man, they love to tailgate a prius

And, I respectfully disagree. More driver input? Perhaps your hills are more extreme than mine, but driving in ECO on cruise control, I don't have to do a darn thing. The car stays at about 72 - 73 MPH (where I set it), occasionally dropping 1 - 2 MPH, but quickly re-establishing the speed. I drive a Three vs. your Five, so perhaps there's some slight differences there.

I'm no expert at this car, and this is the first Prius I've ever owned. Driving the winding, gently rolling hills in this area, the car keeps up just fine. It's not as snappy as my old Chevy S10 (R.I.P.), but I'm pleased to be getting 45+ MPG (compared to the old 19 MPG) while being able to easily keep up with traffic.

I think there's just a natural tendency for drivers of larger vehicles to tailgate smaller cars - most seem amazed when I hit power mode and quickly accelerate away from them in order to move safely into the right lane to allow them to pass me.

 

It's not prius hatred. There are people out there that believe if you draft/ tailgate a prius you can steal some of their mpg through areodynamics. I kid you not some of the boys at the coffee shop told me about it. After i stopped laughing i told them well maybe if we were going 150 mph. It must be a nascar thing ?

 

Lol!

 

RSG -- I'm not speaking about the car when using the cruse control -- it does a decent job of maintaining speed with the cruse on .... I'm talking about driving in traffic without the cruse. The Prius will slow down and in ECO you need to move the peddle a lot to keep your speed up.

On the two cars I normally drive -- I never think about it because they never slow enough. The Prius in Power responds much like a normal car.

Even with the cruse on my Prius does fluctuate a couple MPH - maybe this is common with smaller engined cars ....

 

I am tailgated becuase I like to go slower. I used to test this a bit in the my GS430... I am in the right lane... going a bit slower. I try to be aware of the traffic and stay out of the way if I am going slower... I have not actually had anyone really on my tail yet. It's not uncommon to see cars 10-15 feet from each other doing over 80 here in Dallas. Traffic is not too bad often times..

 

Yes, you are, but you have a valid point as well.

After moving to the new area I am living in, I have noticed a 10 times worse tailgating then I had back home... (California to Minnesota), and in CA it was BAD.

Here, I can be driving 15 MPH ABOVE the speed limit... and someone will be RIGHT ON MY nice person... like if I slightly brake I could turn around and serve them drinks-on my nice person. I don't understand it... is there a law here about following distance I am not aware of?

Horray for tagging old threads...

 

The only thing I have NOT been tailgated in is a marked police cruiser. Its funny to see how people react when they run up behind you at speed and suddenly realize that you're there.

I don't like being tailgated in any vehicle (especially my Harley), but its best to avoid the idiots when you can. Road rage is very real, and timid people can become very brave and aggressive when they are behind the wheel of a big SUV (or any car, for that matter). There have been times that I've called people in when I was off-duty and in my personal car.

 

I gave up my truck to purchase our Prius, which from an economical stand point made perfect sense. After reading several of these posts it reminded me of the reason that I miss my truck the most.

It was a 1997 Nissan 4x4, and while it was in decent shape it was at an age and mileage that gave me the freedom to, let's say "use it as brick with wheels" I basically didn't give a sh** about the exterior, and welcomed all challengers that wanted to get in my lane or vice versa, not let me in theirs. I really try and drive as courteous possible. I don't tailgate, I signal in advance and not as I'm already in the lane I'm switching to, I keep up with the flow, and even exceed the speed limit substantially if it helps me get out of someone's way that's in a hurry, but some people you just can't please. So for that reason I miss my 4wd "brick" the most.

My favorite was always the person who speeds up just to keep you from coming over, even if there was room initially and I signaled way in advance of actually moving into their lane. I mean, if I can't speed up and get over without having to pass like ten cars, or if slowing down would jam up everyone else in my lane, what choice do I have. My mind set was like ....." look dude, I'm coming over, if you wanna trade paint that's fine with me."

