Poll: Why are we hated?

^ Don't be them either.
If a driver gloats in a forest.....

I was flipped off for the first time since buying my Prius the other day. For driving the speed limit through a construction zone. And I allowed an 18 wheeler over when he ran out of lane.
And for driving a Prius, I'm sure. It's ok. When you drive 25K a year you are bound to cross some DBs path.

Hate them back, it works for me!

This doesn't help.

I'd say more the speed limit than the "flow".

My rule of thumb is right lane=speed limit, centerlane = speed limit +5, left lane=whatever you can get away with.

No one can really complain about someone going the speed limit in the right lane. Center lane at limit + 5 is the speeding ticket threshold so, as long as you are passing cars in the right lane or making room for merging cars and going limit+5, those in back are just going to have to suck it up or pass on the left.

On this note, check out MY350Z.COM Forums - View Single Post - Rant: Prius Drivers (ignore the rest of the ridiculous Prius hate and misinformation in many of the responses there).

Personally, I have not seen Priuses generally as the road boulders over here. But, that said, years ago, when I was visting LA in my 2nd gen... I saw a VERY pokey Gen 1 in either the carpool or HOV lane, going below the speed limit for no reason w/nobody in front of him.

OMG, that is what it is like driving a Prius in Michigan. Pass some Bubba in his pickup and holy crap he will do the ricer fly-by not much further down the road. I picked on one such Bubba last year some time in the northern part of the lower peninsula Michigan. I had him running 90-100+ mph for dozens of miles up I-75 until he must have checked his gas gauge and decided it was getting too expensive to run with a Prius, so he backed off

Mike

... especially when some trucks there are obeying the limit (never above 60 for trucks in this state) as a condition of continued employment.

I pass lots of people in a Prius. It isn't on the roads I notice any 'hate'. Or even the gas stations (though I have had occasional curiosity in parking lots and gas stations).

Most of the hate is forum trolls. Like the morons who were absolutely convinced those evil, weak hybrid batteries would 'go bad'... even though over 15 years later, no pandemic of 'bad batteries' has materialized.

Of course, lots of Prius cars get wrecked in the same way that lots of all cars get wrecked, yet the batteries end up intact, so salvaged replacement batteries, not being much in demand, are actually quite reasonably priced, if you go shopping for them to find out what that replacement cost would be, if you ended up ever needing them. If I were building a BEV, I'd probably consider using those. Do a 'google shopping' search for 'prius battery'. Then they insisted there was no resale value, because of this. I found lots of very expensive (for an old used car) Priuses.

Never mind the 8 year/100,000 mile warranty on a new battery. I mean, as nice as a Toyota is, after 8 years, even that level of build quality is breaking down and collecting road damage and rattles. If you're buying a 8 year old car and only worrying about the battery... I have some bad news for you about your expectations.

Once upon a time in a Honda Civic that got 50MPG, I 'hypermiled' a bit cross-country, and kept seeing the same vehicles pass me over and over again. Seems they'd run out of gas, fuel up, and by the time they got on the road again, I'd passed them up. Ultimately, they weren't making any more progress than me, even though they were going at least 15MPH faster. Or maybe my bladder's bigger. Now this might have engendered some kind of reaction, if my car were recognizable, like some of the various vehicles I noticed re-passing me two and three times over the course of a day. Go about 600 miles, squirt some gas into the 14 gallon tank, go 600 more... versus people stopping and gassing up every 300 miles or so.

As the video shows, the hate can go both ways. In fact, 1 of the most obnoxious experience I had on the road was done by another prius owner. IMO, to say this or that is just stereotyping or generalizing.

It's not just forum trolls. There's an astounding # of people who hold an incredible amount of misinformation about hybrids and EVs. See still astounded by the amount of ignorance and misinformation by anti-hybrid/anti-Prius folks | PriusChat.

Take a look at the gems at still astounded by the amount of ignorance and misinformation by anti-hybrid/anti-Prius folks | Page 2 | PriusChat. I wouldn't be so sure that all of them are "forum trolls".

