Hybrids aren't just for eco-elitists anymore

The whole first part of that article in poor taste and inaccurate IMO.

 

And so the great fallacy of the Prius continues... how can you say people "pay more" for it when there is no car that is equivalent to it? I mean at best you probably could compare it to a station wagon as far as storage capacity, but then again, they're mostly comparing it to a corolla or other high efficiency economy type car.

Personally I'd like to have them compare the price paid for a Prius vs the average price of all cars that are being sold, which I'm sure with SUVs with all the luxuries being tossed in would put the Prius below that average.

 

Ditto. Apparently he didn't read the recent Consumer Reports issue where they said the Prius is the cheapest family car to own.

 

Yuppies ? No way, since the Gen I introduction here in Americas, the demographic of Prius buyers were the "Oppies" !

No Yuppies were interested in Prius then, may be now.. With Leonardo di Capprio and Cameron Diaz to name a few driving the Prius. So every yuppies wants to be seen driving the Prius.

 

Prius drivers as Yuppies! The definition of Yuppie is Ken & Barbie in a BMW.:scared:

 

Who let the monkey have the keyboard again? That guy is an idiot. The Prius as a discretionary product? Come on!! In an article full of insults, the biggest insult of all is that he thinks we will believe this drivel! I know a lot of people who drive the Prius and other hybrids -- none are like what the moron describes. What did Newsweek do with all of their editor? Were they laid off?

 

Heh. The way I've been thinking about it, as gas prices ratchet
up the rednecks are buying priuses for the MPG and then driving
them just like they drove the F350, thereby not getting anywhere
near the benefit they could. But it's just about hopeless
reaching people like that, and the only way they're going to
ever give a nod toward driving-style retraining is $10 gas and
then only very grudgingly.
.
_H*

 

Yuppie? I thought that term fell out of usage like, oh...a decade ago...? What a lame article.

I say again, until it's too expensive for Starbucks to have their little coffee stirrer sticks made in China, then shipped over here, we're not paying enough for energy.

The very fact we're still debating the merits of hybrids is rather telling, I think.

Let the price of gasoline rise stratospherically; what we're witnessing is the first signs of America's loss of control of the commodities markets. And we ain't seen nothing yet!! Wait 'till we have to buy oil in Euros, instead of Dollars! That ought to make the monster-truck drivers of America think twice (in this case, "think" is only an expression).

Personally, I think it would be amusing to watch the flag wavin,' gun totin,' dirtbike ridin' folks lose everything, supporting their addiction to foreign oil. Or, grudgingly change their ways. Either one would be amusing, but I'd rather the former, so I could buy their property for pennies on the Dollar, when they fall into forclosure or worse. Hey, those are "Market Forces" at work...and the market is king...right? I always liked the location of your home, anyway.

Oh, and if I hear one more report about an independent trucker who's facing higher fuel prices, I'm going to lose it.

Get them by their wallets, and their hearts and minds will follow. We're Americans...we believe that money means everything, and support the right to "do something" over the right to "not do something." That is, unless our credit cards are maxed out. Then we'll just go over there and physically take it from you.

I'm really kind of upset right now, and feel very strongly that it's not the government's job to keep Billy Bob's monster truck in cheap gasoline. Or, for that matter, to prop up the poorly-conceived business model of some independent trucker, or other people who use their vehicles for work.

That is, if they even have a business model in the first place. Oh, other than, "energy is artificially depressed in price, so I'll start a business exploiting that fact." Sounds American to me. Meanwhile, the troops die overseas and the War bleeds us dry.

It will be the best thing for ALL of us, to realize how much things really cost. Whether it's a McMansion, an SUV, a cheap airline ticket, a long commute to work, whatever...we're simply not paying enough for what we use, and the giant Ponzi scheme has just run out of fresh capital.

Scarcity encourages economy; abundance encourages prodigal behaviour. I'd say we've got the latter down to a science (but we're lagging so far behind in the sciences, that probably most younger Americans wouldn't even understand what I mean).

I'm not at all surprised that the rest of the world's respect for us has been seriously eroded.

We're all turning into fat, lazy boorish slobs, who feel that we're somehow entitled to all the best the world has to offer, without working for it.

