Second Place Is First Loser

Looking good there, Natalie. You remind me a lot of my girlfriend. Built a lot like you are. Can't get enough of her. B)

 

I think you're on to something, Natalie, but vehicular snobbery is nothing new. Advertising has been very successful at convincing us that cars are an extension of our personality, and that wealth is a measure of our self-worth as people. As a life-long cyclist and pedestrian, I've observed that someone who pulls up to the grocery store on their bicycle is likely to be judged as homeless, and someone walking is generally considered too poor to afford bus fare. The irony is that the Prius parked at home is worth twice as much as the neighbour's new-to-him AMG Mercedes.

 

Don't let yourself be fooled. Many Prius owners (and I'm not going out of my way to either include or exclude myself with this generalization) buy their Prius for exactly the same reason: they want to be #1. Not necessarily #1 at being fat and stuffing french fries into their snout so fast and in such volume that they come out whole on the other end... but #1 at something nonetheless.

And unemployment has been helpful to me once or twice. In the right situation it can give you a chance to slow down and reevaluate. In the wrong situation, it can save your nice person from being out on the street.

 

That is all *so* correct, and a very amusing look at it all.
Question is, absent Mark Morford's solution of all the gas at $10/gal
and keep it there, how do we change that? Human history is *full* of
ostentatious waste just for the sake of proving something. Look at
the French Revolution. Look at just about any war, especially ones
that involve the interests of the super-rich and the Halliburtons of
the world. The badass in the Escalade wants to be them instead of
that greenie-weenie in the golf cart, and given all the training our
society gives them from babyhood, that's going to be hard to fix.
.
_H*

 

What do you mean we don't have status? Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune fame was talking about how much she loves driving her Prius the other day. I personally have never experience a "lack of respect" in my Prius any more than I did in any other car. I give plenty of disrespect to the drivers of those snob mobiles such as Lexus, Mercedes, Hummers, etc.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 22 2007, 01:53 PM) [snapback]528951[/snapback]</div>

There's your irony.

Because too many excuses I've head for not buying a Prius are about how expensive it is. The hybrid premium. (Yep, those people comparing a Prius to a Yaris or Corolla or whatever.)

So the Prius is both too expensive, but you bought it because you can't afford better.

Uh.....HUH?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 22 2007, 02:53 PM) [snapback]528951[/snapback]</div>

Don't you think it's cultural? In a country where freedom and capitalism are touted as being rights and available for everyone, isn't the above just an extension of this? Not saying it's right or wrong, just an observation.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 22 2007, 02:53 PM) [snapback]528951[/snapback]</div>

Or maybe it's the economical way of driving the Prius that pisses off the gas guzzlers - "why are you taking off so slowly and stopping so early? I can do 100mph in 3 seconds, why don't you? I shave 0.2 seconds off my total trip time, don't slow me down."

Getting used to a certain way of driving somehow becomes an entitlement to some drivers.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 22 2007, 02:53 PM) [snapback]528951[/snapback]</div>

Well, the Prius isn't exactly cheap. You can get huge gas guzzlers for less. I think it's also about "bigger dick syndrome", regardless of wealth. I know people who can ill afford F-450s, yet still have them because "it's the only thing to drive". One of them even brags to everyone who will listen, "the only thing that sucker won't pass is a gas station".

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 22 2007, 02:53 PM) [snapback]528951[/snapback]</div>

Had many debates on this over the years, with many, many people... didn't manage to solve the world's problems, but the consensus was that the infinitely better question to ask is, "if you're so smart, why aren't you happy?"

By the way, wine making is the ultimate altruistic profession - take it to heart or don't do it!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 22 2007, 02:53 PM) [snapback]528951[/snapback]</div>

on the highway? no, everywhere.

i think the people with the most money are the ones who show it off the least. because to be rich, one needs to be smart with money. which, for those of us working our ways up in the world, leaves out the option of spending on something so far beyond one's needs.

similar to having 3 people in a 3 story house with 5 new cars in the driveway... geez, what kinda interest are you paying on what kind of principal to have so much more than you can use? wouldn't you think that a smaller house in a nice neighborhood with one car per person would leave you a far easier loan to pay off? how many thousands are spent in interest alone for things that people use to show off?

even people barely scraping by want to roll in escalades! good friends are paying absurd interest on a 46" flat screen tv just to have it, when their cars need work and they have 2 adults and 2 kids cramped into a tiny apartment too unsafe for the little girl to go outside and play on her own.

but people are free to make stupid decisions...

 

In our society materialism = happiness. Of course, it's a load of bollocks, but people buy into it (pardon the pun). Most people have a very egocentric view of the world and they aren't capable of reflecting on themselves. They can't be a fly on the wall observing and analyzing their own behavior. Sooo... they buy the escalade. They buy the 46" TV, and these things keep them happy for a short period of time. Then they've gotta have something else... Poor buggers.

