random Prius hate

ignorance

 

I believe people are ignorant and some tie their self image to a car which is of course shallow. W

 

Where I am, I haven't seen much hate except from one of my friends who didn't like Prius in general. I will admit, I was not much of a Prius fan 6 years ago, but I also wasn't a hater towards Prius Owners.

The problem is, some people focus on specific things. Some car owners just love 'power' in a car, hence your 'small underpowered pos' comment someone gave you. The Prius won't win the 'power' argument, no matter how much you want it to, because people are used to the old style, v6 and v8, feeling the thunder zip.

Some will say bad math mostly because they will see the 'upfront' cost. Just as the Volt and Leaf aren't getting much fanfare is people see the 'upfront cost' being a 'joke' when you can get a 'fuel efficient' gas car for a lot less. You will have to remember, people will be looking at the 'short term', probably from the 'lease' level where they roll over their car probably every 3 to 5 years versus actually trying to own long term, so the argument there is you are not getting a good return on a "hybrid" because short term ownership means your fuel savings will not offset the upfront costs or leasing costs.

The 'buying into the hype' is probably stemming from the 'FUD' factor of the Gas prices going up, "tricking" you to buy a more expensive car and "believing" you are not losing money because you bought into the hybrid. The sad thing is, while oil is not going to be 'depleted' in our lifetime, possibly, the belief that to continue using oil to fuel our cars will stay at a 'reasonable' price. It also stems from the fact people don't realize that currently, oil and coal are one of our key fuel sources for Electricity generation next to Natural Gas, Nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and solar. Of the 5, Wind is only as good as the being in areas that will have a constant air flow... Solar is only as good as the efficiency of our solar cells and having sunlight. Hydroelectric is good when there is a water tributary and a dam system to hardness it, but not all areas have that and there is also the probability of drought or issues with the dam that can also cause problems. Nuclear is great, so long as the power plant is operating safely, or we have concerns similar to Fukushima in places that are sesmically active, like California or Hawaii.

The problem is a lot of people don't know 'enough' about our world situation. I will admit, I am one who has many things to learn. Some of the things I speak about, I am making pure conjecture, but I leave myself open to hearing other points of view.

In the long run, the people giving you the hard time, the better question is to ask them the following:

Now note... I did sort of a spreadsheet argument there, however, I used my rough MPG and even dropped it down a bit so I am not getting my 'ideal' to argue my point. I used 'ideal' mpg from the Ford page, actually, I went even better, I didn't use their combine because it was LOWER than what I calculated from the average of the City/highway they gave.

What people will forget, is they assume they are 'guaranteed' an MPG as cited. This is not true, as weather will affect how hard you run your car, or use things such as AC or Heater which impacts on the engine's Fuel Economy as much as it does an hybrid.

 

Do a site search, in the Google search block in the top right corner of the screen for "Prius hate" that will return multiple thread with the same theme as yours.

 

I think much of the vitriol stems from the fact Toyota dominates hybrids, especially with surging Prius sales. The hate seems to get worse when gas prices and hybrid sales are up.

It is true Prius is fairly expensive for its size and power output. A quick look in any news ad shows Corolla basically at $17k, Camry at $21k and Prius Two at $23k. Corolla is always compared to prius whether we like it or not. From this, naysayers say hybrid (Prius) buyers are stupid.

bottom line though - if you drive a lot, like 15k or more a year, you can come out ahead with Prius if no other major expenses out of warranty. if you drive only 6k miles per year, could have spent less on a Matrix or Elantra Touring.

Other common hate themes are - Prius is ugly, slow, batteries go out in 5 years and cost $6k, batteries are toxic and will end up in landfill, they aren't very economical, cost more and don't payback, hybrid buyers can't even do math, buying into hype, that's it's a passing fancy, that there is another magical technology coming and hybrids are just a fake interim apparent solution, on and on and on...

I've cranked more than a few numbers to compare the closest cousin I see to the regular Prius hatchback. IMO, that is a Matrix 1.8L automatic because it weighs just about the same and is within a couple horsepower rating. I'll bet insurance is very close.

Matrix 1.8L auto is about $4,300 less than a Prius Two, but it isn't as nice a car as Prius nor does it come with bluetooth, USB, SKS or pushbutton start.

My best estimate is it is 6 cents permile cheaper on gas to run the Prius. Likely less brake maintenance.

Dividing $4,300 by 6 cents is 71,666 miles. That is about how many miles it takes to make up the cost diff assuming that difference holds at time of purchase (not taking tax into account).

If one drives very little, they might just be out of warranty on the hybrid battery, it's spent and need to pay that cost. If one drives a lot, like 30k per year, you can easily come out ahead with Prius.

Very common that people don't want to pay more up front. They want to save now even if it means burning more resources to satisfy themselves.

 

I just tell people it's the car I've always wanted (true statement). Can't knock a guy for getting what he's always wanted, right?

 

I ain't got time to bleed

 

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...omeone-has-dissed-my-prius-2.html#post1442449 was a good post about some of the ridiculous hate/ignorance/criticisms that come from random non-hybrid owners.

 

Who you call'in "shallow". I tie my self image to my car. That's WHY I got a Prius.

1. Want to show I'll spend more to be a good steward for planet and the kids future.

2. Want to show you don't have to have trillion dollar oil wars on my account.

3. Want to drive highest tech toy I can afford (my lottery car is the Model X Tesla).

It's not about saving money overall on the efficiency it's what the efficiency represents and what it actually does.

