sudden uptick in Gen III ownership

Kind of hard to hide 50,000+ units even in the US...

 

0 to 50K in 5 months. It's only logical.

 

And, subconsciously you are now tuned into seeing them . . . --TK

 

That's because they're finally available. We couldn't get them before. I think you'll see more and more as time goes by.

 

True, I never noticed them until I got mine. Yesteday I was going down the freeway and there were four Prius together in the lane, including mine.

I had a PT Loser rent car while my prior wrecked vehicle was being estimated and I never noticed any PT Losers before I had to drive one. They are everywhere. And it was the worst vehicle I have ever driven. Dont bother asking, the list is too long.

 

Aren't there something like 12,000 added to the nation fleet in the USA every month? I guess you will see more of them.

 

I posted a few weeks ago that I never saw a 2010 (other than my own) out in the wild, despite all the area dealers selling their allocation as soon as they came in. Just in the last week, I have seen two new ones in my small town of 80,000. Considering I do not live in "Prius friendly territory", two new ones in a week is a lot.

 

When I drove my Gen II across south eastern (outback) Queensland in 2007, I had people asking what it was, they had never seen a Prius ever.

 

Wow - at 12,000 per month Prius's are immigrating to the U.S. faster than people from the country immediately to the south of us.

Keith

 

Gen IIs are very common where I live, but it's only been in the last month or so I've been seeing Gen IIIs around.

 

I live in Staten Island, a suburb of NYC so to speak. While Prii are very common in Manhattan, I feel like the only one driving one in my area. I almost never see one, and the local dealer here almost never had one in stock until now. I had to travel to Jersey just to look at one and test drive it.

Traffic conditions here are almost ideal for hybrid driving. I don't understand why there aren't more around. OK...maybe I am a trendsetter.

 

Strangely, I was noticing MORE Gen III Priuses a couple of months ago than recently. I was parking at the Grosvenor Metro station and there are at least five others that park there (including at least two in Winter Grey, the same color as mine). Recently I've been parking at Twinbrook and don't see any. I feel that I used to see at least one every time I was out anywhere, but I now I might see one every other time. I still haven't seen another one "in the wild" with a solar roof.

I agree about the PT Cruiser. I rented one once and thought it was absolutely horrible. The "retro" styling was not limited to its look --it had all the inconveniences of a car from the 70s -- like having to press the button with your thumb and pull on the door handles to open the door. But I found the worst thing about it was the huge turning circle. It was almost impossible to safely make a U-turn even on a 4-lane road.

 

Without a doubt Chrysler makes the worst cars on the road. The power steering rack went out on my 1995 Dodge Neon two weeks after I got it. There were no extra power steering racks in the Unites States. Chrysler wouldn't allow the dealer to pull a rack unit off a car in the lot. I called Chrysler and asked them if all their Neons have power steering. They said yes. I said pull a rack unit off the assembly line and ship it to my dealer; Chrysler refused to do that. I informed Chrysler that I was a Vietnam vet, and I don't care if I go to jail as I have my 1995 Neon towed to the biggest tri state dealer in the area (NY, NJ, PA) with lemons on it, then I hung up. 45 minutes later my dealer called and told me Chrysler was FedEx a rack unit overnight. (Chrysler actually shipped two rack units). I picked up my Neon the next afternoon. Biggest piece of junk I ever owned. The PT Cruiser is made off the Neon platform. After that debacle, I bought a Honda Civic, owned it for nine years and 161,000 miles. Now I own a 2010 Prius. :cheer2: