Disrespect in the Prius

Good posting. And I have said many times over, who really cares what others think?

 

Many posters are absolutely correct. Drive what you want. I have had the occasional glare, a comment or two, such as "Do you have to plug it in??", (Obviously they are not in tune with the Prius or they wouldn't ask), I thought I would share 2 experiences recently...

1) A man about 80 Y/O at a Donut shop coming out of his car with his wife driving, took his cane and was waving it at me in the car, I put down the window and said, Hello can I help you??? He replied " What make care is that??" I explained it was a Toyota Prius...He commented, Yes Sir, I have been reading on that car and it's one Hell of a good car... Then explained that he once had a Mercury that cost him 60-70 Dollars to fill up. He said those Prius' are one heck of a car! I said THANK YOU! and he said I wish I could have one .....But have a good day

2) 2 Teenagers the other day were glaring over at my Winter Grey V, at a light of course....Giggling whatever...So I carefully pressed the PWR BUTTON in expectation of the red light to change and took off and actually PASSED them.. We caught up at the next red light..and the Original Giggling turned to a glare with a questionable look on their faces.....

I just love it....

Hope you enjoyed my (2) experiences...

 

I have this fantasy of building a Pro Street Prius. Just use the shell and put in a small block Ford and make it rear drive for simplicity, then go around picking street races with ricers and muscle cars. It would be a ball to scream away from them!

 

Same here, modified. If I can't see through, around or over the vehicle in front of me I consider that a safety violation and I pass asap and duck behind a vehicle I can feel safe behind. I also have become more aggressive in not letting a vehicle I feel unsafe behind, jump in front of me. It's their choice to buy that vehicle, and it's my choice to defend myself, even if that means being rude enough not to let them jump in front of me.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. The brontosaurus and the tyrannosaurus rex felt superior to the mammal undoubtedly ... 'til the day they disappeared

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Don' dis de Pris, mon.

 

If you're going to go to all that trouble, why use a Ford, when a flat twelve with a few turbos would be so much better? Or, if there's such a thing as a more realistic fantasy, how about stuffing it with the rearranged innards of a Corvette?

 

There was a guy with a 2JZ (yeah you can repost the Nas + Jay-Z picture) from a crashed Supra he wanted to drop in a Prius shell. I personally think you'd be better off taking a drivetrain from an Evo or an STi (engine would probably just barely fit) and using that with a big turbo (like an FP Red) and run the whole thing on E85 (should make 500hp easy).

A remote-controlled exhaust cutout would solve that problem.

 

I have noticed a great deal of disrespect ever since getting behind the wheel of a Prius. I have told my co-workers, who claim it's in my head, that I am constantly tailgated, and when I try to pass another vehicle they consistently speed up. Maybe this is SOP in California, and I didn't notice it in my other vehicles, which more often than not were big block trucks and liter bikes.

Nevertheless, I've taken numerous 800 to 1000 mile roadtrips, and have seen cars go from the high sixties to the mid-eighties to prevent me from passing, and was in fact rear-ended just the other night by a tailgater.

I was traveling down the street at 35 mph with the cruise control on, with a relatively new honda tailgating me, when a fire truck entered the road from the fire station driveway. I came to a complete stop. The tailgater came to a complete stop.

When the path was clear, I proceeded, never making it back to 35 mph. As I entered an intersection 75 feet from where I stopped, an ambulance entered perpendicular to me, against a red light. I braked hard to avoid a collision, the ambulance passed, I came of the brake, and was struck by the tailgater ...

I mean c'mon, are you kidding me?

I love my Prius, and it held up great in the accident, but I am having a hard time coping with driver aggression and tailgating.

 

You know, it may just be my brain playing tricks on me, but I feel like I get tailgated more frequently in my Prius than I did in my Land Rover LR3. Of course, the thing is, in my LR3 I drove like the typical person, hauling nice person between red lights and slamming on my brakes, etc.

Now I always have some driver up my rear but I'm also driving in the most fuel efficient manner I know. I tend to laugh it off when I'm getting tailgated because I know they are just driving poorly. But I do worry about getting slammed due to someone being too close and talking or texting.

Anyway ..

 

The Prius is a fairly small car, which makes it easier to see over and around when tailgating. I find drivers are more likely to tailgate when they can see past the car in front.

Tom

 

May be some truth to that... I felt the same way about the tailgaters when I'm in the Vette too...

 

I am glad that you have made these comments of people tending to tailgate more when they can see past the car in front of them.

I used to drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Now in the Prius, I have seen a marked increase in the number of people tailgating me and was wondering why. I drive a little slower now in the Prius and concentrating a lot more on mpg than in the past.

 

Long time Prius chatters have heard my stories many times, but for the newbies....

Before I got the Prius, I had a Chevy Malibu with the sport package, so it had nice wheels, sunroof, spoiler, etc.

I was tailgated awful in that car! I also had a semi force me off the road once (fortunately, it was at an exit, so I did), and I had a pickup merge INTO me on the highway. Both times, I had my headlights on (auto lights - loved them), and it was BROAD DAYLIGHT, in good weather.

I think the Prius is noticed more, and I seem to have fewer cars 'not see' me on the highway. I also have fewer cars tailgate now, than I did in the Malibu.

I think the issue is the color. The Malibu was a lovely, dark, deep, blue. The prius - well, its bright WHITE, and stands out rather well... I think that the bright color makes it appear larger, and closer, so people tend to stay back a little bit more. Also, it's rather easy to spot on the highway, so I'm not 'invisible' to other vehicles.

We've decided to not get vehicles that are invisible on the highway, so no gray, dark reds, or deep blue cars.

 

I have to disagree. I have never felt more invisible than in my Prius. I get a lot of tailgaters... maybe the configuration of the rear window makes them seem closer but that's cold comfort when it feels like a semi's 2 inches from your bumper.

Several times a week I end up swerving out of the way of someone who would have plowed into me. This used to only happen once a week or so (hey, it's SoCal) but yesterday takes the cake.

I was midway through an intersection when a guy who was stopped, started heading right toward me. I was straight ahead from his perspective, and it was literally as if I were invisible.

 

Ahhhh... so you were operating in "stealth mode"...

 

I've shown a Odyssey a little taste of his own medicine one time.