) was $20. My resale value in 2 years will be at least 98% of total cost so my ROI is something like 95%. All those savings are going into the 401k and stocks.