We've even found ourselves needing oversize MRI machines and baby strollers, and to redesign the water rides at Disneyland, 'cause we're so goddam fat. We've turned aggressive towards each other and are all fighting for smaller and smaller pieces of the pie, but most of us are too naive/stupid/blind/in denial/selfish to take action...while we still can.

It makes me SICK, how wasteful we are, and how we attempt to justify it through "individual rights" and "freedom" and all the words which used to mean something...but don't anymore.

I'm a fiscal conservative who's sick of the wastefulness that has somehow come to be the status quo here in the land of milk and honey...and of the disinformation...and of the gullibility of our people...and of the way we're manipulated and segmented. I wish, for example, we could ---each of us--- pay our share for the War effort, as we go...that might make us remember ---again--- how much things REALLY cost!!

Not a single "Hawk" here on PC has EVER told me, even when asked directly, "how much would you ---personally--- be willing to pay, yearly, to support the War Effort? $5,000/yearly? $10,000 yearly? How much would YOU pay (not your grandchildren) for the pursuit of freedom? What does Freedom mean to you, and how much would you ---personally--- sacrifice for it?"

Their reply: it's not about money.

i.e., I don't want to pay for it myself, 'cause then I couldn't afford that new ski boat, and the big truck necessary to support my "active lifestyle."

I contend that, to these folks, this sort of wanton wastefulness (and everything like it, in whatever form) is actually more important than preserving the concept of freedom for all...or even the lives of our Armed Services Personnel.

Sickening. Selfish and sickening. And they call themselves Patriots, and question that of those who might think differently than themselves.

--PG

Sorry to hijack the thread.

 

Hybrid car buyers have generally been yuppies willing to pay more for the double satisfaction of saving a little money on gas and flaunting conspicuous, earth-saving virtue. As such, the hybrid was generally dismissed by lunch-pail American automakers as a niche product.

The article is full of inaccurate observations and contradictions. Save a little on gas in my Prius? Compared to any SUV, or large pickup truck, which use 3 times as much gas, my Prius saves a huge amount of gas, not a little.

Yuppies are driving mostly gas-hog status cars for the image, including SUV's. I don't see them driving Prii.

Harry

 

"But the rising cost of oil and the current recession, which started among subprime consumers and is steadily eating its way up the economic ladder, may combine to change the hybrid vehicle's image from a white-collar status symbol to a blue-collar money-saver."

I think the author's use of the term "yuppie" was stupid.

However, "eco-elitist" is a term which I think fits many of the folks I've read here. He's merely addressing a perception held by many people.

Your job, as eco-evangelists should be to try to get me, a Flag-wavin', Gun-totin', Racist, Bigoted, Sexist, Homophobe, who thinks Limbaugh is too Liberal, to stuff his family of four into a Little Mobile and take a Day Trip to the Sierra's for some snow fun.

Wait, I just got back from that. There were 40+ vehicles in the Parking Lot of the Sno-Park. Want to try to guess how many were plain-old Automobiles and NOT Mini-Vans, Giant Suv's or Pick-ups?

Try 4. That's right f-o-u-r. Less than 10%. And from what I could gauge from the patter emanating from Monster-Truck City, you all better learn to speak several languages other than English. Add Xenophobe to the list above, please.

So be kind to the Gray Dome with the Ron Paul bumper sticker puttering along in the Right Lane in his shiny new Prius. And to the solo driver Knuckle-Head in the Silver Prius with a Walnut Creek plate frame (and Car pool stickers, natch) who passed me on Pioneer Trail in Tahoe because I was doing the speed limit, I got 56.4 mpg for a 300 mile trip, how'd you do?

See Below.

--SD

 

Golly. That's angrier than I've ever seen you here before. But you hit most of the high points as far as I'm concerned. Frugality is declasse'. "Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law", ... I bet few can even identify the song from which that's the lyric. (America the Beautiful, for those who don't want to Google it.)

Want some perspective? It's been more than a generation since we had a real, bad, recession here in the US. A full generation of nothing but good times. So, .... we've shifted the population from ants to grasshoppers, so to speak.

