First time Prius owner here, been driving the gen 5 for seven months now. Maybe it's an east Tennessee thing, maybe people think the gen 5 is a Tesla, I don't know but the hate (or harassment) is real! Is anyone else experiencing constant tailgaters at pretty much any speed, turbo-diesel trucks spewing black smoke all over you, people passing you for seemingly no reason, getting spit upon, beeped at, yelled at, flipped off, aggressively waved at..? I'm usually a considerate driver, I try not to inconvenience others.., but damn A few days ago two people consecutively passed me in the right lane while doing 57 in a 35.. Almost daily a loud mustang, camaro, or dodge will get behind me and rev their engines over and over. Last week a modified mercedes with twin turbos decided to obnoxiously spool and rev while swerving back and forth behind me. I guess they are jealous of how cool the gen 5 looks, they probably can't tell the difference between a hybrid and an ev anyways.. I don't know, just needed to rant I guess, but it's getting annoying! Anyone else have any experiences to share?
Possibilities: 1. This is a facet of local culture you've not noticed before. 2. You are in the way, blocking faster traffic. In my part of the world, people passing on the right is often a sign that you are in the wrong lane. "Aggressively waved at"? What happens if you wave back?
You have to keep up with traffic and let them go by if you are in the left lane on a freeway. If they are jealous of anything it's your mpg compared to theirs combined with they paid more for their truck. Overall they pay considerably more and depreciate their asset quickly and they know it. But don't try to save 5 mpg by slowing people down.
Peculiar. I made a trip to Vancouver a bit over a year ago, which involved traveling through several states where Prius sales numbers are probably lower, but I didn't experience any of those kinds of incidents.
Never seen this. I live in northeast FL and travel throughout the southeast US often, many back roads trip too. I even spent a bit of time in Knoxville last year! To be fair, I try not to block/slow the left lane unnecessarily, or hold up the road if it is 1 lane. For example, as much as I LOVE to slowly and smoothly accelerate out of green lights, I don't do it if the speed limit is higher than 35 or if there are people behind me, or I'm in the left lane. With that all said, there is a LOT of aggressive behavior on the highways out there, especially in bigger cities.
It is not you or the car. It is them. I thought the people in LA were uneducated, but I now feel better after hearing this from you. So, yes, it has to do with education (the lack of it) than anything else. FWIW, I got tailgated a lot more in my silver Gen 4 Prius Prime than I am being tailgated in my blue-magnetism (spirited aqua metallic) Gen 4 Prius Prime. So, for some reason, silver cars are more prone to tailgating, perhaps because they are perceived to be for older people. Bright blue is perceived sportier and helps a little with tailgating but not always. And, last but not least, Trump is eliminating the Department of Education, which is especially responsible to help educate those in disadvantaged groups.
Truck bros gonna truck bro. Yeah, I've received this treatment as well. Right lane, getting tail gated, passing me then rolling coal. I de-badged my car and it tapered off
I have not seen that behavior in Virginia when I had my 2017 Prius. I now have a 2025 Camry hybrid that kinda blends in. My coworkers used to call my Prius my spaceship because of the noisemaker. I disagree that the newer Prius looks cool. It looks ugly to me personally. I had a coworker buy a black Tesla model 3 with license tag RolinCol (rollong Coal). Weird humor.
prius peeps have been complaining about this since there was prius. it's a thing. even if you're driving like a nut like everyone else, prius has a reputation because of people like me
I'd vote with those suggesting any Prius-specific hate you are encountering is linked your local road culture. There was some Prius hate in my region, but it was already waning when I joined the Prius family in 2009. Being a multi-car family, the difference between the vehicles was sometimes visible, but I can't remember back to the last time it happened. I moved to a different model PHEV early last year. OTOH, general road aggressiveness and rage have increased since the start of the Pandemic five years ago, since de-policing took away most traffic enforcement. The other household vehicles witnessed just as much of it as did the Prius. Not focused at us, but generalized road behavior.
Install a forward and reverse drive camera. That kinda aggressive driving usually ends up in collisions. It would be nice it there's a record of the events in question. My last collision with an uninsured motorist lied to authorities - I was lucky a witness hung around and backed my story.
If you are in the left lane going slower than traffic, move over. Or move to the UK where everyone stays below the speed limit - primarily because of automated radar tickets everywhere.
