Opposition to Prius - Why?

You know, I think you've hit it here...

I get the same sort of response from people when they find out I'm vegetarian/vegan. Like, what I choose to eat is somehow a personal affront to them.

Drive what you like. Really.

 

If you're happy with a very basic economic car with great MPG, then get it.

If you're into performance, or better interior, handdling, acceleration, braking, get a different car..

But yeah Be sure to test drive the prius, at the FREEWAY/HIGHWAY and the City.

You will see a considerable difference in the drive once you take it to the highway. And test the speed, acceleration and brakes. If you are happy with the driving mechanics, you will be happy with your purchase.

I regret getting the Prius because i'm more happy with performance of a car. But im sure alot of people are suited to the car.

 

Years ago I remember a fellow bought a Prius because he wanted to use less fuel, but did not appreciate the yuppy/liberal associations attached to the car by his neighbors. He solved his problems overnight by putting a 'pissing on OPEC' cartoon on his car. Pariah to hero at warp speed of 50 mpg.

 

Unsecured paint cans in back -- do you mean this crash: Dodge Ram vs. Prius - Bad Accident? The Prius driver survived, despite disabling injuries from unsecured cargo, and spoke to the court before the truck driver's criminal sentencing: Navy Captain survives horrific Prius crash.

I wish the original slide show was still available. My memory is of an overhead shot, of a Prius with an apparently intact roof and a pickup with a significantly crumpled roof.

 

People will always bash things they secretly want. Everyone who bashes apple secretly wants an iPod. I mean everyone has one, they're better looking than any other mp3 player...etc. Everyone who bashes google secretly uses it as their primary search engine. As for the prius, everyone wants great gas mileage, they're just too vain or too dumb or misinformed with all these false hybrid urban legends they don't want to bother.

Nobody likes change. Our country is backwards like that. We're always last embracing progress.

 

I want to give as little of my money to oil companies as possible. I look at driving the Prius as thumbing my nose at them. If gas spikes up again I will still drive to the beach while the neighbors have a "staycation"!

When people ask about the MPG and I tell them I often get a "Yea, right" look. I don't think they believe.

I drive a car that is the best at something. Unless you are driving a Bugatti or Rolls, STFU.

 

There are many reason for the Prius being bashed by people, here are some of what I believe are the most relevant:

1. A big, fast car is a status symbol, a manhood and sexual prowess symbol for men and an emacipation symbol for women. It's supposed to tell the world "Hey, look! I'am rich, I am powerful, I am a true man since I can tame this beast", or even: "I am my car" and so on for women.
The Prius on this matter is a big understatement, no roaring engine, no smoking exausts, no burnouts, functional and minimalistic design, nice but not luxurious, and certainly not big to be feared when on viewed the back mirror. Thus the adjective "gay", often referred to the Prius or to its owner. As funny as it may sound the same adjectives were used to define my former car (Boxster S). Again in this case that car is a big understatement as it's not meant to be eye-catching, it's meant to be fast, fun and effective, at an "affordable price" and it is.

2. Ignorance. In my country many people buy high MPG cars due to high gas prices, but the Prius, despite being one of the most fuel efficient (if not the most fuel efficient), is rarely taken into consideration except by taxi drivers. The specialised press tends to make fun of the Prius anytime it is reviewed or mentioned but they cannot deny its outstanding mileage so they tell what people want to hear: it's a car for city driving, on the highway it can't do better mileage than a diesel, it is boring to drive and stuff like that. Like it happens to you in the US the press protects homemade products by bashing the opponents or spreading misleading information.

3. Reluctancy to change, a subform of xenophoby. The Prius is strange, from its shape to its inner workings it redefines the concept of car. People are conservative, they don't trust what is different or what they don't understand (see #2) and may even come to hate it just for being different: this feeling can be felt towards a skin color or a religion and even a futuristic car.

