Opposition to Prius - Why?

Be proud.
I've been in all 50 states, and lived in 9 or 10 of them (lost count.)
I chose the Gulf Coast b/c of a lot of personal factors---WX notwithstanding.
It's like the original question... Re: Opposition to Prius - Why?
Most of the people who "hate" Priuses never get closer to one than the rear bumper of the car that they're tailgating.
Of course....like Southerners (or Yankees... or the folks on the left coast) there are "ambassadors" in every group the struggle furiously to perpetuate some very unfortunate stereotypes!!!

 

I was born and raised north of most Canadians. Does that make me a Yankee?



Tom

 

Hard to say....
In January, that just means you were born north of Florida.

 

I hear the same thing from Prius drivers about my Volt's battery, irony I suppose...

 

Days of Thunder best quote:

Tim Daland: If you're from California, you're not a Yankee. You're not really anything.
Harry Hogge: You said it.
[chuckles]

 

Can we stop the one-sided correlation here? Anyone who relies solely upon mainstream outlets for news is in a heap of trouble.

 

It just staggers me that this is still out there. Although I hear it occassionally to. Someone on an auto furum I go to recently posted how he works in a junk yard and they are just getting so many Prii and Civic hybrids in the last year because the battery wears out after 5 years and is so expensive that iit doesn't make sense to repair. Wth?

have you tried area Toyota dealers? or just the car rental places? Some Toyota dealers rent cars as well, you can go to the Toyota website and see the closest one that does to you, call them and ask about a Prius.

but a smaller more nimble car may have been able to either turn quicker or stop quicker than the H2 and avoid the accident all together. And clearly in this case, the H2 driver fell to the side or somehow otherwise avoided the crush to his face, it wasn't something that was inherent in him being in the H2, it isn't like as a result of being higher he avoided injury. The driver's area is still crushed where his/her head would have been. Also a car is a whole lot less likely to roll over in an accident that a truck/SUV, and roll overs are some of the most deadly accidents. It isn't unusual to see a full size truck or SUV roll on its side in what should be a fairly simple t-bone at an intersection.

 

Really, I live in CA and I have heard negative comments more than once. People actually back in 2004 when it was getting so much press, much of it false, would actually say something at the gas station.

If you want to see anti-Prius rants and/or fervor, go to any number of general car enthuiast websites like the ones for AutoWeek, or Car&Driver; or got to general motorcycle websites, you will see a bunch.

 

I took some ribbing from co-workers and friends when I bought mine. But really, I didn't buy it for them, and there are a lot of other cars I could have bought that I would have taken a ribbing for too. In the end I am comfortable enough with who I am, that it just doesn't matter. I don't need my car/truck/SUV to identify me.

3 incidents in particular stand out fairly well from the first 6 months or so that I owned the car. One was with a H2 owner at a shopping center parking lot, one was with a Durango driver at a gas pump, and one was with an Explorer driver at a baby furniture place.

The Explorer one was the funniest to me as we had both just bought the same changing table, me a couple minutes before him. I drove around back to pick it up, and while I was waiting he showed up. Then the worker wheeled out a large box, and saw the two of us there and said "who has the changing table?" to which we both said yes. I also said "ah crap" since I had expected the table to be unassembled but instead it was fully assembled, inside a box, which was surrounded by several inches of foam and then inside a larger box. And it was a larger box, by far, than I had expected. The worker then looks at the box and says "OK, who has the [model name that I forget] changing table?". Again we both say yes. And the guy says something like OK, another one must be coming then, who is first. I say I am, but that I didn't expect the box to be so big and I need to move things around, so go ahead and give it to the Explorer guy. Who then laughs and says something like your fancy little hybrid doesn't make mush sense now does it, and that is nver going to fit in there, pay me $50 and maybe I will deliver it for you." I don't really pay that much attention, as I am pretty sure it won't fit either, but what the hell, I am already there so might as well try. Easier than going home to get the wife's car or paying for delivery. So while I start popping the hatch, removing the privacy screen and folding down the back seats, the worker wheels the table over to the Explorer and they work on starting to load it. Minutes later a second worker comes out with another table on another dolly and I call him over. I look at the box and say something like "OK, let's just lift it up and try to slide it ride in here pointing to the cargo area". The worker looks at me incrediously and says "really?', meanwhile Exploder driver is moving stuff around, cause they couldn't get it in the first try, and folding down his back seats now. I say something like "it looks like it might be too big, but it is close, so let's try it." We do and the whole thing slides in there with maybe 3/4 of an inch on either side! Hatch won't close all the way, but I move the passenger seat up a smidge, push the box in a little furhter and I can even close the hatch! Beautiful! Not so good over at the Explorer, as it won't fit in! it seems that the rear wheel wells were just a little too close together and the box won't fit between them, and if they lift it over the wheel wells it isn't very stable and the back tailgate won't close, so that wouldn't work. I ask him if I should come back and deliver his for him, get in my car and drive off...

 

I frequent a lot of these sites...being something of a car guy and a motorcycle rider. I do see the occasional comments about Priuses not being the sportiest cars out there (Duh!) but most of the reviews that I've read from anything close to a reputable reviewer are pretty close to being accurate. No battery FUD. No zero to sixty blasts requiring a calendar to compute. No crazy repair costs.
If C&D or R&T happen to say that Priuses aren't the most exiting car to drive, well....from their standpoint that's probably a pretty accurate observation, and not "Opposition to Priuses." It’s hard to do a spread on an asphalt eating Corvette, or a Viper and then climb into a new G3 and write about how much fun it is to blur your vision with one out on the skid-pad.
What I do see a lot of is fanaticism from Prius drivers who have to wipe spittle off of their computer monitors every time somebody says anything the least bit negative about their enlightened, world-saving little cars.

I've only got 10,000 miles in type, but all of them are down here in the Redneck Riviera. Probably not the "hybrid friendliest" place on earth. Gas is pretty cheap here. ($3.30 today) Lotsa people down here favor pickemup trucks, if you know what I mean.
I never hear anything bad about my car down here except from the union hacks that are still seething about the fact that my company rolls ferign-built cars.
I do not know....maybe I just don't go around looking for opposition to what I choose to drive...

 

Sorry, to be clear, not the writters of the magazines (although some of them can be unduly harsh to), but the posters to the forums.

Like
2012 Toyota Prius V, an AW Flash Drive Car Review - AutoWeek

 

^Wow, talk about Toyota hate in those responses. Now someone please don't try to tell me they're all FauxNews viewers. ;-)

 

ETC- I wish I could say the same from where I live...