Survey to help us sell priuses!!

The guys at the mall give you $20 for this sort of thing! Can't you at least entice us with a Prius keychain or something?

I took the survey to be nice.

PS - It's "Prii" not "Priuses".

 

Any age over 34 is "other." Ouch.

This survey is too hung up on demographics.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(katie b. @ Jul 6 2007, 01:06 PM) [snapback]474091[/snapback]</div>

I echo the grumble about the age thing. Is everyone over 34 in LA considered dead? Other than the Desperate Housewives, that is. B)

I filled out your little survey. (PS: The occupation/job thing is weird. For one, you left out "IT". For another why are occupations mixed in with fields?)

Anyway, Katie dear. Have pity on me. I'm waaaaaay over 34 but will be biking for MS as part of our Prius group. Such an old lady am I that I'll be peddling 100 miles for MS (the disease, not the magazine ...). Are there any Lipstick Feminists in LA?

Where was I? Oh yes. Since I kindly filled out your survey, why not kindly fill out mine?


Thanks hon!

 

I'm not taking the survey because I'm way over 34, so they're not interested in my opinion, anyway.

 

I have already done enough for "Toyoto" and I don't know you. Why would I fill this out?


My car is brand new - so the jury is out. I need to get about 15,000 miles on this car and about a year under my belt to see how it holds up.

I have doubts about the paint already.

 

Guys, look at the heading on the survey: "Youth Interest Survey".

I have two degrees in marketing and worked in advertising for years, and I've never seen anything like this. "How do you express yourself creatively?"

 

I am too old, no one cares what I want or think.

I am sure your number one goal is getting paid for this survey.

 

I want a desk clock. Or a keychain.

 

The automakers keep designing cars for youth that end up selling heavily to much older buyers: Honda Element, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Pontiac Aztek, and so on.

The attraction of demographics like age and gender is that they are clear cut. They can be precisely measured, and many execs find comfort in that.

The disadvantage is that they don't predict behavior very well. Especially not age. People behave the age they feel they are, not the age they actually are.

The world contains both old teenagers and youthful people in their 70s.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mkaresh @ Jul 6 2007, 06:39 PM) [snapback]474315[/snapback]</div>

I think it was Bill Mitchell over at GM who used to say, "you can sell a young man's car to an old man, but you can't sell an old man's car to a young man."

Unfortunately, in our youth-oriented culture, there's still some truth to it.

-----

Now, to the OP, if she ever returns to this site...how about compensating us for our opinions, perhaps with a bit of swag from your grab-bag of expired prescription drugs?

Or, failing that, I want a Prius-shaped Shiatsu massager, if you please.

 

As soon as Katie pledges $10 per filled-out survey to idonna's ride, I'm filling it out.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mkaresh @ Jul 6 2007, 06:39 PM) [snapback]474315[/snapback]</div>

I saw an Aztek. It is close to being the most butt ugliest car I have ever seen.

 

Well, the age-old question. What makes a 'young person's car', or an 'older person's car' anyway?

Older: Is it bigger gauges for failing eyes? More comfortable seats for bad backs? easier entry/exit? More luxury cues? Chrome? A quiet cabin? Ashtrays? Opera windows?

Younger: Is it lots of cheap options so everyone can be an individual? A rocking sound system? The existence of a vibrant aftermarket supporting the car? An iconoclastic advertising campaign?

This isn't an easy thing to answer. Manufacturers are struggling with it all the time. And we all know how elusive the youth market is today.

And, (on the other side of it) a sizable percentage of 'aging' folks don't seem to want to admit this to themselves, by buying 'products made for aging people.' Mature? Maybe. Aging/Old? NO!!

I think that's what makes katie's survey laughable...the answer does *not* lie in demographics, that much seems certain.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Jul 6 2007, 08:19 PM) [snapback]474341[/snapback]</div>

While I was trying to locate my Prius last summer, I was taking a lot of flack from several (middle aged) male friends for even considering it. Each one suggested some four-door, square, old fuddy-duddy thing... Chevy like. Something that looked like my father would drive it. Camry. Maxima. Ewww! Bleh! No way.

I was going to finally get the BMW I always wanted but my son (15 at the time) insisted I buy the Prius. Three things sold me: MPG, tax credit, and how cool it looked. There's something sensuous about the Prius IMO. Visually it reminded me how I felt when Jobs intro'd the first PowerBook.

Whatever.

I see countless numbers of Prii around my neck of the woods. Most drivers are female: age range 20s-50s. The men I see are mid 30s to 40s. Definitely not 20-something guys and only rarely will I see a man 50-ish or over.

Now, Katie. Surely that's worth ten tax deductible bucks!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(iDonna @ Jul 6 2007, 09:10 PM) [snapback]474373[/snapback]</div>

I'm over 50 and I drive a Prius. I saw a local driving a Prius, and he was in his 60's.

Harry

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(katie b. @ Jul 6 2007, 10:06 AM) [snapback]474091[/snapback]</div>

I don't buy it. The title of the survey is Youth Interest Survey. Seems more like you are trying to farm the demographics of PriusChat to target us with some advertising or something. I also think there should be a perk if I am to give up 5-10 minutes of my life answering questions that are honestly quite boring. If it starts talking about Prius on the second or third page, I missed it because I could not get past the request for my personal address information on the first page.

 

Katieb. I didn't answer lots of the questions because they seemed nonsensical. Many of the questions were not comprehensive in the list of options provided; for example, in the list of degrees it had MA/MD/JD, but no PhD. Most importantly, after skipping many of the questions, the final page never really asked any questions about the Prius, just about the first car you owned, what you currently own, and then ranking, individually, the importance of particular traits in purchasing your vehicle choice (where "environmentally friendly" was listed as a single trait).

I'm not sure, even with the restricted age demographics, that this survey will provide sufficient information to do anything to sell the Prius, let alone any particular vehicle.

 

What ARE kids driving these days, anyway? I know what Old People cars are: Oldsmobile, Buick, Caddy, and any convertible. Cars only Old People drive.

So if you told your average 20-year-old "You can have any car you want," what would he or she choose?

 

your survey certainly does not do credit for us senior citizens. I am 75 and my wife is 69. Lily loves
her Honda, so much, that she wanted to try out the Prius. So now we are a 2 hybrid family.
Our 1st hybrid was 4 yrs ago and we still drive it, a Honda Civic Hybrid. We were the 1st ones
in our neighborhood with a hybrid and they all laffed and snickered behind our backs -- that old hoot,
driving a "honda", when they should have been in a cadillac. One year later they were very timidly asking
US, whats it like to own a hybrid? Now, we have a Prius alongside a Honda. Your survey does not
even take in consideration of retired people who drives jazzy new technical iterations. This should at
least be given some kind of attention in your so called "survey to sell Prii"
Or maybe you can start a campaign to pay proper respect to a very dignified language--Latin.
Do you call the Pope Pope Peeus xiv or do you call him Pope Pius xiv ?
As I remember from Latin in grade school, i before a vowel is always pronounced with a long i
Therefore the world Prius should be pronounced Pr i us, not Preeus.
But then, if Toyota is the biggest automaker in the world, they can call it Jack if they wanted, yes?