 

Seneca: It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

For those who pursue the ultimate on material wealth, it will always be too little. There will always be more. A faster car, or one which looks even more aggressive and climb more boulders. This is how we ended up with monstrosities on the road like Hummers and Cayennes.

True wealth is choosing the car you want, being able to pay for it easily, and not desiring more and more.

Excellent post btw.

 

I've never felt that anyone has treated me badly or looked down on me for driving a Prius, and I've never felt that I got less respect on the road.

Now, if "more expensive car" meant more respect, then how do you explain the constant thumbs-ups and high-signs and shouts of approval I get when driving my little Zap Xebra?

 

Actually Pinto, when '04 rolled around only our neighbor, Doc Larson next door had a Hybrid in our 500 home, lake front community. His was an '03 so we didn't even know it was a hybrid, nor had we heard of such cars. Our '04 was the 1st of the new generation where we live. Now, in '07 there are probably 2 dozen Prius'. Our neighbor 5 homes down has the Ford SUV hybrid. Our 2nd car is now the Lexus SUV hybrid.

We actually dumped our R.R. for the ‘06 Lexus 400h. Maybe YOUR hoytie-toytie community isn't as wealthy as you thought

Seems to me that the BMW's & RR's & Caddies and Mercedes are just as likely to be found in the ghetto (as a status symbol) as they are in affluent neighborhoods . . . maybe the thought is that it proves you have cash to waste on gas. That's what most of the RV'ers and water skiers say down at the Colorado River.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 22 2007, 01:53 PM) [snapback]528951[/snapback]</div>

I've owned perhaps 20 or more cars during the 52 years that I have been driving, every kind from my first junk-heap to the Corvette I drove for 110,000 miles, from Chevies to SAABs, Subarus and Cadillacs. NONE has given me more satisfaction than my 2004 Prius.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hill @ Oct 24 2007, 05:47 PM) [snapback]529913[/snapback]</div>

Funny, but that's exactly what it means.

I was watching "real housewives of wherever" on Bravo on Sunday because nothing was on and I was bored. In it one of the wives is shopping for a new car. Her husband wants one because theirs is a few years old. It's a status symbol. According to her everyone drives Escalades, Explorers and Mariners, etc. She said they also have a thing about clean cars. She said that you had to drive an SUV, it had to be fairly new and that people wouldn't care until the price of gas was over $10.00 a gallon. And I believe her.

Her husband wanted a Lexus because of the prestige. She wanted a hybrid (I assume the 400H) but said the answer was no because of the waiting list. They ended up with one of the Lexus SUVs. She let the kids pick the color.

 

So how would you all pigeonhole someone driving down the street in one of these? :huh:


http://marketplace.publicradio.org/i/slide...sla/tesla1.html
It's the all electric Tesla Roadster.

Showoff?
Rich bas****?
Lead foot?
Environmentalist?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Oct 25 2007, 02:11 PM) [snapback]530442[/snapback]</div>

Very Rich!!

 

I think these are good observations, not necessarily related to the Prius. I bought the Prius because I had reached the conclusion that I had to do my part to reduce energy consumption, including the choice of vehicle. (Now that I have driven the car for over two years, I would buy it because I do enjoy the car, etc.)

However, the larger issue of global warming, energy consumption, world resources relates to the issues you raised.

Why is happiness or satisfaction in life related so strongly to material posessions? This is, at least in part, a false relationship, as many people with extraordinary wealth do not seem happy in their lives. You can take any number of show biz celebrities as examples.

Can you afford an expensive car, or a new one every few years? If the answer is yes, I will borrow the funds, and I can meet the monthly payment, then my answer is you cannot afford the car. I believe many people buy into the dream that material wealth equals emotional happiness and try to borrow their way there.

In developing nations, there is (rightly so) a drive to improve wealth and the standard of living. The icon for wealth and 'good' standard of living is the western (US?) mode of personal transportation, large houses, etc. Can our economy be replicated around the world?

Radio ads feed on the desire people have to become wealthy. You can buy a software package that will allow you to become wealthy with little or no work. If one think about this, the fallacy is clear: not every one can become rich from trading in the stock market. The stock market itself cannot generate money, and stock values can only increase as money obtained elsewhere is invested there.

What is a good definition of wealthy? Is it the amount of money in the bank, your annual income, your material goods or some other measure?

I will stop my own random meanderings here; I should get back to work.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(oxnardprof @ Oct 25 2007, 03:19 PM) [snapback]530463[/snapback]</div>

Money cannot buy happiness. But it can buy some fun. And poverty can definitely buy misery.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 22 2007, 11:53 AM) [snapback]528951[/snapback]</div>

Wine tasting in the Napa Valley does sound like a great backdrop for a Prius get-together