Because of "jealosy" and "envy"? I also see it in their facial expressions when filling up at the gas station. Although, as of late, with dropping gas prices, less facial expressions.

DBCassidy

Here's another gem:
the high gas prices are my fault ??? | PriusChat

Who knows if the guy at the gas station is a forum troll?

In the contest between the tortoise and the hare, the Prius wins. Winners are frequently scorned by losers.

Similarly, in one of the recent gas crunches, someone beat up a service station attendant over fuel prices. As if a minimum wage guy working for a gas station that nets a penny or two per gallon, whatever the price of fuel has any say about the prices.

So, OK, there are always enough morons and assholes and other kinds of Fox News viewers to go around, too. If you drive an SUV or pickup that you can't afford, and are stupid enough to complain about how much it costs to operate, you have other issues besides what kinds of vehicles other people operate.

Then there's always the South Park 'Smug' episode.
Smug Alert (Season 10, Episode 2) - Full Episode Player - South Park Studios

Car reviewers in general tend to hate anything that doesn't have a giant herd of horses and single digit fuel economy and hip deep in accessories and toys. Nothing like watching an episode of 'Top Gear' and having those wankers jump out of a $1,000,000 supercar on a test track, operating it in ways that you could NEVER operate any vehicle on the streets and remain out of prison, let alone in possession of a valid driver's license, and then diss a Prius for not being fast and making loud, growly noises, like they're used to. Their idea of a fair test for BEVs was literally to take them on a long road trip without planning on how to charge them until AFTER they'd run the batteries down, and then complain how there'd never be a way to charge them anywhere, as if every power outlet in the UK weren't 220VAC. Bloody electricity. Hardly see it anywhere.

Prius owners, and to a large extent, most people who buy economical cars are looking for an appliance to convey them and their stuff from point A to point B, and back again, reliably and inexpensively, not the 'PURE JOY OF DRIVING', as if that exists in a place like Los Angeles, or any other version of American urban sprawl, or really anywhere outside of a car commercial on TV. You can sit miserably stuck in a traffic jam in a super-high-performance car that can go 0-60 in 3 seconds, intermittently creeping ahead one car length at a time, or in a Prius, doing the exacct same thing. I've never seen much 'joy' in driving, outside of a video game where I could blow up the other cars. It's a chore, like doing the laundry.

Actually I DO enjoy driving my Prius. And seeing what mpg I can manage each day in it. Stop-and-crawls are never fun, but at least with the Prius you don't have the ICE muttering away all the time, reminding you that you aren't going anywhere very fast.

Simple... every time they see a Prius it reminds them of the idiotic impulsive decision they made in purchasing a $50K gigantic 11mpg gas guzzling SUV to show off when running errands around town.
Nobody likes to be reminded that they made a costly mistake that they now have to live with or did something stupid.

We (Prius owners) bought a car that costs 1/2 of the price of their SUV and 75% less to operate on a weekly basis.... so they hate us because of the smart choice we made rather then the impulsive idiotic choice they made.

By whom?

By other drivers? If so how do you know they hate you because you are in a Prius? Most "drivers" today are oblivious to anything other than the phone conversation they're having, anyone other than a car enthusiast probably isn't aware what car you're driving. I bet a sizable portion of them don't know what kind of car they're driving! Tailgaters tailgate the next car in front of them no matter what it is, after they get around you they'll go harass the next car ahead.

Unless things get really out of hand, you really can't tell the mood of the driver in another car. This ranks right up there with folks who claim to know that Prius drivers radiate smugness as they drive. Even if they are mad, they may not be mad at you.

By the press or by people posting on internet forums? Hardly a representative sample. And you care about them? By people who don't own a Prius who post on this forum? Their opinions count?

I just drive the thing, enjoy it, and try not to worry too much about what others think of it.

Pay no heed to tailgaters. If you were driving 100MPH, they would still be riding your bumper. I slow way down and encourage them to pass, so they'll ride someone else.

Take a guess...