What people don't get ... what people are happy to ignore until the @#$ hits the fan ... is the lag between behavior and ultimate results. We can run down existing stocks and stores for quite a while, dissipate wealth, and maintain John Q Public in a fools' paradise, if we only focus on current conditions (income) and ignore what's happening to the stock we inherited (wealth). You'd think people would, on average, to borrow a phrase from Franklin, understand the worth of water before the well runs dry. But history, and in particular the history of the price of oil, says no, most people don't pay attention until the @#$ hits the fan. And the well runs dry.

So, yeah, in my darker moments, I say, bring it on. Let's just get this over with, bear the pain, and see who has the sense to prosper in the new, energy-short regime ahead.

 

I agree with almost everything you said. The comment I selected depends on where you live though. I know a few folks in Utah and Idaho who drive a Prius, who are highly educated (We're alumni of the University of Utah), and who understand the real issues

All, without exception, have a CCW permit. Well, I used to, that obviously does not apply to Canada, and I sorely wish it did apply to Winnipeg. I would describe all as Patriotic in the true sense: they think, have genuine concern for the direction the country has taken, and have a lot of contempt for the redneck semi-illiterate baboons out there

My business travels have allowed me to visit most of the planet, and it didn't take me long to understand how most folks have to live - day to day struggle just to eat.

Although a lot of Canadians and Americans refuse to accept or admit this, here is the honest truth: we are SPOILED ROTTEN, decadent little brats who piss and moan about every little thing. We also have a sense of entitlement so thick you can cut it with a knife

So for now, as long as China keeps extending credit, we can squeak by. The day will come when China and others decide to cut back, start demanding payments on some of that principle, not just the interest. Once OPEC demands payment in Euro's instead of Dollars, we become a third world nation overnight

It will get ugly, overnight. Wouldn't surprise me if other nations did "containment" of North America, to let us fight it out among ourselves

I guess I'm not very cheerful about the outcome. I know better

 

I have no idea why I chose to read this thread, but I got a little inflamed after I dove into it. Hey, I do not conform to the idiomatic global view of those who view us Prii owners as blah, blah, blah. As a matter of fact I stand somewhat to the right of Attila The Hun. HOWEVER>>>I Love My Prius!!! and always will. Simply the best damned car I have ever owned.

We retired to Michigan so my wife could take care of her mother, elderly and in need of care. We live 22 miles from Mom and The Big Girl drives round trip 3x or 4x weekly to take care of her, take Mom to Drs, etc. The Ford Exploder gets 15 mpg...need I go further?

My idiot brother-who is actually a whiz at health care, but nothing else-told me I was an Idiot when I bought the Prius three years ago. Now he says it was a stroke of genius. I didn't do nothing but buy a car and went from idiot to genius???

Get a life and get a Prius. Go Hybrid until something better comes along. Ride the wave, eh?

 

Dude, don't sweat it. China is so heavily invested in us that to deny any economic settlement on anything would cut their own throats.

The world has already attempted to build a moat around the US and by proxie, Canada. It hasn't worked so far, and I doubt that it will in the foreseeable future.

So my advice to you is to drive well, eat well, shoot well, fish your little heart out, commune with nature, encourage conservation. Get a little drunk once in a while and a little sweaty and live a whole bunch. Life goes on and generally gets better. I would much sooner live now than 200 years ago...or even 100 years ago...or 50 years ago. WAIT...I did live 50 years ago!!! Darn it all, I forgot! Life was pretty good then too!! Enjoy the Moment.

 

Screw it, you are not worth the ban..

 

with all this "hating" going on, i really dont care anymore, i just drive mine like a regular car, and just laugh at people at the pumps when i drive right by...i have built a bridge and have gotten over it

 

unfortunately, our response to unmanageable fuel prices is to go out and take someone's else... well we are doing that and a very piss poor job of it as well. (80% of iraq oil is being sold on the black market)

as far as china continuing to loan us money because it will help them is a major crock. they have been building towards self-sufficiency for years. everything they do is in that direction.

when russia's oil fields fully open up, they will take that, flip us off and with our military already fighting another war, we couldnt even put up a token fight.

lets face it, its time to start living like the rest of the world. how each person adjusts to that fact will determine how much you enjoy the rest of your life.

 

I pretty much do that already ...

 

If one is both a gun owner and a Prius owner, is that person then an oxymoron?