alright, this is just to satisfy my own curiosity... i've been reading those forum and all, and i can't count all the numbers of times that i have seen that prius owners also had/have Lexus, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Jag, etc. i don't know, but there is NO WAY that i would ever be able to afford one of those! so i was just wondering in which class of income you guys fit. 0-35 000$/ year 35 000- 55 000$/year 55 000 - 85 000$/year 85 000 - 105 000$/ year 105 000$ +/year i tried to make it a poll, but not sure if it's working
I make very little Money which is the reason why I need to drive a prius. i simply cannot a4d to drive any other car.
Interesting, but the true measure would be Net Worth/Liquid Assets! I own two Hondas besides the Prius, all three are paid for. I could very easily have an Audi and a Mercedes Benz as our other vehicles and be up to my ears in debt!
$1560/mo retirement. Haven't started Social Security yet. Gas for my F-150 2WD 4.6l high speed rear end was eating me alive.
Think about it, your dealing mostly with people who can at least afford a new-or newer automobile. Does seem like The Prius becomes the "daily driver" for a lot of people who own multiple automobiles. Cheap- Rich Bastards.... As the Prius ages, you have a more diverse economic range purchasing older Prius, but if we are talking new Prius? Then you are talking a vehicle $20,000+, that's not the choice of someone just trying to make ends meet and survive on a budget. Even if it might be on the cheaper end of the strata for someone who can afford a Lexus, BMW or Audi.
It is not what you earn, gross or net, but effective income - what you keep. Prius earners are wealthier by being more efficient and thinking and acting long term. We are "wealthy" through efficiency and good health, not through short-term thinking and acting. We support the local economy through slow food and slow money, we have a large year-round organic garden, a super efficient home and enjoy good health.
I'm poor. I'm a student haha. Well not entirely poor but I save for what I want. I work part time at 2 places and then go to school. Its nice not having mortgage or anything crazy like that though.
The thing I've heard time and again about the Prius, is that the Prius is the Highest end car that some 'poorer' people will buy, and is often the lowest end car a 'rich' person would buy. That said, Salary is not a good way to measure Wealth. I know folks who earn very little cash each year, but may be worth millions (from other means, or a lucrative deal, etc.), and others who make a salary several times higher that your chart goes, but after counting their debts, and inverted and upside down in equity, with a negative net worth. I'm not sayin anything here, I'm just saying.
I think we have had this before, but again I suggest you make it a logarithmic poll instead of linear like you have. My bet is there is a huge deviation in the less than $35k range, and a much larger variation in the $105+ range. Also keep in mind many people have multi-income houses when they purchase cars, so that right there would hopefully tip those scales much higher...
We? Blanket statements are dangerous. The only thing you can say for sure, is IF you own a new Prius then you at least "think" you can afford $22,000+ for a vehicle. Poverty, is entrapping, and without making blanket statements about either the wealthy or the poor, I'd say I personally don't like the assumption that wealth is earned through thinking long term or making good efficient decisions...and only because that implies the converse to the impoverished. That's not fair. If you've earned it? Fine. But if you are lucky enough to have a home, have property and a garden and make decisions either short term or long term then that is an advantage many that struggle in poverty never even get the chance to apply. Without getting too far off the original topic, the gap between the Haves, and The Have Not's continues to widen in this country and throughout the world. To make a dangerous blanket statement, I'd say if you can afford a brand new Prius you are likely to be considered one of those who can have...more than have not. Whether you earned that position through hard work, or had a degree of it handed to you through birth and social economic inheritance, is an individual reality. Ironically, some of our "greenest" fellow human beings, those really not burning fossil fuel and living off the grid, are the marginalized and homeless. Unfortunately they are often trapped in a loop of thinking short term, thinking about surviving the next 24 hours, and never afforded the luxury that comes with the freedom expendable income affords. But I strive to attach no stereotypes of either entitlement to wealth nor application that it is because of a lack of making the "right" decisions that people become or are impoverished. Opportunity can be earned, but to deny that there is not a difference in the availabilty of opportunity based on a lot of factors that are often out of most peoples control, would be unfair.
Heck, then you can afford a second Prius, with spinners, neon, and a gold plated duck hood ornament. Quack.
General rule of thumb is that people can afford a car 30% of their salary. at least that's what i read in some financial magazine. So you figure somebody who makes say $75k/year can comfortably afford a prius. But i think that the prius is for more "wealthier" people, due to its $20k+ price range. People who don't have as much money, but still want to save gas, usually end up buying smaller cars like the Fit, Yaris, Accent, Focus, Fiesta...those sub-compacts that get 30+ mpg and cost less than $15k. Or they buy a prius used =)
Gold hood ornament? No no, you need to go all out! This Mercedes SLR McLaren is built out of white gold for none other than the (or one of the) prince's of Abu Dabi, UAE...
Not exactly. It has a finish that resembles chrome. Not cheap, but not a car built out of gold. BMW and Mercedes often use this finish on concept cars.
And to all of you who know someone driving a gas-guzzler...this is where and what the money is going towards.