Can you do it?

I like to drive at the speed limit or slower, when possible. The right lane is where I stay all the time. If there is a big truck going a bit under the speed limit, I'll use him as a pace car and I'll draft him. If there is a car poking long at 10km/h below the limit then I'll pace him.

There seems to be some paranoia involved in pacing slower vehicles. I had someone pull to the side of the road to wait for me to pass. He kept going slower and slower and other people in the right lane passed him, but i just kept following him. It's not like I'm tailgating or anything, either. There is at least 3 seconds of space between myself and the person in front of me.

Slow cars are a good excuse to drive slower and get better FE. People won't be bitching at you since you're not the lead car

 

Pacing and drafting semi's is where I get my best mileage... but I won't follow them unless they are doing about 2 to 10 over the limit. I can usually find one in that range, and not usually find anyone else going that slow.. just me and that truck...

With the truck being the root of the problem, no one is going to blame me... sometimes another car will follow me.. I'm 3 seconds behind the truck, and someone is 10 feet behind me. The rest of traffic is flowing around that truck...

today on my way home was my best thus far with this concept.. I'd guess average speed was 58ish... a little above the limit of 55.

Over 64 miles, I probably picked up 3 or 4 semi's and was following a truck about 45 of the 64 miles... roughly speaking..

I got 58.2 on the mfd doing this. I've only had the car just under 2 weeks.. so maybe there will be better to come...

http://spicher1.home.comcast.net/02_2006/28/a.htm

 

wow man, sorry to hear you got rear-ended by another motorist forcing you to speed along with him.

before i bought my Prius, i rarely if ever drove the speed limit or anywhere near it. now im older, wiser (although i, nor anyone around me can tell) and i have determined (actually just acknowledging the obvious) that buying a Prius was just one of many things i can do to make myself feel better about what i am doing to preserve our environment and leave something for my son to enjoy when he grows up.

i soon realized that any notion that i had of holding up traffic or getting "run over" was all in my mind and no where else. my decision to not exceed the speed limit is a conscious choice i made and considering i am on the right side of the law, i dont feel that i should do anything differently.

 

I now drive at or near (below) the speed limit. If I am on the NY thruway and there is a semi driving slower than the speed limit, I'll tuck myself in behind them.

Other than that, I just let people go around me. If they want to pass, that's what they make passing lanes & dashed lines on the road.


If it's a non-passing zone, I will give it more gas than I like to keep up to speed limit, especially up an incline.

 

Yep.

Speed limit or slower.

I can also drive faster if I wish, but don't usually.

Anyone that doesn't like me driving the limit can go around. There is no mandate that requires me to drive over the limit just because some moron wants to get where he's going 90 seconds faster.

 

I am slowing down too. It's becoming more important to reach that sweet spot where nothing is running or to stay in EV mode. However, I find myself often exceeding limits for curves in the desire to maintain momentum and for the sheer fun of it.

 

Damn, if I'm not doing 80+ I feel like I'm not even moving. And I still get 44 mpg average.

And for the record, that fastest I've gotten the Prius (according to the display) is 107 mph.

 

It gets a little complicated here in the S.F. Bay Area. For whatever reason, a bunch of yahoos have decided that the right lane is tbe best lane to speed in if you want to avoid tickets. (Don't ask me.) So the right lane is NOT a good lane to drive in if you want to go the speed limit. Unless you want the thrill of car after car closing on your back bumper at +20mph and swerving at the last second.

Kinda like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride only in your rear-view mirror!

 

I know what you mean. What with the propensity around here for passing on the right and passing in the the merge lanes you sometimes have to drive looking in the rear-view mirror just to avoid getting run into.

When I can, I'm usually just sitting in the right lane going the speed limit on cruise control. If there are a lot of on-ramps coming up I'll move to the next-to-right lane so I don't have to fight the folks that can't seem to merge smoothly. I've never felt so relaxed driving before getting my Prius. On my 15 mile commute, driving 65 versus 75 costs me only 2 extra minutes at most. This extra time is all a wash anyway when I get to some traffic lights.

Cheers,

-- Ian

 

All slower traffic keep right (far right lane)
its posted all over the hwys here in Fla..

(Horn broke watch for finger)

 

I can use the cruise at any set speed above 40 with accuracy. However, I generally drive 1-5 MPH over the posted speed except in school & construction zones.

 

Please post your VIN # on here, so we all will know what used Prii to stay away from in the future. Maybe you should trade in your Prius and get a new Mustang or Camaro. The mullet would then be optional, your choice not mine.

But it is nice to know my Prius will do over 100, just in case I have to flee to Canada in a "hot minute".

 

I drive the speed limit or just under. Fortunately I have a two lane road that parallels the interstate, so I can run it all the way up to work. Most people who enjoy 80+ run I-75, however I find the occasional Dodge Magnum or some other Jeopardy Finalist running 80+ on hwy 41. They will proceed around me, double yellow if they have to, and make hand gestures or whatever other sign they can think of to display their intelligence. Later, approximately 6 miles up the road, I will come to a stoplight and see the NASCAR worthy machine about 3 cars ahead of me behind a long line of tractor trailers. This just reaffirms my decision to drive safe and maximize gas mileage.

Please Note: I have nothing against NASCAR or Dodge Magnums, there is a time and a place for both......I think.

 

I have the opposite problem. The car is so quiet and smooth compared to my other cars (Subarus) that I find in town speed creeping up before I notice it. Its too easy to cruise 55 in a 45. I haven't had a speeding ticket since '79 (red Mustang). I am more likely to get a ticket in the Prius than my red Impreza with the wing, scoops, etc. My wife noticed it too. It also happens on the freeway, where 80 comes up far too easily.

 

I try to drive the limit as often as possible, or if I need to drive over the limit I tend to stay within 5 mph of the limit. I've noticed the speed demons in some areas that have a constant need to drive 10+ mph over the limit and treat me as if I'm impeding their destiny, but I'd rather not be lulled into joining them in their need for speed and risk getting a hefty ticket as a result. Been there, done that, and I'm over it now. On the freeway where the limit is 65 I tend to stay right around 70, but I also tend to stay in the rightmost lanes of the road at those speeds.

This morning I was coasting along at 47 mph in a 45 zone in the slow lane on a surface street, there were a few cars/suvs coming up from behind me doing 50-55 easily and one of them was 'forced' to get in the next lane over to go around me. But I didn't speed up and maintained my speed. Several seconds later I saw a cop car tucked into a driveway, with his radar gun out, ready to nab someone. I'm glad it wasn't me.

 

now you know why i rely on CC so much.

 

Ironicly, I do have a z28 in my driveway right now. But it's not mine.