Why did you buy a Prius ??

Like you, I bought just to save money on gas. My decision is paying off and I get the added bonus of technology, low emissions and lots of comfort and fun, for the money! No regrets here.

 

The truck cost me $100 every 4 days to fill up. The prius cost me $40 about every 2 weeks. That about sums it up.

 

The reasons you gave as choices were:

• to show the world I am green
• to save money on fuel

Why would you think that either of these reasons would necessarily be someone's primary reason for buying a Prius?

People buy cars for a multitude of multiple reasons and in many cases, neither of the reasons you listed may have been significant factors at all.

 

Why a Prius? The vehicle i was driving was getting 22mpg combined not very good for a 4 cylinder. The vehicle had good resale value . I drove the prius along with my wife and we both loved the prius seemed so smooth. The fact that i trimmed $150 a month of my car payment and only $6 a year higher insurance was very intriguing. Then 2 years or 25 thousand mile free maintance along with toyota/prius reliability helped the deal. Paying msrp and nothing extra was the frosting on the cake. P.s. I also cheated and read Prius chat for several weeks, thanks everyone you sealed the deal that parked a blue 2011 prius III in my garage.

 

I bought it reduce the CO2 load I put into this overloaded atmosphere, and bought a house where I could walk to work as well. While $ was a strong consideration , caring about this little rock we all live on was the main thing, I guess that makes me green - but coming from studying and teaching Climatology and Astronomy its clear we have to make major changes or face the consequences in an unbalanced planetary atmosphere, too bad our elected representatives are mostly lawyers-politicians who never took a science class.

 

Green-schmeen-laugh machine.
I bought it because:
1) I was through with the crap that American auto manufacturers put out;
2) with the problems I experienced in my last VW, I was ready to give Japanese cars a second chance;
3) I wanted to save money on gas.

The clincher was that my 80 lb. dog could easily get in and out of the back doors.

It's a means of transportation, not a way of life.

 

It seems that the overwhelming majority of those who voted have done it to save fuel (95%+).

I'm another person who didn't buy the Prius for either of the reasons above: I bought it to minimize my gas consumption.

I didn't buy it to save money on fuel. I expect that over the lifetime of the vehicle I'll just about to break even compared to a Civic and I can afford it if it doesn't quite make it.

I didn't buy it to show anyone that I'm green.

 

1.Bought it to ride solo in the HOV lane of the Long Island Expressway. ( Clean Pass Vehicle )

 

Lets see if I have this straight, you eliminated all other choices except saving gas and a strawman of appearing green. (no choice for being green)

Then you are 'amazed' that when offered NO other choices, 95% chose to save gas. Let me guess, you do 'research' for Fox News, don't you?

 

I had two primary reasons for a Prius purchase. 1 to save money on fuel (I drive 15K + a year). and 2 for political reasons, I want to do my part, however small, to reduce my country's dependance on foreign oil.:attention:

 

I bought it because:
1. "different" from most cars on the road (best hybrid technology at the moment I bought)
2. "indifferent" in regards of status symbol (both normal and super rich people drive it)

 

I bought mine, because the 2000 Grand Am has 160,000 miles on it, and is getting tired. I needed a new car, I wanted something with twice the gas mileage of the Pontiac, and am green. They call me froggy at work, I'm so green!

 

vnhk is referring to the widespread idea that it's (or it was) a Hollywood status symbol. Larry David sort of started it with the Gen I Prius, and a lot more followed. Just Google "celebrity Prius" or "Hollywood Prius".

 

I would say quite a few.

F8L Technology

F8L Low Emissions

F8L Savings

F8L Lower Dependance on Foreign Oil
Gurple42

Mmcdonal Toyota dependability

Mmcdonal Availability (range?)

Mmcdonal Mentions being green not being seen to be green
Stream

Ryanpl Green
Teakwood

I listed 9 reasons, none on your list.

Energyandair denies your only two choices but does not list his reasons

tedjohnson Reduce CO2

Teakwood not American made

Teakwood cargo room

Notaboutthemoney Reduce gas consumption

JGC61 HOV lane eligibility

vnhk different

vnhk broad range of owners, 'classless'

Those are just the one's who cared enough to object.

 

Hey Ted, that's great, and it really makes the distinction between trying show the world you're green and being green. Jimbo made that point very clearly (and well), too.

The other thing is the difficult and troublesome tendency of people exhibiting certain behaviors characteristic of a larger to group to distance themselves from said group for various personal reasons, avoidance of a "label", etc., while simultaneously harming the group of which they're a part. If you're driving a Prius, you're being more "green" than most people in terms of your driving habits. Why avoid the "green" label?

I feel particularly sensitive to this since I've gotten tired over the years of hearing gay friends saying there's no need to come out to their family, or mention it if it comes up at work, because it's their personal business. It's not. Everytime someone comes out and changes a person's mind about what that means for the better, the more accepted it is. One person who otherwise would've raised their child to actually hate another human being they've never met will now do just the opposite. Coming out today prevents a gay kid from being forced to suicide, or maybe killed, in 25 years.

Likewise, if you're getting better mileage than 99% of everyone on the road (think of hybrid market share, then Prius market share of that, etc., this number is actually about right on), making being "green" a negligible afterthought, or worse, a shameful secret to hide, will not do anything except enhance or protect a self-conceived image about who a person is. You can choose to tell coworkers "oh, hell no, I'm not green" or you could change one person's mind about something. And maybe another person will stumble across a Prius blog on the internet and see your results, and maybe someone might be led to living *generally* more sustainable, having seen that it's possible.

I'm purposely sort of conflating present tense, the now, with the past tense of the original poll question, because people's minds certainly change, and throughout the thread we're seeing both.

We're probably going to, for practical purposes, going to run out of oil during my life, and then things will get quite difficult, or at least very expensive, for many, many people. So yeah, we don't have to tell people we're green (or gay), or anything else, as long as we realize we're just deferring our problems until later - when they're other people's problems, and potentially very grave and serious ones.

fyi, I did it for the money AND to be green. Which option should I select?

 

honestly i bought our prius because gas is $4.15 a gal, only reason im sick and tired of supporting the dirt bags in the middle east and the ones in our country called speculators, personally i dont go for green stuff or whatever,dont believe in it dont care , what we care about is how much money we send over seas to people who spit on us,and to say screw you to our govt for allowing it