Manhood Challenged - Prius

I get over 60mpgs. Really, no bull. Have been for most of the Summer.

I thought of making some sign up for the rear window, to post my weekly average...but then I thought that might piss-off some of the "manly" drivers in trucks. So I decided to drive in quiet solitude...and keep my MPGs to myself.

When I fill up every two weeks, and I look at the cost - right around $26 - I say to myself, "it's all good". :rockon:

 

My reasons for buying? I don't like supporting both sides of the war on terrorists. Why should we willingly support the economy of OPEC, which is mostly unstable and unfriendly countries. When I bought the Prius most of the conversation seemed to be about supporting domestic cars, so my response at the time was, I'd rather send money to Japan than to OPEC.

It's also a financial consideration - it's a reliable car that will save money long-term when gas prices start their inevitable climb back up.

The hatchback design lets you carry things that you would expect to only fit in a much bigger vehicle - like 8' 2x10 lumber, or a 46" flat screen TV in the box, lying flat (neither would fit in my wife's Accord).

There's also the survivalist/protector aspect - I don't know if you live on the coast in Louisiana, but if you're part of a hurricane evacuation, you can go for hours in creeping traffic without running out of fuel like the people driving the Chevy Subdivision would do. (There's some old threads on this from Hurricane Rita I think it was). (I can get to some land I have in MN, 600 miles away, on a single tank of a gas if I really needed to be able to do that). And if you buy an inverter, in the range of 500-800 watts AC, you can power the important things in your house when the power goes out, without the need for a noisy generator. You just wire that in to the 12V battery (some people go over 1 KW, but that requires extra electrical knowledge and/or tapping into the main drive battery).

Finally, I would recommend a manly license plate, like the one on a local Prius I saw: "F OPEC".

 

Seriously, how many of you dudes felt like driving a Prius was like doing this?

 

Plastic tape?

Warning: the adhesive may remain if the tape is taken off . . . perhaps a little longer lasting than expected.

Bob Wilson

 

Don't you mean "resent?"

 

You've never heard that intentional freudian slip?? :huh:

 

Well, real men ride horses!

 

I liked the f you bumper sticker but it's a bit too risque for me. If my wife wasn't the main driver of the Prius (I drive a Super charged and turbo charged muscle car with NRA and hunting stickers on it. I put a hitch on it just so I could hang those testicles from the receiver on the back. License plate is HUGEONES), I'd get this:

I Love Haters Sticker (Bumper) - CafePress

 

I believe it was a make-your-own item. Consider it a business opportunity.

 

On the believability scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being something a politician said and 10 being something you know to be absolutely true, I'd rate that a 1.5.

 

Coach walks into dealership. $ale$man$ eye$ fla$h dollar $ing$ a$ he fore$ee$ a highly profitable truck $ale.

Coach asks for a car. Any car, it doesn't matter, very few cars carry the profit margins of a truck, so his boat payment just vanished. It is his duty to his own paycheck, and to his employer, to attempt an upsell to the truck if he thinks the customer can afford it and might take the bait.

Last year the Prius was even less profitable than a regular car because Toyota opened with a hardball price war against Honda. Toyota raised MSRP once they learned that the Insight-II was hardly any competition, but I don't know whether average selling price and profit margin have gone up at all.

While the salescritter may impugn your manhood, he really doesn't mean it. He just means that he thinks your wallet is bigger, and you should share more of it with him.

 

LOL. I'm very shocked a Car Salesman would conduct business this way. Regardless whether he takes a smaller commission selling the Prius, he's shooting himself in the foot talking this way. Putting down the cars his own company makes?!? Maybe that is Louisiana for you, where even the car salesmen will risk a sale to take a crack at you. If this story really is true...LOL....

 

I don't think it's girlie at all... Between me and my friends there are 8 of us who as of 2 months ago drive a prius, and these are all guys. I personally came from a Mercedes Benz clk55 and my other friends came from g35's bmw's and an escalade and honestly I like this car much more...wish you luck

 

I agree! We came from a Hyundai Veracruz(yes the vehicle superior to the Lexus RX350) and could have purchased almost anything we wanted. We chose a Prius for a variety of reasons but the biggest reason was because we like it and BTW, I too want a "F*ck you I get 50 MPG!" decal!!!!!

Craig

 

The salesman's tactic doesn't surprise me at all. When I went looking
for my Prius in late '07, I got the "bait and switch" treatment at every
dealer I went to. It was obvious they all were more interested in their
sales/profit quotas than my interests/satisfaction.

Coach, did you pick up a Prius sales brochure?
How about a test drive?

Two little mentioned reasons to buy a Prius are:
* to get personal experience in the technologies that will become more
and more prevalent in the future, and
* to be a role model for others in making the change to more
sustainable personal transportation.

For me, both were important, the latter more so. My two grown
children scoffed at my Prius purchase. When the opportunity has come
up, I've slipped the real world FE/MPG figures (52.5 MPG lifetime) into
our conversations. When they replaced vehicles, one went from a
Suburban to a Subaru, the other from a Tundra to a Vibe; rebadged
Matrix. Not hybrids this time, but there's still hope for the next time.

As to an even longer range outlook, now I'm starting to educate them
on the benefits of an EV for their second vehicles.

Coach, you've done a remarkable job in maintaining a moderate, sensible
position in the face of some truely outlandish responses.
A gentleman to be sure.
I see that you've also started a couple of information seeking threads.
Well done indeed. Keep up the good work. Hope you do get a Prius so
you can become a contributing, long term member.

 

He lives in Louisianna, he is fighting an uphill battle and holding his own so far I guess

I believe he had that dialog with salesman. It is a silly way to sell a car but it is plausible. I ordered from starbucks a low fat vanilla latte (this is rare, seriously, normally I drink motor oil because I am a real man and chew rocks instead of gum) a couple years ago and the kid working the counter said something like normally only women order this. He wasn't trying to be insulting, just a brainless comment to a customer.

 

I don't know why car salesmen like this are still in the business. I personally would (and did) avoid dealing with any salesman who's unprofessional/doesn't know their own products/gives unsolicited personal biases/bash cars of other models/brands. These guys think I'm an idiot and would listen to whatever BS they spit out. They insult my intelligence and they starve, period.

His opinion should not be any factor in your purchasing decision because his agenda is for his own good, not yours. He doesn't deserve your business so go somewhere else, even if you eventually decided to buy an SUV instead of a Prius. Better still, since you know him, show him off with your new purchase afterwards and make him feel/know he's the idiot who missed out the chance of your business.