People wish they had my car! :D

Maybe one day men can "compensate for something" by the highest miles per gallon instead of the biggest wheels and the highest truck door from the ground... One day...

 

Well, one can always wish and it looks like it might slowly be happing Come on guys, we will find it very attractive!

 

Now there is a bunch of more people that think we are smug about our cars all the time.

 

Well, in all honesty, the Prius is a transportation appliance. Some people genuinely prefer a "driving machine".

Yes, they do.

Yugo? Gremlin?

 

Had the same thing happen about 10 years ago involving Volvo's when I ran into a fellow Volvo owner at my bank. We got talking about how many miles (200K plus) we had on our respective cars. Same reaction stares and jaw dropping looks.

I see with taxes and retailer profits, gas will be heading over $3.00 a gallon with in the next two or three weeks here in Pa..

I still see $3.50 gas from early July past Labor day. It is going to get ugly as the summer proceeds and prices rise.

Those of us that have seen the writing on the wall since 2005 will do ok. Those who have been in denial about rising gas prices are going to get burned.

 

Well, in my eyes your smug attitude doesn't help with the Prius hate we all see. Your "compensate" comment smacks of blatant sexism.

I sometimes drive a big shiny black Dodge Ram 4x4 with a Hemi engine and loud pipes. I use it to haul and tow heavy loads. I'm one of the guys you seem to look down upon without even knowing what I use the pickup for.

Ironically though, I drive a Prius for about 90% of all my driving. So if I drive my pickup I'm compensating, and you would roll your eyes at me. But if I'm driving my Prius I'd be one of the cool ones?

Bo

 

I have no problem with people with trucks that use them. However, around here people buy huge trucks with extreme lift kits that are RWD. One person drives them, and there isnt a scratch in the bed, so unless their haul is extremely slick, they probably never use it except for driving around town. The lift kits are body only, and the actual suspension/drive components are all still stock height, completely negating any positive reason for using a lift kit except to grab attention. RWD in this area makes no sense, and these are the same idiots that run off the road.

 

I think things are changing.

It used to be coaxing, building or modifying your vehicle to get the most horsepower. The challenge was 0-60 times and played out in drag races.

Slowly, I think we are seeing a generation far less impressed or concerned with that reality. With inner city and suburban congestion making the open road harder to find, I think The Prius is the crest of the wave in a slow perceptional change. Mileage challenges are the drag races of the past.

Oh, The Prius has a power button, so don't get me wrong. Desire for speed, power and torque will always exist, but I think a new generation will add efficiency as an enjoyable part of vehicle ownership.

 

draft behind a tractor trailer

 

If someone plans to do this, i would recomend buying alot of touch up paint.

 

Well .... showing respect to the Gremlin would be quite a stretch...

I don't think I ever knew what Yugo looked like. I understand it was pretty nondescript, recognizable only by the driver with his hand out the window trying to stop the windshield wiper from falling off.

 

Welllllll .... I don't count on human nature to change all that much or that fast.

Once plug-in hybrid techhology is robust enough, and batteries more economical (for the massive batteries that'd be required), we're going to see a Ford F150 plug-in hybrid way up off the ground, and sporting huge wheels and all the rest. And a segment of the population will pay the price to get them [I'm assuming that over the long term that in the US, gas will not only go up much higher in cost, but also start to become scarce ... the growing Chinese market will compete with us for oil in a way they do'n't today. Probably the same thing for India.)

So just wait to see those trucks with green leaf's on them.

 

I don't understand this other vehicle bashing from Prius owners either, it goes both ways...

I've got a pickup and a prius...My pickup would weep at the consumption of my prius, yet the prius would not be able to move my boat trailer and cry its acid batteries tears at the thought alone...

Each to their own good jobs, no need to be smug about it...Not a nice character trade and a bit foolish actually...

 

I think it is a waste of natural resources to have so
many people going around driving big F-150s as
their everyday car...that is, one passenger, no
cargo. But, they are the ones who have to pay
their bills, so I don't fault their choice.

By the way, while pickup trucks are frequently the
vehicle of choice for men, I do see an awful lot of SUVs
(think: Escalade) being driven by women.

What irks me is when pickup trucks roar by me
with barely a foot or two to spare when I am out riding
my bike. Try standing two feet away from a pickup
going 35 mph, and you will see that that is not a
pleasant experience. I was out riding with a friend just
yesterday, and it happened to us at least three times.
In every case, there was plenty of room for truck and
bike, but the pickup drivers behaved as if the road
belonged only to them. Tellingly, that didn't happen
to us even once with a driver of a small/regular-size car.

 

I chose those two for a reason. I consider the Gremlin a complete abomination. The Yugo, despite it's many shortcomings, actually has a perverse cult following. It's hard to say what yanks a particular person's chain. Sometimes it's just a lust to be seen holding contrarian views.

I guess my unfocused point is that no car is guaranteed respect, and any car can be the target of derision. Except for the Prius of course, as it was handed to man from the mighty shoulders of Zeus himself.

 

It was certainly not my intent to make you look like you were putting anyone in danger.

Believe me, I took some heat about my new Prius from my pickup buddies who also own Dodge Rams like mine. The always present "girlie car" innuendos and such.

But then they ride in it, and maybe even drive it and the comments stop. Then they see the overall 49.4 mpg for a tank of fuel and they start asking more questions. There is SO much misinformation out there it takes 20 minutes to debunk the rumors. Anyone with an open mind and half a brain looks at the Prius and sees the future parked there in front of them.

Everyday I'm out recruiting people who never saw themselves in a Prius. If you can get the door open a crack, the Prius sells itself.
Give it a try!

 

The number 1 misconception is: the Prius is small.

My wife's ex and several of her colleagues remarked how they were surprised at the space when they sat in it or rode in it.

I can understand if people have driven the Prius and don't like it (my wife doesn't like driving it, Power mode just makes it tolerable), and some people hate it without ever having driven it, but I think that given how many people think of it as small and underpowered there's still plenty of room for market expansion.