Prius -- not a car for the fragile male ego

I've only had my Prius for two days now. In a crowded parking lot in Columbia, MD I did pass another Prius driven by a female.

I'm afraid to say I felt the urge to ummmm, errrr... wave! I controlled myself given the fact that my wife and daughter were also in the car. Upon coming to a stop I did over hear a pedestrian, female, yelling to her boyfriend "there goes one of those electric cars".



So my analysis so far is this. I say the vehicle is good for the ego.... Although I believe, in my area, that the vehicle is 50/50 as for gender ownership, never in the 10 years that I drove my Subaru Outback did I ever catch the attention of a female onlooker. Albeit the attention was more towards the vehicle then the driver, nonetheless, it was attention!

 

everyone i know loves my car. when they first seen it they tried to make fun of me, but after they rode in it, they changed their minds quick. also, i'm 26 and single, and every girl i know loves the car. chick car? maybe chick magnet

 

I am sure GM would like this rumor to hold.



[/quote]
...Not that there's anything wrong with that...
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It seems to be a concern of yours......

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(kDB @ May 28 2006, 08:37 PM) [snapback]262169[/snapback]</div>

I don't know, maybe a Prius is a "chick magnet"- but the "chicks" who are attracted by a guy driving a Prius are certainly more intelligent and less frivolous than the "chicks" who would be attracted by a guy in a Corvette or an Escalade!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(spayer @ May 28 2006, 04:52 PM) [snapback]262162[/snapback]</div>

Why is it that almost everybody assumes my electric car is a hybrid?

And why is it that amost everybody asks what kind of mileage my plug-in car gets?

Around these parts I see about 50/50 mix of genders driving. It is almost the non-Prius drivers who are in the minority these days.

 

In this particular aread, Navy nukes (M), NASA engineers (M), several docotrs of both sexes, road warriors of both sexes. I'd say slightly male-predominant.

All brilliant analysts though... :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(spayer @ May 28 2006, 04:52 PM) [snapback]262162[/snapback]</div>

Um :mellow: , well <_< . . . GULP :blink: . . . How do I say this gently????

What you said makes total sense . . . once you realize Subaru Outbacks are very popular lesbian cars.

OMG! You went from a lesmobile to a chick car. Is your genitalia still attached? :lol: :lol: :lol:

From first hand experience, I fully believe the Prius is a chick magnet. I can also attest that here in Northern California the M/F ratio is about 50/50. [no statistical adjustments were attempted to account for sexual orientation of the drivers.]

 

In California, the majority of Priuses I've seen were driven by men, but specifically they were driven by old men. Tons of old couples in Priuses. Civic Hybrids, on the other hand, had much younger drivers as a whole.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Potential Buyer @ May 29 2006, 05:30 AM) [snapback]262312[/snapback]</div>

Ahem. <_< How are you defining an old man?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ May 29 2006, 01:53 AM) [snapback]262282[/snapback]</div>

OMG...............My wife drives an Outback!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :lol:

When we bought it we thought that it was the offical State car of Maine since we saw
so many of them up there.

It wasn't until I was talking to a friend that also has a place in Maine that she told me
that it was a "lesbian" car. Then I realised that most of the people we saw driving it in
ME were women.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(paflyfisher @ May 29 2006, 06:26 AM) [snapback]262313[/snapback]</div>

And be careful how you answer!

Our Prius is driven about 50/50 between my wife and me locally, and I drove it more on the one long trip we've taken in it.

In the I-95/395 HOV lanes, my general impression is 50/50, but to tell you the truth, I haven't paid much attention.

 

I didn't know about the lesbian stereotyping of the Outback. It certainly has a well deserved reputation as a snow car; and locally it seems a pretty good predictor of political orientation. I don't think I have *ever* seen a shrub bumper sticker on one.

I remember seeing a demographic a couple of years ago that Subaru published. Typical owners are college grads, and average income of 80K. Similar in many ways to the Prius base, if one excludes neo-cons.

 

I've seen both male and female Prius drivers.

Back in January 2005 (when I was renting one), someone told me the Prius wasn't a guy's car. To them Prius=tree hugger=gay. That's the only person I've known that said that to me. The others think it's cool.

 

Personally, I feel totally cool driving the Prius. Probably more so than any other car I've owned. Not sure if this feeling will wear off over the course of time, but I doubt it. We have had BMW's and MBZ's as well, and always felt somewhat vulnerable driving around in them.

 

Off the showroom floor, I'd say she's more of a chick car (indeed, a chick herself), though driving her is no threat to my manhood. But put a few thousand into her for mods, and the testosterone should flow! See DocVijay's threads for instructions. I'd do it myself if I was young and dumb (said with all due respect, Vijay) again -- and free of alimony and child support! Boys and their toys....

 

Around Colorado, there are plenty of men that own them. But, yes, watch out, your wife may steal yours!

Nate

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(larkinmj @ May 28 2006, 09:37 PM) [snapback]262189[/snapback]</div>

Now we have to decide if that is a plus or a minus. :blink:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jburns @ May 29 2006, 12:47 PM) [snapback]262421[/snapback]</div>

Depends on what you're looking for. I'd say it is a plus, if someone were just looking for "eye candy" they probably wouldn't have gotten a Prius in the first place. B)

 

So far my prius hasn't been a chick magnet per se, other than maybe
garnering the same sort of interest about the concept in females and
males alike, but as far as my fragile male ego ... heh. When I'm out
tooling around working my average above 60, I'm certainly mixing it
up with the ricers and rodders and harleys ... all out there deriving
enjoyment from our respective vehicles, but with a very different
purpose in my case. Their objective by and large is to zoom around
and make noise. I could point out to them how electric-only drive
would be just the thing for "cruising the strip", but it would
probably be a fairly futile effort...
.
_H*

 

You can't make an assumption about the demographic of a particular vehicle from a limited sample of people you know. If someone was attempting to determine who drives Priuses, and happened to find a few of the posts on PriusChat, that person might conclude that the average Prius driver is a right-wing homophobic bigot.