80? Most places I drive on the highway, that’s either within the speed limit or not far enough above it for them to worry about.
I’m a Prius driver, My husband drives a Mercedes. Our favorite Prius driver behavior is the people who try and drive their Prius like its a BMW - usually by trying to drag out of a light and get in front of the Mercedes (there is a light by our house which has two turn lanes - and quickly turns into a one lane road). Because while hypermilers are annoying, the people who want their Prius to behave like a performance car are laughably stupid - drive a Prius like that and the gas mileage is worse than a lot of regular cars at that price point.
What I hate are performance cars in the middle or left lane that insist on nearly squealing out of the light but then get cold feet and pull in front of me and stop accelerating, making me stop short of my optimum speed of 49-52. Or ones that go ahead and swerve in front of me only to stop at the light up ahead and force me to do the same rather than coasting through the light once it turns.
Thanks for your thoughts / experiences with the Prius, Gray Ghost. The Prius definitely seems like a sweet spot of mileage, space, and low-maintenance, and everything I’m hearing seems to confirm that.
I’ve never seen this, but if I did, I admit it would probably tickle my funny bone, as both a humorous and futile gesture.
Most Mercs have pretty robust V8’s, I’d imagine their attempts to jump in front of you are generally futile (unless you two are being deliberately nice), given all it would take is pressing your right foot down a millimeter or two to blow them away.
Is this true? I would think even if you drive a Prius at 80 mph, the aerodynamics are still helping you compared to another car at that speed. And I would think that if you do those ‘performance’ maneuvers where you both accelerate and brake hard, you’re still regening when braking.
It’s that you have to compare apples to apples. Yeah, if you drive like that, the MPG will read about 35. Which some BMW models will beat…on the highway…driven about like a Prius…
I, of course, drive mine like I own it. So I rarely hit 80 even on highways where the speed limit is 75.
You’re welcome. I hope it helped. I do like the car quite a bit, as a practical low-cost, low-hassle commuter, and I’ll probably get another for that role when this one gives up the ghost. (Hopefully not for awhile yet.)
As to drag-racing at the average stoplight during the average day, IMHO any difference between cars is more than outweighed by most drivers’ complete indifference to everything not on their phone or tablet. People have always been somewhat distracted behind the wheel in the States, but it’s absolutely ridiculous now. I’m only somewhat joking when I say I’d rather be surrounded by drunks than your average cross-over (It’s Totally Not A Minivan!) -driving suburbanite immersed in his Facebook feed. At least most of the drunks are trying to get home and doing the best they can.
Ranting aside, the Prius isn’t that bad from 0 to, say, 30. See this Edmunds test for the 2016 model, which doesn’t look too different from the 2010 I drive. 3.5 for 0-30. It gets laughable fast with a 10.1 0-60, but who does 60 on a city street, where again, the Prius is most comfy? But no, it’s not an SL65. (Which drag races very well, according to this funny article from 2005 by Ezra Dyer)
I hear ya, I’ve often thought similar things when seeing some kid or BMW driver jumping off the line and making quick lane changes to get ahead “at least they’re paying attention to the road and getting out of the way fast, which is better than you can say of most folk these days.”
(No hate on BMW drivers, I’ve owned many and currently own one, there’s just the sometimes-deserved stereotype).
Loved it. Now THAT’S a car! Where you measure fuel consumption in gallons-per-mile and would have to weld 6 econoboxes together to even come close to the power output. 
It’s been at an average 39.5 for a few years. So not as good as it maybe should be (due to my own fault of course), but not horrible, either.