 

Here's my take on why it grows on people:

Although you wouldn't think it to look at it, it turns out it's actually kind of fun to drive around town on errands, in the same way a go-cart or golf cart can be fun to drive. It's small, maneuverable and quiet, and just kind of zips around and is easy to park. If you have a V with the tighter steering and bigger wheels, all the better.

A lot of people have commented on how their whole driving stye tends to change and become more relaxed with this car.

Being relatively small on the outside, people don't realize how much interior space there is. When you actually own one, you come to appreciate all that space and the practicality of the hatchback for daily errands and cargo.

There is almost no maintenance on this car. Over time, you come to appreciate all the little things that you don't have to worry about breaking on this car, like the transmission, no alternator or starter motor or belt, etc.

The geeky types love learning about how it all works. The hybrid tech is new and interesting and can be gamed and customized in a lot of ways. Originally, it was one of the few cars at this price level that you could get with a lot of ancillary tech (not so true anymore).

FYI, the Nav is not as bad as some people say, and has some ancillary benefits, like ease of setup of phones and contacts, ease of certain controls like the radio, and bluetooth wireless audio streaming. Also, you may want to consider the IV or V just for the better seats. I would test drive both a II or III and a IV or V. I love the tighter steering, stable wheels, dynamic radar cruise control and PCS on my V with AT, but you may balk at the price.

 

I applaud your resistance to be labelled. Why do people have to label themselves and somebody else into a "name"? They do that to identify that you are not one of "them". It's discrimination in disguise. It's like primitive tribes drawing different facial symbols on their faces; it's gangsters having secret tattoos or hand shakes to identify whose "our guy" and whose not. Plain silliness if I may say so.

We humans distinguished ourselves from other animals by thinking. So the only "name" I'd like to be called is "the thinker". When we think and reason based on facts, that's how the society progress.

The "conservatives" (they call themselves such, I don't) bash anything that's new and innovative just to "conserve" their status quo of power by way of big money influencing the government. Of course the Prius is one of the innovations being bashed by them, because the name Prius is a Latin word meaning "ahead, in front, leading".

I wouldn't worry about being called names. You are a true thinker and this world needs a lot more people like you.

 

We have folks here on PC that 'need' to make their Prius loud and obnoxious. Being a good neighbor just drives them crazy. Glaring headlights, a fart pipe, and a scraping suspension or body kit seem to make them feel less mature, which they equate with vitality.

My background contains many truly gutless cars, (Three had under 70 HP) so for me the Prius is a powerhouse, although I am amused that when fully rev'ed up it sounds like a sewing machine doing Formula One racing. My theory is that most cars can't use their full potential most days, but a 69 HP Mazda GLC could run flat out all the time and no-one outside the car could tell. My last Toyota, a 1989 Corolla All-Trac wagon was never NOT at full throttle when accelerating, the only car it ever passed was a Corolla All-Trac wagon with an Automatic.

I could live with 50 HP less in my Prius, if that really improved mileage. If Toyota introduces a 1.0 liter hybrid, I will be interested. (In fact, Toyota found that a larger engine did not hurt mileage)

 

One more "feature" of the Prius I found that's advantageous over all other conventional ICE powered cars, and that is the SMOOTH take off from stand still provided by the instantaneous torque of the electric motor. And this applies even when you start the Prius uphill from stand still.

If you observe the other cars, big or small, they all raise their front end and sink their rear at take off. I think it's because of the torque provided at idling speed of the ICE is so small that the driver is forced to "step on it" for a split second to overcome the stationary friction. But then the torque became too big at first gear the car's stationary momentum drags the rear end downwards. As for the Prius there's no such change of torque caused by the driver "stepping on it" because there is no need of such maneuver.

 

There's only a couple companies that supply all the map information to google, mapquest, the various GPS nav companies. There are mistakes and gaps, I can attest to that (at least on the online sites), but I think it's probably common to all nav systems and not specific to the Prius navigation system. It probably helps to update it every now and again. I don't have the nav system, so maybe I'm not the best person to talk about Prius-specific nav systems.

