Tales from a rear view mirror

As a Taxi driver in Dublin,Ireland,[2006 Prius from new,110,000mls]I get to listen to,be involved in many conversations with many interesting.....and many not so interesting people:blah: Recently i happened to have the pleasure of 1 male and 2 female passengers,as soon as they got in,the male passenger[lets call him John]said "I hate Prius drivers" and he was told by one of his female companions to "shut up!",bearing in mind we hadn't even left the kerb,he backtracked a little and said "well not you,but it always seems to be Professors or Doctors that drive these cars".By his own admission John said he drove an old Merc that was past it's sell-by date and spewing out more toxins than it should,he continued to quote all sorts of data in relation to the Prius, not being as economic or as environmentally friendly as Toyota claim.After i had nodded off and only to be woken by the blaring horns of oncoming traffic whose lane i strayed into[only joking] John had finished and i could get a word in edgeways, i said "Do you know what amazes me","What's that" came the reply,"People like yourself who neither own or have ever driven a Prius seem to know F***ING everything there is to know about them!"....You've heard the expressions.."a deafening silence" or "you could hear a pin drop"...they both applied in this instance!!.....I wonder if he got that Merc serviced yet

 

LOL,You know what,i was over not getting a tip........before they got out!!

 

Yep,none of that watered down "feck" or PC [not PriusChat]crap
If it doesn't end in silence it usually ends with punches 99% of folk just want to get home but there's always that 1% who want to p*ss on your parade!!
On a completely different topic,I was bringing a guy from LA to the airport yesterday who drove a Prius as a Company car,traffic was heavy as usual,A/C was on and he was surprised the ICE didn't kick in,he told me that the ICE always kicks in if A/C is on in NA Prius,is this true?

 

You're absolutely right,the SOC is always pretty high,i tend to use the "B" for slowing down especially when i have a full vehicle,i find i don't have to press the brake pedal as hard to stop plus it extends the life of the brake pads,my first set were changed at 90,000klm[56,000mls]I think that's pretty good especially for an automatic and it being a taxi.....aah, I love my Prius!!

 

Ah,I see,he didn't say what model it was but i remember in the Toyota brochure[which i still have somewhere]that it was highlighed as one of their features..ELECTRIC A/C,and after driving my previous car for 4yrs,2000 Toyota Corolla [with just under 250,000mls on it the day i got my Prius]with no A/C,It was a big selling point for me,nice and cool on hot days without the fuel gauge disappearing into the instrument panel

 

Good article,as you don't really get a tutorial from Toyota personnel regarding regen braking......mainly because they don't have a full understanding of it themselves...I think!!
As i said,i use it mainly when fully laden as it definitely does give extra stopping power without the feeling of "slamming" on the brakes,especially if the vehicle in front decides to "brake test" for no apparent reason,it's almost second nature for me to do this now.

 

By the way Evan,I see from your list of mods that you have the BT Stiffening plate,does it make a difference?I mailed Danny earlier to see if i could get items shipped to Ireland because it doesn't give that option on the shop site.

Phil.

 

So which did you do first..or both at the same time?
I find when i have a full car it tends to have more "roll" than i'd prefer,when on my own or maybe 1 passenger it's fine,will either of those mods help overcome that or am i talking something completely different!!