something's not right

If he was a troll, then his FUD tatics worked quite well, 3512 reads and 119 replies to his 26 posts, and he grew tired of the game.
If not, then his narcissism borders on becoming dysfunctional, and he was not getting the self-gratification he was looking for.
There is one other thought, for his sudden silence, but I truely and sincerely hope that his driving habits did not finally catch up with him.

 

People, the guy came in and got his questions answered. He admitted he was going to try to modify his driving habits but not if it took too much effort, otherwise he'd move on.

I don't think it's the OP who wants to see this thread continue so badly, I think it's our own need for drama.

/end thread

 

Excellant point somehow I missed that post. Apologies and good luck to Mfarmer1. I think that the thing that got to the most, me was the fact that "HE" was too busy to read the manual. But seemed to expect the members here on PC to take their time to do his due diligience, and Then dis them when they tried to help. :yield:

 

When he finds his mileage doesn't increase "by driving like an old lady", he should sell and buy one of those fancy, shiny new Volkswagon diesels. I think he would like the power, handling, and mileage he would get with it, although he may not like the extra $0.50 - $1.00 gallon he'd have to pay for diesel.

 

A testament to how the "internets" has become daddy. You just ask him how things work and you magically get an answer. Like an electrical current, humanity takes the route of least resistance. Not surprising considering how many instructions/manuals/etc are difficult to understand, either because of poor organization, poor translation, or both.

You have a point here, but I think his anger is more directed at the situation rather than the people on PriusChat. Obviously if he had come to PriusChat or consulted Mother Google (a woman once told me Google was female because she knows everything) before his purchase of the Prius, he would have had more realistic expectations.

It is annoying to watch such a cavalier attitude toward a major purchase, followed by indigence at the results.

I once bought a car without even a test drive. A 199-something Tercel. I had a Corolla and knew that Toyota made good cars. It turned out to be even better than the Corolla (65K trouble-free miles before it was totaled by two consecutive hailstorms then an airbag-deploying accident, lol), but it could have turned out differently. *shrug*

There are many reasons to like, even love driving a Prius. Gas mileage is a biggie, but not the whole picture. I think given some time, the OP will either decide he likes the car or he won't. Hopefully he will report back after he's put some miles on it and has a better perspective.

 

James,

You are giving the OP far too much credit. His original post was crafted to offend, not befriend. His attitude really didn't change throughout. It was largely a political statement.

It is one thing to have difficulty finding information in the manual, misunderstanding something, or missing information even if it is plain sight (I'm sure we have all been guilty of that.) It is entirely another to say that even looking is unnecessary and a waste of our time and therefore we expect somebody else to spoon feed us because we are lazy. "RTFM!" is the appropriate response in such cases, as is "use the search function."

It is one thing for someone to come in with an arrogant attitude and illustrate that they really do know what they are talking about, understand the car, etc. It is another for someone to be arrogant without any justification for it. I don't care that much if someone is arrogant if they really know their stuff, but when they are ignorant of the subject (and intentionally so) I wonder what the heck is wrong with them.

 

Ya know folks, not everyone has to like the Prius. Even if the satisfaction rating is 94% (IIRC, Consumer Reports figure) that means 6% were not satisfied.

Here is my reasoning for why the OP should sell the car and get something else:

Someone here on PriusChat has summed it up in their signature:

Greenie, Techie, Cheepie

Some people want the car because it is "green". In fact, if you read the history of the car, the original design goal was to produce an eco-car for the 21st century. The OP makes it very clear in his first post that he has distain for this.

Some people are impressed by the technological innovation. In his second post, he says "I don't want to play games with the car". He is not interested in learning how the car works, he just wants to drive it, so I wouldn't classify him as a techie.

Some people want to save money. Bingo, we have a match. His sole stated reason for buying the car is to save money. But, it isn't going to save him as much money as he would like. He isn't willing to change his driving habits to attempt to save more fuel. He will still get better mileage than almost any other car (possible exception might be a TDI) at those speeds, but he is disappointed with the mileage nonetheless.

He will probably be happier with a car that costs less and gets 30-32 mpg instead of 38 - 40 mpg.

It's ok, Toyota will survive without him.

 

While I believe in free speech and free association, I think this site is going to draw a Prius-friendly (if not Prius-loving) crowd for the most part. If you don't like your Prius, that's okay. Different "strokes" for different folks (pun intended).

On the other hand, there will be a bit of blowback even if you're not really one who dwells under bridges. We bought them and we love them. And a lot of us are probably enough products of America's love affair with their cars to be pretty protective of our "family members." Especially if you don't have a Prius or want one (before or after buying one!). It's okay for me to complain about my Prius but you best be careful!

That being said, we still need to maintain a helpful attitude until we know for sure the poster lurks under bridges.

And even as we love the people in our lives, we will have issues with our Prii (I haven't yet but it will happen sometime!). That's okay. We can learn from one another, commiserate with one another.