That's the attitude! I wasn't sure about missing the performance and handling when buying a Prius, but it does well enough for me, and the MPG feedback is great - now it's like playing a game everywhere I drive, and I try to get personal bests on my daily MPG.

 

Part of this is also marketing. Many auto companies design their throttle controls to give a lot of throttle to the first portion of the gas pedal. This gives the illusion that the car is a lot more powerful than it really is. It appeals to the testosterone powered part of the brain.

Tom

 

Then no worries, right ? ;-)

Joking aside, the Prius is not a democrat, man, or patriot. It is a *car*
One that is interesting, reliable, and economical, but not "sporty." As for looks, I think it is one of the most aesthetic on the market, others disagree. And often overlooked by detractors who do not know better, the Prius is a hatchback.

This Prius is my first Toyota. I started out with a desire for the original Honda Insight (nixed by my wife,) and then looked at the Honda Civic hybrid as my first choice. The sedan styling, cheap interior, and sub-par fuel economy finished that idea and led to the Prius purchase. I have been very happy with my decision.

Things I wish the Prius did not have: my 2004 has a huge expanse of lousy plastic under the windshield that is ungainly and tends to squeak off and on. The later generations are better. The steering is a bit too light, but I have gotten used to it. Visibility out of the car is constrained, and requires that the driver adapt. Most people assume that means out the back, but in my case it is looking around the A and B pillars.

That is about it.

Pretty short list.

 

Agreed. This "feature" of the conventional cars hurts fuel economy most . Just look at the exaust pipe of the cars when they start from stand still. A lot of them spews smoke at this maneuver, black or white. It must be the cause of a lot of fender benders too, I imagine.

 

I've posted numerous times that I think the reasons people embrace Prius are diverse. I also think the reasons people dislike Prius diverse.

To an extent, Prius is a victim of it's own success. Especially the Second Generation has a very unique look, that which is easily identifiable and has become iconic. I think it difficult to identify a blanket reason Prius seems to illicit such strong reaction from people both positive and negative but surely some of it is pretty basic.

When gas prices are high? I think people get jealous. That's pretty basic, but I do think it happens. I also think because The Prius is so identifiable both visual and conceptually as one of the first succesful mass marketed hybrids, whenever The Prius is involved in any negative publicity, be it a automobile crash, or a "James Sikes" like experience, people take note. However most people don't follow the story to it's ultimate conclusion. So what I heard among the unitiated to Prius is a lot of conclusion based on 1/2 information, or what someone "heard" but then never bothered to investigate or follow to a real conclusion.

I have good friends who don't realize how indepth I've researched Prius, when I told them I was interested in Prius I got a similar litany of "indepth expert" advice that thankfully I knew was totally unfounded.

A very close, multi-decade friend of mine, whom I bothered to counter all his prejudices, misconceptions about Prius, ended with "Well, someday Hybrids might be okay, but they just weren't ready yet". Uh? This despite Prius fantasticly high owners satisfaction scores? In anycase, Prius is polarizing and due to it's success it all get's amplified.

I'd recommend Prius to anyone. I think it's a great choice. But it is true you need to purchase the vehicle you are going to be happy with, so renting one, or test driving one is important.

To be honest, I think Prius a great platform to use to get to know people. Mention Prius and it's likely to illuminate a lot about a persons economical, techinical, and social/political background...maybe as a machine and vehicle it shouldn't, but it does. I actually think that's a neat aspect.

Ultimately I think to be totally happy with Prius one must expect galvanizing support from people who have embraced Prius and dynamic and misguided opposition from those who would rather not stretch the boundaries of automotive choice. You can't go wrong making your own choice. But make it knowing as much about the realities of the vehicle as possible. Prius Chat is a great resource for this discovery.

 

Here's why you buy a Prius, plain and simple. All the other whines and complaints are noise. My average MPG's for this week's commute (~160 miles so far) - 60.3 miles/gallon.

 

ok, a summarizing stereotype:

People buy most cars to drive, those that buy Prius want to *talk about their car*

 

And yet you have no problem labeling others.