Got a Prius, Drivers Now Hate Me.
 

Any fellow Prius or hybrid drivers out there getting a #1 finger tosses there way more then in other cars? I drove a 1999 camry for 5 years and drove pretty conservatively but was hardly ever flipped off or had someone flash their brights at me ( not because my lights were off ). Now in my 2008 Prius I feel like the scum of the world. I drive the speed limit, definitely accelerate slowly but I'm not driving 35 in a 55 if you know what I mean. Anyone else experience this, or is it just Southern California crazy people who must be flooring it to a red light.

I find that I can accelerate pretty hard in my Prius and still get better mileage than the third gens. The key is to do the coasting and braking (or lack thereof) intelligently. It might cost a little mileage, but they Prius makes it easy to do a good amount of hypermiling without being hated.

I thought that accelerating hard was actually better for fuel economy.

Prius sales are strong in my area and they seem to be well accepted on the road.

There will always be those drivers out there that hate for no real reason.

I do agree with vskid. You don't have to accelerate slowly. I accelerate in my 04 usually between 2000 and 2500 rpm which is on the slower side of average, but not obnoxiously slow. I also don't hesitate to give it a bit more, it really doesn't seem to hurt FE much. I drive the speed limit above 40 mph. Under 40 I do P&G as traffic allows. I don't get too many angry passers by, but do get lots of passers by.

Welcome to California! State of the most idiotic drivers in the country! Tbh I either flip them off back, or in the case they flash their brights at me, I just pop it in neutral and coast until they either A. Get so tired of sitting behind me they move or B. My speed gets so low they can't stand it, they go around. In the case of retaliation by brake checking, I just slow down so much so that they can't possibly brake check me at that speed, they get so bored they just leave. All the aforementioned actions keep you out of trouble with the law, keep you and other drivers around you out of danger and get rid of the offending car.

Happens here. Drivers see the hybrid logo and seem to automatically get pissed off. I get a lot more tailgaiting now than in my last car, as well as other strange behaviors.

Yesterday I was doing 35 in a 30 (downhill) and had an F350 get on my bumper, wave his hands at me, and then pass at close to 60mph in downtown Tallahassee. Have had other vehicles nearly get into accidents trying to get around me, when I was moving with traffic no less.

I often make a point of out-accelerating them at the next stoplight, which we inevitably both end up at together.

I rarely get abused in traffic these days, mainly because:

#1 - I haul ass up to speed with full assist, not so much to pacify the other drivers, but more so because I want the shortest time possible between a dead stop and lean burn!

#2 - I completely de-badged the Turtle, except for the big ole Ecomodder decal on the back. Nobody even seems to realize it's a Hybrid, and I'm not going so much slower than traffic that I make a spectacle of myself

#3 - I never take I-4 (Interstate), and I now have modified my route to where I am on 4-lane roads almost the entire time where there is room to get around me, without a crazy amount of lights. Only the last three or four miles is on a two lane road, but it's not heavily traveled, and anybody behind me just goes around me anyway.

Does heavy acceleration net more mpg? I accelerate at 30% throttle 80% engine load up to speed, but have often wondered if 40/90 would be more fuel efficient.

I don't know at what throttle point the Insight starts enriching, but I've had my best numbers with gradual acceleration between maybe 2000 and 3000rpm. It may be more due to lower average speed in town than being the most efficient way to accelerate.