 

Really? They why did I not feel offended? Am I just too stupid to see through his web of crafty deceit? I didn't feel a lot of love, either, but so what. Your attempt to ascribe malicious intent to the OP is based on circumstantial evidence. You have a gut feeling based on the tone of his remarks. That tone can be attributed to many things. Perhaps you are right. There is an equal chance you are wrong.

Wait, so first you peg him as a political operative, then in closing you fault him for simply being arrogant without justification. You're losing me somewhere.

If he was someone who came here to post solely for a political agenda he would not have stopped arguing so easily. Does he have political ideas that run contrary to many posters here? Yes. Does that prove he is just out to be a troll? No. He is just someone who got embarrassed at his misconceptions and/or got the info he needed about the Prius and stopped posting.

He sounds like a competent business owner with a bit of swagger. He bought a Corolla as a company car for one worker, which has shown him to his workers to be a competent boss who is making sound and practical decisions for the company. However, in buying the Prius he may feel like he's been played the fool only getting 38 mpg and paying much much more for it.

But played the fool by who? Not by anyone but his own misconceptions and assumptions. He realizes that after having this conversation. Otherwise he'd still be posting and arguing with everyone who got riled up.

Sometimes we see what we want to see in others. I don't always give people the benefit of the doubt, but when I do things usually work out for the better.

Taking the simplistic "I'll just call a spade a spade" attitude is the very thing that I hear intelligent liberals offer up as criticism of middle-American conservatives. You can have a more progressive mind and still have a twig of hay in your mouth as you espouse your own brand of folksy wisdom.

 

Alot of good posts today! Good, self-searching, thought provoking comments. Ya gotta love PC! Sincerely enjoyed digesting the various points of view. It is a broadening experience. :grouphug:

 

Uh...yes...you are too stupid, but so am I because I didn't get that from the OP either.

 

This thread reminded me a lot of the one where the OP wanted to modify his Prius - given to him by his 'rents - so he could beat his friends Mustang. Alas, the thread ended in ultimate disappointment for him and his car.

That thread was a hoot.

 

Just want to start out by saying, don't take this personally, I'm not worked up over this and am just having some fun with the discussion here.

Perhaps you weren't his intended target? His first post and subsequent posts were clearly bow shots at the community at large. There was no reason to go off on the political tangent in his posts--that was a swipe. I've got a 4WD truck and wouldn't go wading into a community forum asking for help by slamming hunting, off roading, farming/ranching, and gas guzzling V8's.

Ignoring a pattern is not in my nature. A single hasty/passionate post is one thing, but this was a series of combatitive, insulting posts. Confidence in the assumption rises with the quantity of confirming data. So the confidence limit for this assumption is well over 50%.

Why can't someone be both? There is nothing exclusive about the two (regardless of whether the bent is conservative, libertarian, progressive, liberal, socialist, etc.) "Operative" is stronger than I would state it, but it is evident that he wanted to make a statement as that information was irrelevant to his concern and best left unsaid. His posts exuded a sense of disdain for and superiority to what he perceived as the political and driving interests of the community.

Now who is making assumptions with a lack of data? (I agree both are plausible. I'll also offer that perhaps he decided to sell, that would be a win-win...or maybe win-win-win: buyer - seller - community.)

I have to disagree there with regards to "competent." He might portray himself as that, but his beligerence and intentional ignorance don't give me the impression of competence. Swagger, yes, competence? Seems contra-indicated.

And sometimes giving someone the benefit of a doubt has cost me dearly. I've learned to be more wary as giving the benefit of a doubt is a low probabilty play. Doesn't mean that I don't do it, but I've learned to follow my own instincts rather than get burned for not doing so. Sometimes my instincts say, "assume they are misinformed" rather than malicious. And I reserve the right to change my mind as new data comes to light.

I grew up on a farm and will remind you that hay has more uses than fodder. We used the poorer quality stuff as bedding/floor covering in the barns and sheds. I wouldn't advise sticking a "twig" of that in your mouth.

All in good fun.

 

This morning on the way to work, I thought I had met the OP, but I guess it was his twin sister. I was doing 50 in a 45 zone on in the middle lane of a 3-lane (one way) city major street. This Prius comes up behind me doing at least 65, swerves into the right lane (which I already knew) which ended about 40 feet later, then swerves back into my lane just before running a concrete barrier or two (more curb-size). I can't see the front of her car but she then swerves into the left lane making the car that had been there have to brake hard, she speeds up and then swerves back into my lane, then into the lane that resumed after the concrete barrier signals a right turn, then swerves back into the middle lane, turns off the blinker and runs the orange light. I doubt she gets any better than 38 mpg either.

 

Some good points, Shawn. I guess nothing he said really bothered me so I have taken the opposite view of him from your own. *shrug* I reserve the right to be equally wrong. Let's see if he checks back in some day, and if so, what will his story be.

 

Perhaps his employee?