Smug Prius Drivers?

It is hard not to feel pretty good about yourself when you are driving down the road getting 1,473 mpg. Even if only for a minute or so.

 

The main reason I drive a Prius is because I love the technology and I like the car. If saving money was my main driver I would have bought a diesel that would also return similar mpg but have cost me far less to buy.

 

Reasons I switched my Zoom-Zoom for a Prius
1. proven reliability
2. technology
3. it is certainly different
4. cheap to run and maintain
Saving the planet was not in my list of priorities when I decided to switch but if it comes with the car then welcome. I do not try to convert anyone but I happily talk about my car and its benefits to anyone who asks.

 

Which diesel vehicle would give similar Prius fuel milage and cost less? I'm moving from a diesel vehicle because of average fuel mileage and the year round exceptionally high cost of diesel fuel. Smug Prius drivers? I always thought the same. As a "OA" (older American), smarter and wiser, the Prius makes sense. Call me smug, I prefer smart.

 

Citroen C4 HDi
67.3 mpg, £14k on the road

Peugeot 308 1.6 e-HDI
63 mpg, £19k on the road

Vauxhall Corsa CDTi
85.6 mpg, £14k on the road

Renault Megane 1.5 dCi
80.7 mpg, £21k on the road (bit pricey)

There is a list as long as your arm here in the UK of very efficient diesel cars, and even diesel hybrids now.

I had a Peugeot diesel lease car a while back and no matter how hard I drove it I couldn't get less than 50mpg

Don't get me wrong I much prefer my Prius and actually hated the Peugeot but compared to the cost of my 10th anniversary model, £27k, I would have saved around £6 or £7k on the purchase price and that buys a good deal of fuel.

I'll just add the average cost of fuel here at the mo as well.

Petrol £1.43/Litre
Diesel £1.49/Litre

 

You missed his location. Not only do are diesels with long-geared manual transmissions available, they have a large choice of makes, models and engines and they don't have to pay significant premium for them..

 

"smug" is a word people use to describe people who are happy that they are doing something that the first person knows is better, but want to somehow make that seem a bad thing. It is an expression of jealousy and should be treated as such.

Them: "You Prius drivers are so smug with your 50 MPG."
You: "Yup, Let me show my latest mileage. 600 miles on one tank; only cost me $38.00."

 

Agreed in that there is nothing wrong in being smug, however problems should be expected if one rubs smugness in someones face such as in the "told you so" scenario. In my experience taking this approach with shall we say the less eloquent can lead to the rearrangement of facial features.

 

Exactly. Smugness is something one is CALLED not something one IS. Like all those smug BMW, Lamborgini, Maseradi, Mercedes, F-450, etc. drivers.

 

That made me laugh. A few years ago I was a driver of a BMW 530 M Sport. On one occasion I can remember driving on the autobahn in Germany with my right foot planted and I swear I could see the fuel gauge moving urgh

 

Best South Park episode ever

Smug Alert (Season 10, Episode 2) - Full Episode Player - South Park Studios

 

When I first posted a picture of our new Prius on my Facebook I got slammed really bad from almost all of my friends. Since most of all my friends are "other" car owners.

Words they used were, slow, ugly, turtle, un-friend you, lost respect, etc.... However no one used the word "smug or self-righteous", I guess because they don't associate me as an activist in preserving the resources. Not that I am ignorant about it, but quit knowledgeable of it. I have an entirely different unorthodox approach and other evil intent for my actions.

Since we've already reached peak oil there is no point to conserve, I believe we need to use up oil as fast as possible so civilization will go back to the way it used to be. Localized farming and self sustainability. Humans are way too far desensitized to be educated and become eco-friendly. We waste, waste and waste like there is no tomorrow, not that I have no respect for the eco conscious minded individuals who dedicates their life to provide good examples for others to follow, I just think we human race are not qualified nor capable of respecting the nature and conserve. It is in our flawed genetic nature.

So only way to correct this problem is to get to a post-oil era as quickly as possible so that less of the nature is destroyed. The longer we drag this out more of the nature will be destroyed. So I've set my mission to use up as much oil as fast as possible.

I know this sounds crazy and wacky, but it is a path I chose to take.

 

Above mentioned is one of the biggest reason why I choose my approach in solving the problem. Take away, when nature becomes important to the survival of the human race that's when human race will learn to co-exist with it.

The 2nd biggest reason why oil must be taken away is that there are too many lives, countries destroyed due to oil. Not for the rights or ownership, but for how it is traded.

The currency for how oil is exchanged in the marker is deemed the most important out in the open secret in the world. The currency that the oil is exchanged in is called "Global reserve currency". A word many have seen but do not really understand the evilness behind it. Any country who holds the global reserve currency must do everything possible to keep it that way. At all costs! Even sacrificing human lives. That makes oil the single most evil item in our world today.

Anyone want to take a wild guess who holds the global reserve currency?

Which explains why we can get away with everything, and why we need the biggest military. Which also explains all the war in the last 20 years, has nothing to do with keeping the peace. All about maintaining the global reserve currency status.

 

When I posted on my FB wall my new Prius everyone that replied liked it. Those that didn't either kept it to themselves or just didn't care.

 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have any idea what will happen if we lost the global reserve currency status?

 

The smug Prius driver is a cliche. That Southpark episode that Blu-Ray linked to is probably the most responsible for it. That episode made it cool and fashionable for everyone to jump and the bandwagon of hating Prius drivers. "Smug" never even crossed most people's mind before then.

 

We've been dealing with that false stance for over a decade. The greenwashers attempt to create a stereotype to prevent the idea of doing something better for our children & environment from becoming the norm.

Realistically, it's as effective as labeling someone who used PDA years ago... since devices now are far more geeky and far more common. How many smart-phone users have you seen today? The idea has been embraced by the masses and is in no way whatsoever identified as a "geek" tool like it was in the past. It's a complete non-issue.

Ironically, the new smug emerging is helping to remove the prior stigma from the greenwashing. There is a very small number of Volt supporters who are still flaunting "vastly superior" claims. It's hard to believe they can still have such an attitude. Thankfully, they represent only a tiny fraction of actual owners... much like the circumstance with Prius in the past.

In other words, remember what we were taught in kindergarten? Name calling isn't a good thing.