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What attention did you get in your Prius?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by That_Prius_Car, Mar 22, 2012.

  1. That_Prius_Car

    That_Prius_Car Austin Kinser

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    I always love when people ask me about my car, and their face as they look fascinated. I also love reading other people's stories about it too. What where some memorable attention moments in your Prius'?
     
  2. cnschult

    cnschult Active Member

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    I find the Prius to be the opposite of attracting attention. Today I was going 10 over and passing a Grand Prix, probably going 7 or 8 over, needless to say the douche in the cop-magnet got pulled over as I had a pleasant evening.
     
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  3. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

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    None, because about 25% of the cars 'round here are Prii.
     
  4. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    None, and that is how I like it.
     
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  5. Silver bullit

    Silver bullit Right Lane Cruiser

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    Why do you call them a douche? Did they do something evil to you?
     
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  6. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    The only attention I get is negative (from my coworkers). They all drive huge SUV's (Explorer's (2) and an Avalanche). Their fillups are over $80 right now and much more often than mine. When they ridicule me, I relish being a Prius owner even more.
     
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  7. cnschult

    cnschult Active Member

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    when you find a guy in a grand prix who isn't a douche by putting in fake xenon garbage ebay bulbs in his grand prix, let me know, I'll alert the media.
     
  8. Michgal007

    Michgal007 Senior Member

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    I have had a few random people ask me about the Prius over the years. The best attention story was a guy in a BMW (or a Mercedes, don't remember now) stop next to me at a gas station and said "nice car!".

    Few years ago I was driving on the highway and a guy on the next lane kept hitting on me. He would slow down his car to be parallel to mine, smile etc. to get my attention. I had a hard time not laughing and keeping a poker face. I thought he was going to hit someone when he went past me, but kept looking back by turning is head over. I didn't think that was a smart move at 65 mph. Somehow I feel that the Prius wasn't the 'attention'. :p
     
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  9. lamebums

    lamebums Member

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    Hi cnschult--

    I know one such guy. He's 18, he's active at my local church, and no, he hasn't tuned out his Grand Prix with cheap Wal-Mart neon lights.

    I'm guilty of attaching stereotypes to cars, too - but often it isn't worth the effort.



    Hi That Prius Car--

    I get questions about it from time to time, most often from friends. This is because 90% of the time, I start from EV mode because I despise the thought of throwing away large amounts of fuel in S1 while trying to get out of a parking lot - during the first sixty seconds or so, at any rate. So I get a lot of questions about "the car starting silently".

    (In semi-related note, does anyone have a hack or workaround to bypass S1? I feel as if the extra cost of fuel and carbon dioxide generated in S1 far outweighs the benefits of getting the catalytic converter heated up sixty seconds earlier).
     
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  10. That_Prius_Car

    That_Prius_Car Austin Kinser

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    I've gotten some jokes about the car, but then they are always amazed with it in the end and say that they want one. Which makes me feel good.

    When I had the blizzard pearl 2010 in 2009 with Brad, a couple in a newer, nice Jaguar pulled up beside us and asked if we liked the car, which of course we told them that we loved it and that this was our third Prius. They yelled back over to look for them driving one in a few months. That felt good. :)

    Just a few days ago, I was at my local post office here in West Virginia, down in the southern part, and I had a man who was getting into his Chevy S10 truck ask me what the "HYBRID" badge on the fender meant. Needless to say, I spent a good 45 minutes with this man showing him everything about the car, talking about the drive system, how it splits power, etc. Ya'll know the story! :)

    & I have a friend here in town that I went to middle school & some of high school with and he has a 2010 Chevy Silverado V8 with NOS and over 450hp... Anywho, he never made fun of my Prius though, he actually likes it and wants me to drive down sometime & let him drive and look at it. He said he loves his truck, but likes that the Prius is a "smart" car. Hmm. I get a lot of positive attention usually.
     
  11. That_Prius_Car

    That_Prius_Car Austin Kinser

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    I was with my boyfriend at his brothers home, (he is back here to visit with his family, they live in Australia) and my boyfriend and his brother were chatting about cars, in which Derrick pointed out that I drove a Prius. His brother chuckled and I threw in "It's a really nice, comfortable car. I'm having the last laugh when I pass the pump getting 55mpg. :)" He hasn't seen it yet or probably hasn't been up close to a Prius, or a hybrid in general I'm sure.
     
  12. Agent J

    Agent J Hypoliterian

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    Actually, that 1 minute or so warm up to 40-50deg Celsius, only uses
    .03-.06 liters of fuel, which equates to between .04 and .09 cents. :)


     
  13. lamebums

    lamebums Member

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    Well, that's precisely the problem - I'll split it and call it 6 cents for the sake of this analysis. My drive to/from class is a grand total of 2.3 miles - at $4 per gallon and 55 MPG, it's a cost of roughly 16 cents per trip.

    Anybody who hypermiles knows that the Prius could get far, far better, especially in the city, if S1 were bypassed. In this case, I could lower my fuel cost by, let's use 6 cents here - to 10 cents a trip, or a rise from 55 to ~75 MPG.


    I'm going to pre-empt the "Why don't you walk/bike there" request because of two reasons: (1) safety, or lack thereof - walking or biking through some of the neighborhoods between where I live and campus would be a bad idea; and (2) I am never awake in the morning in a timely fashion - a five minute drive is preferable to a 15 minute bike ride, or a 40 minute walk.
     
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  14. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    Lamebuns,
    There are several people on the forum that have attempted this. From what I can tell, bypassing S1 isn't possible w/out getting some codes thrown however some have been successful going from S1 straight to S4. If you do a search for keyword "thermistor" you will see a full history of their trials. The best one I have seen was built by a guy known as ccdisce. A guy by the name of "TheForce" has many detailed threads about his experiences. "jstcd" has designed an easy DIY version (automatic) the most basic was developed by Bob Wilson (bwilson4web). I haven't personally tried any of them.
     
  15. CookieGuru

    CookieGuru Member

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    How are they ridiculing you? "You're so dumb because you spend half what I spend on gas" ?
     
  16. garylow

    garylow Junior Member

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    I get attention from my coworkers when I tell them I pay about $20 a week for gas to go about 66 miles round trip to work and include local driving in the mix. Usually do better than 50mpg combined in cold weather.
     
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  17. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    No, that's what I say back to them. They're basically afraid of technology and anything new. They ridicule me for how it looks and the "lack of power" they assume it has. I just say "Well, 50+ mpgs"
     
  18. CookieGuru

    CookieGuru Member

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    Ah yes, the lack of power. I forgot about all those times where I need to go from 0 to 60 in four seconds or those times when I need a top speed of 120. I can't even get to 90 before some (more responsible) driver gets in my way!
     
  19. ralleia

    ralleia Active Member

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    :cheer2:

    ROTFL

    I can remember back many years to the last times when I cruised at those speeds. Quite stupid and unnecessary to those of us who aren't in the racing circuit.

    The biggest thing that I like about the Prius (which is true in any hybrid) is the fact that you charge the battery when you decelerate or brake.

    I foresee far less aggravation and blood pressure elevation when I'm stuck in a construction zone or a traffic jam because someone else screwed up. :cool: