One annoying Prius driver

I'm a new driver of Prius and I try my best to balance between MPG and traffic condition. This lady driving a Prius before me I encountered the other day was over the edge. She kept driving at 39 to 40 mph in a busy 50MPH speed limit road. In a down hill road, it was pretty easy to go over 50MPH. With her insistence to maintain a most economic driving speed for her, she successfully made the others burn more gas and form a long line behind her. I was glad the road turned 2 lanes after 5 miles.

In situations like this, I usually would drive at or close to the speed limit even I know it would use more gas.

What do yo think?

Reply to
liu
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condition. This lady driving a Prius before me I encountered the other day was over the edge. She kept driving at 39 to 40 mph in a busy 50MPH speed limit road. In a down hill road, it was pretty easy to go over 50MPH. With her insistence to maintain a most economic driving speed for her, she successfully made the others burn more gas and form a long line behind her. I was glad the road turned 2 lanes after 5 miles.

even I know it would use more gas.

If she were going down hill at the speed limit she would likely burn no more gas that she was at 39 to 40 or not a measurable amont. On the other side of the coin her driving that speed limit was saving gas for those following her, not making them burn more as you stated. I typically always drive right at the speed limit. I do think most drivers on the road today do need to realize that a speed limit is a maximum and not a minimum. :)

Reply to
totfit

I 100% guarantee that at least 1 was burning more and not less, why you may ask? Because some people are incapable of coasting. There had to have been at least one in that wolf pack behind her that was repeatedly speeding up till they got too close then hitting their brakes to slow back down. All those behind this person would likely be affected too. I see it all the time around here.

People don't get that hitting the brakes is equivalent to dumping a little fuel on the ground and lighting it just to watch it burn.

Prius drivers SHOULD NOT try to be speed limit enforcers, let the cops do their jobs. Drive for MPG when you can, be courteous when you can't.

I don't have a Prius yet but traffic permitting I will cruise at 54-59 on the highway then about 1.5 miles before my turn I will slowly (IE without making the torque converter clutch unlock) speed up to 62-65 then coast to my turn. My current car ('97 Lumina 3.1) will only do closed throttle deceleration fuel cut mode at 53MPH or above when in 4th gear.

If there is a car close behind me I will slow down much later and leave my lane when possible to let them by me, so to the opposing lane with no cars coming or to the gravel shoulder depending on the direction of the turn. I especially do this when it is a tractor-trailer rig (Semi) as any fuel I would have saved would be used many times over by him having to slow down and speed back up, especially if it involved any gear changes.

Reply to
Daniel who wants to know

You focus on the fact that she drives a Prius, as if somehow she's a "typical asshat Prius driver trying to save gas"--when in fact she may just be a slower driver.

You DO know that 50mph is the LIMIT, and is not the MINIMUM. If she's driving 40, so what? She's under the LIMIT. If she's driving 40 and is in the right lane, then what's the big deal?

If she was in a Prius on a downhill and was not feathering the throttle to keep the system in a neutral state, neither using nor generating power, AND she was not going 50, then she was not driving in such a way to save gas. She was just...driving in a manner that was comfortable for her.

Take the "Prius to save gas" aspect away from all of this. You just ran into a driver that drives slowly.

How do you know she was doing this to save gas? You made a HUGE assumption here.

Reply to
Elmo P. Shagnasty

I'm a new driver of Prius and I try my best to balance between MPG and traffic condition. This lady driving a Prius before me I encountered the other day was over the edge. She kept driving at 39 to 40 mph in a busy

50MPH speed limit road. In a down hill road, it was pretty easy to go over 50MPH. With her insistence to maintain a most economic driving speed for her, she successfully made the others burn more gas and form a long line behind her. I was glad the road turned 2 lanes after 5 miles.

In situations like this, I usually would drive at or close to the speed limit even I know it would use more gas.

What do yo think?

I think your assumption that those behind her are burning more gas is incorrect. Fuel economy is inversely proportional to speed, as you acknowledge in your second-to-last paragraph. I drive the speed limit on two lane highways but I sometimes drive below the speed limit on 4 lane highways simply because a passing lane is present for those who choose to waste their money. What makes you think she was driving slowly to maximize her fuel economy? Isn't that a stretch too?

Reply to
Al Falfa

traffic condition. This lady driving a Prius . . .

You're suggesting they should have jinked left, passed, then cut you off to make the exit? The example being from the US South, I would have expected the ever-present bull-bars to be involved. Make way...

Reply to
News

If the exit is so close that someone will have to cut you off after passing you to take it, there is no reason for them to pass you in the first place. The freeways have become grade school playgrounds, I'm afraid.

Reply to
Leftie

...populated by self-styled eco-terrorists driving at unproductive low speeds.

Reply to
News

I drive 5MPH *over* the posted limit, in the center (if there are ramps around) or right lane. It isn't enough for the little boys and girls with their race cars. VROOM! VROOM!

Reply to
Leftie

What's so productive about not planning, getting up late, leaving late, and then having to wrecklessly drive to a destination?

Reply to
totfit

"Wrecklessly" implies success. Well done.

Since your value of time apparently and asymptotically approaches zero, you wouldn't understand productivity.

Reply to
News

This takes the cake. Rarely have I heard brokers in BMWs, tradesmen in F150s, soccer moms in Suburbans, and Coulter-wannabes in Mazdas and their ilk termed "little boys and girls with their race cars. VROOM! VROOM!"

Reply to
News

Maybe they do in Slowville, but not in the real world.

Reply to
News

Some of whom hide behind their Prii.

Reply to
News

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