backlash from "regular" car drivers

Yup, I mostly notice it in people trying to cut me off thinking that I'm slow in my prius. Little do they know that electric part of the hybrid system helps me a lot!

 

My experience shows that people do this stupid stuff no matter what you're driving. Maybe we just notice it more in a Prius? Don't know.

Of course the Prius is the most polluting, worst-mileage, mainstream car that I drive, so what do I know?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Dec 20 2006, 09:28 PM) [snapback]364956[/snapback]</div>

I've had better offers from men far better looking than you, my friend!

Nobody'll believe me, but I actually try to *avoid* pushing my cute little agenda in every thread I visit. I just lack the will power to follow through. There's just something way too fun in being smug above and beyond the smuggest group of smuggers I've yet found.

My car runs on sunshine. Nah, nah.

Smuggily yours,

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Dec 21 2006, 12:48 AM) [snapback]364986[/snapback]</div>

Yeah Darell...you're as smug to Pious owners as the rest of us are to conventional car owners!!!

Believe me, if I'd had the money to buy a RAV4 EV (and the knowledge that they were actually being sold), I would have wanted one. My driving distances are ideal for an EV, and I could always rent a Prius for those longer trips! Keep on singin' the EV song, and maybe one day the car manufacturers will wake up to the fact that some of us think EVs are REALLY COOL!!!!!

 

Never mind the others -- I love your uber-smugness, D!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Dec 21 2006, 04:48 AM) [snapback]364986[/snapback]</div>

Stop wasting sunshine! Someday the sun is going to burn out, and it's going to be your fault for using it all up.

Tom

 

People tailgate me all the time and I am not one of those 65 in a 65 drivers. I am always going with the flow of traffic and sensative to those (idiots) who are in a really big hurry and doing 85-90 and I move over to let them pass (and suck all the cops out of hiding) and get on to where they are going.

This is not unique to my Prius -they do it when I am in my NSX and my accord too. People just drive like idiots all over the place. Typical tailgater I see, young female on her cell phone and not using turn signals at all. I have seen more than one of them crash badly and have actually stopped to speak with the cops when they arrive to pass on my driving observations before the crash. If you can't pay, don't play.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Dec 21 2006, 03:48 AM) [snapback]364986[/snapback]</div>

Just out of curiosity, what bumper stickers do you have on your car(s)?

 

It is not so much what you are driving, but how you are driving. At first you think you did something to offend the other driver(s). Then, as you watch, you observe it is not you or your vehicle, but the other drivers operate their vehicles that way consistently. The other drivers substitute oil for knowledge, i.e., accelerate up to a red light, then brake at the last minute.

Prius teaches you how to drive to take advantage of gliding, regeneration, minimal emissions, etc. Other drivers make decisions based on what they know, not what they do not know. When people ask questions about the Prius, they often respond to my answers in disbelief, because they drive conventional vehicles. For example, their ICE always runs, whether it is needed or not. The concept of an ICE running only when it is needed is radical and upsetting to other drivers.

Model what you teach - by driving your Prius well.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Dec 21 2006, 12:48 AM) [snapback]364986[/snapback]</div>

I don't mind your smugness at all. I'm just envious as hell of your car. But not as envious as I am of anybody who's actually got a Tesla or a tzero.

 

The closest tailgating in the six+ years of my Honda Insight was by an H2 Hummer - any questions?

While some people simple drive like they are on crack (some may be ), I do believe extra frustrations are vented on hybrids. Part of it is the stereotype, another part is size and perceived lack of performance. These drivers act just as civilized as a pack of wild dogs competing to be "top dog".

I just don't get being on an open freeway pre-rush hour. There are two lanes open to the left of me (at least if you wait a couple of seconds). Some body charges to my rear bumper then 30 seconds later does the FU left whip around me. Sorry, I was not their bottleneck. Maybe they are sleepdriving, not sober, distracted. But I do wonder if they are taking it out on hybrids.

One time during rush hour I took a one lane exit off the freeway, but this Dodge Ram went along side me. If I were to do it again, I'd make sure he heard me bellow - "Sorry - I'm not gay". Just wanted to - as the Ram commercial goes - "grab life by his horns"

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Dec 21 2006, 04:48 AM) [snapback]364986[/snapback]</div>

um...'scuse me, Mr SmugKing, Sir, but you'd better check the batteries in that mirror mirror you have on the wall. I just had a call from Snow White, and you know what? She had some not very nice things to say. (She said, and I quote, "Tell him to shut the smug up!") You know how I hate to see a damsel in distress, and I'm trying to be nice about this...but, well...don't get toooo comfortable, ya know? I think I calmed her down for now, but, wow, are her little guys steamed. There's this thing about being king of the castle; there's always some dirty rascal gunnin' for your crown. In this case, seven of 'em. Just thought you should know.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Dec 21 2006, 12:18 AM) [snapback]364950[/snapback]</div>

When I drove my Porsche, no one cut me off or gave me stares (and if I drove slowly, they just thought I was some eccentric woman and left me alone). It seemed like traffic in the fast lane parted for me as the Red Sea is reputed to have...definitely not like this in my Prius.

I'm not complaining, but I do think there is a difference.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Delta Flyer @ Dec 21 2006, 11:21 AM) [snapback]365103[/snapback]</div>

At least you didn't mention anything about a hummer.

 

Y'all snobs.

pinto girl, I know exactly what you mean when you say people get out of your way when you're in the Porsche. People see me rushing up to them in their rear views in my own P-Car or F-Car or Bim and they quickly get out of the way. The same doesn't hold true for Lexus or Toyotas or Hondas.

I smirk at SUV drivers who can barely afford their cars and struggle to pay $100+ for fuel costs per fill up several times per week. Then again, I'm sure VW diesel drivers smirk at me when they get 50% greater range and fuel economy than I do.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Dec 21 2006, 06:11 AM) [snapback]365025[/snapback]</div>

Fear not! I turn off the sunshine every day before going to bed.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Dec 21 2006, 07:44 AM) [snapback]365084[/snapback]</div>

I don't really use bumper stickers, though here are some that I designed:
http://evnut.com/stickers_license.htm

And here is what's really on my Prius:


And on the Rav:


And the custom reflective lettering on the Rav:


And one of my bicycles has a sticker that says, "Stop funding terrorism. Ride a bike."

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Dec 21 2006, 11:28 AM) [snapback]365242[/snapback]</div>

Snow White is hot. Only classic Disney babe who was not blone, ya know. (Hey, a guy's gotta keep some dreams alive while raising a daughter!)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cairo94507 @ Dec 21 2006, 09:24 AM) [snapback]365028[/snapback]</div>

You are so right! I have noticed on more occasions than I can count that younger women are ALWAYS on their GD cell phones. I also read an article in CNN published by a Woman stating that women talk about 50% more than men in general.

On a side note: On Feb. 14, 2004 we got rear ended by a 23 yr. old girl with an SUV. She was on her cell phone going 70 MPH in a 55 zone. She caused my car $5500 in damage, my medical expenses ran $15000, and her SUV had about $5000 to it. The last time I saw her she was still going to a specialist for her neck & back injuries. She also had her 2 yr. old infant in the SUV while she was blabbing away on the phone. She told me she didn't see my car. This accident was a result of the girl moving from the left lane into the right lane-(Road had 2 eastbound lanes) and slamming into the rear of my SIX month old 2003 Honda Accord. if it weren't for the cell phone she probably would have been able to hit the brakes. All she got was a ticket for careless driving, a minor infraction that can be gotten rid of in a driver improvement course.