Success rate:
Me - 726
Jerks - 0

 

We've had our Prius for about two weeks and in that short period of time I do believe I've experienced the Prius tailgating jerk at least once. In fact, it was the second night we had the car and we were just out for a drive and coming home from dinner. Just cruising down I205, already going 10-12 over in the fast lane, moving past slower traffic at a good clip and just looking for a spot to get over when some jerk flashes his brights at me. I can safely say that is the first time that has happened to me in at least 20 years and I have no doubt is was due to the "Prius Effect".
I unfortunately don't take that stuff very well because when I'm on the road I'm really trying to be the best driver I can be, a little OCD in that respect. Do unto others and all that stuff. So naturally I give a quick "hard" tap on the brakes, which makes me feel better for about a half a second until the wife says "what the hell are you doing?" so ultimately all I've accomplished is upsetting the wife, and the jerk still goes by me as fast as possible as soon as I move over.

 

Well - what's even more funny about is is that drafting improves fuel economy for both vehicles - the following vehicle just gets a much larger benefit.

Not only that, but I find that tailgaters make me be extra careful about anticipating traffic which further improves fuel economy.

BTW - I wouldn't take it personally if you happen to notice it more in a Prius - it doesn't matter what you drive people will tailgate.

Just follow the basic "Slower traffic keep right" rule and don't worry about it!

 

If you follow the NFL, you know Gregg Williams' career is on the line for setting bounties to knock out opponents when he was with the Saints, maybe Bills and Redskins.

Tongue in cheek, why not have a bounty for cops to ticket more tailgaters?

 

I never thought about this till after about a month with the new Prius..Man it's so true ! people love to climb right up your A@@ when you are driving. I try going over the speed limit, nothing works. I move over so they can pass...some do others just keep getting close. When they do pass you get such a dirty look, well the other day I was heading up north to pa, There was a new Volvo s60 behind me kinda close. When a nice big Pu 4x4 old beat up truck pulled right out in front of me...( I love the breaks on the Prius) of corse I stopped with out any problem. The Volvo had to run off the road to avoid me...needless to say he kept his distance this time. I've come to the conclusion that people tailgate us for only one reason......There drafting...trying to pick up a few more MPG's. We are the nascar of MPG's:rockon:
everybody was ok the guy in the truck didn't even look to see if anything was there. What a dumb A$$
Live long and prosper Prius Tribe !!
Tbone

 

Well, tailgating won't get you any extra MPG's. Unless you keep a distance of a few inches or less. Mythbusters tested this, I can't forget the scared look on his face, blindly driving the car after a truck.

 

My theory of why they tailgate: it doesn't have anything to do with the fact it is a Prius....I have a CT200 and they do the same to me. They also did it to me when I had a Mini Cooper. My theory is they are relatively small cars and can more easily be seen "over" or "around" so they can therefore see further up the road and feel more comfortable tailgating us. It is most annoying.

 

I felt like a couple cars were actually hitched to the back of my Prius on the trip back from Winchester this morning. My favorite was the 4Runner that seemed like it was attached to my bumper, then just had to pass me between traffic signals. Five miles later and he still was stopping at the same lights I was. Nice waste of gas.

 

Also the Prius is a hatchback -- cars look closer without the trunk -- the same thing happens when people drive my station wagon ....they all came back and say why are people tailgating me

 

Time to post this picture again:




Tom

 

Once upon a time I used to take pictures of tailgating vehicles through my rear view mirror - in essence, what I actually saw at that time. I'll post pics as soon as I can dig them up.

 

I had the cruise set at the speed limit and some young guys came right up close and hung there for a bit, the road was clear and they could of passed. Then they floored it and pulled out and all five had their middle fingers up as they went by. So I thought I would surprise them and floored it. The looks on there faces as I caught them and stayed with them till they pulled off a few miles later was priceless, then they just smiled and waved.

 

qbee42 -- When were you on the NJ turnpike


The car is obviously tailgating -- but ..... I stick buy my theory.

Cars without trunks suffer from this -- station wagons included -- my 911.
Without the trunk back there people who drive various cars always think the car behind is too close.

Now the second reason --- people tailgate ..... on some roads almost daily no matter what speed I do and what car I am in -- and on the two highways I normally drive I set the cruse to 77 ... and I'm always hitting the gas to get around or out of the way.