Originally Posted By: Patman
Originally Posted By: armos
I'm somewhat amused by how many people spend $25K on a new car to save money on gas, and then routinely drive 80-85 in them.
Lately I've seen a few Smart car drivers and Prius drivers around here that were driving like maniacs, and I'm wondering why get cars like this if you're going to drive them hard? I bet you end up getting worse MPG driving a car like that at 100% throttle compared to a more powerful car that you only need to drive at 50% throttle.
While you have a point, the Prius should not need even 50% throttle to run at 80mph. Yes, it will get worse mpg at 80. At the same time, it probably gets better mpg at 80mph than say a Camry would at 80mph--and when not being driven at full tilt, getting even better.
I kinda fall into this catagory. My VW could do 50mpg. If I wanted to. Instead I can drive with the flow of traffic (or faster) and still get probably double the mpg than most other vehicles at these speeds. Well, maybe not double, but better. I just value my time a bit more than the fuel savings, that's all.