I have a boat. By upgrading to a 50 mpg Prius, my total gasoline usage is 425 gallons a year which is 15% less than US average of 500 gallon per person. So I'm in 2020 on the Kyoto scale, cutting greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. In three years I hope my Model X will not use any gasoline and I'll be on schedule for 80% reduction by 2050.

Kind of like Lance's motto, it's not about the bike.

As for the haters, as FDR said "I welcome their hate". Those who "hate" the Prius or any kind of fuel efficiency hate the fact that they know they could do something, that we can do something, but are in denial. If others do something to make things better it proves the hater's wrong and shows them up for doing nothing or making things worse and they just hate that.

 

It's time to 'unfriend'. Not agreeing with your decision is understandable, but writing abusive statements is not acceptable.

 

To expand on this, in a somewhat reverse manner, I believe there are some Prius owners that toot their own horn a little too loud, whether it's about saving gas, saving the Earth, or just having a "hip" car... afterall, remember when the first Prius came out, many movie stars were in line to buy one? When people jump on the bandwagon for reasons like that, it's like a TV show jumping the shark, which will no doubt get lots of criticism. It's another case where a minority or a group gives the majority of the group a bad name. Since those early days, the Prius has definitely come a long way and proven itself as more than just a fad, but that image has kind of stuck, for better or for worse.

It probably also doesn't help that some of us (yes you know you have done this one time or another) purposely accelerate a little slower, or glide a little longer, or pulse in a traffic situation where it isn't ideal... just to get a better score in the MPG game When a regular car driver sees this, I can totally see how it gives the Prius driver an image of "slower than necessary" driving.

And then of course, there are the "HP and performance rules all" group of people who will never truly understand why anyone would want to buy a Prius. But even then, I'm certain a good percentage of them are just talk...

It's just how the Prius turned out to be, some of my friends still make fun of me for buying a Prius, but whatever, they probably would make fun of me if I bought a gas guzzling mini van too... but they're still my friends!

 

Perhaps I poorly worded the statement in question. The type of person I referred to as shallow is the person that needs a red Porsche and a mcmansion they can barely afford to feel important.

I'd say you more tie the car to your lifestyle than vice versa. Haven't you ever met a person that refuses to drive car X because of a silly reason? I know quite a few people that won't drive a minivan because of some goofy stereotype. (not a reason like its too much room or not good enough gas mileage)
W

 

So true. Those are mean things to say to a stranger, much less a facebook friend. I'd strongly suggest unfriending them. It's a pretty empowering and liberating feeling, plus you make the other person feel like crap.

We can justify why people hate the Prius all we want, it won't change their opinion. There've been a thousand threads on this before. Just unfriend and move on.

 

Perhaps this is more appropriate:

 

Anybody that gives me grief, I just ask them how much they paid to fill their last tank and how many miles did it get them. Math stops them cold in their tracks. Nobody told them there was going to be any math involved in this test!

 

Your statement was fine. I understood. Just kidd'in with the "Who you call'in shallow".

But cars are almost pure image. Other than money restraints, we all drive what we drive because of the image. People who really hate Prius (or Insight or any other really fuel efficient cars) are invariably going to be your combat radio types, creationist climate deniers without getting too political. Flip side, Prius is almost a political statement vehicle. The dollar fuel savings is not why we drive them. No matter how you cut it, we will at best break even on the fuel issue and that's after quite a few years of ownership.

Friend's busting each other over color or "Ford vs. Chevy" stuff is one thing but there are some nutcases who do get worked up to the hate level over Prius type vehicles and 100% of the time their Prius rant rolls into evolution and climate wackiness also.

 

I initially thought you were talking about this type of hate: Some clown in a Prius.... - Bob Is The Oil Guy

 

Dang!
Thursday again already????

I live in the deep south. Not exactly Prius country if you know what I mean.
I've been in the Prius community for 18 months now.
I'm still waiting for my very first "Prius Bash"...unless you count the union hacks that are still pissed off at the fact that my company chose a foreign flagged car maker to supply me with a vehicle...
The day before yesterday I hit a gas station, and saw what I thought was your typical heyman dude (as in "hey man! you got any spare change?) leaning on a $500 car with about $4000 in rims and about $2500 in sterio equipment.
He said...
"Hey man! That car is QUIET!!!" can I ask you some questions about it???"

I was in a hurry, since I was working, but I made the time to answer all of his questions, including a 5-minute walk around the car and a look under the hood.

Finally....he looked at his car and sighed.
"I guess I'm gonna hafta git me one of them if gas keeps going up!"
I smiled at him and told him that I'm an old fart, but that there were a lot of kids putting subs and rims on Priuses, and that hatchbacks are good for that kinda thing.

This is TWO times this month that I've done this. The other kid drove a mud spackled ragged out 4x4 in the next town over.

Here's the thing.
Haters are gonna hate.
I see far more hate on this site directed at things like the Volt, GM in general, SUVs
and all manner of things that are counter culture in these hallowed halls.
You can't change the wind...but you can adjust your sails, and all like that.
If you're that sensitive about how other people look at you, then you need to look in the bathroom mirror, NOT at the car that's parked in your driveway to deal with that....and you may need to consider driving a Corolla instead of a Prius.

Me?
I simply don't give that many people very much rudder input on how I live my life.

Shake it off and enjoy the car!