Serious question

Sydney, have you seen the new Malibu Hybrid? The owners of that car really need to hear from you.

Most purchases in life involve trade-offs. The purchase of my Prius was not without trade-offs -- I would like the HID headlamps but I decided on a package #2 for many reasons that I shall not go into (I wish I could afford the super-secret package #9). But even with the trade-offs, my Prius makes me happy in every aspect that I hold to be important. If you find a car that does that for you then buy it and start the SydneyChat website. Please excuse me if you don't see me posting to SydneyChat anytime in the near future -- I am currently busy reading posts from the "Is Priuschat better than sex?" thread...

 

Sydney, you could use some help with your communications... You stated above that that you just wanted to know why folks like their prii. You should just posed that question and been done with it. Instead, you come out and say you don't like the car because it's ugly, lacks any refinement in the cockpit and is slow... then ask why we like them. It would be like me telling you your wife is fat, ugly and has the sophisication of a mule. So what do you like about her? You'll typically get much better responses here without attacking the subject first.

You could have also just used the search function to find any number of threads already out there explaining just why we like our cars.

Cheers!

--
cf_coder

 

I didn't get my Prius to save the world. It made more sense for me financially over my Blazer. I mean...seriously, the fact that I am now getting gas once every other week versus every 4 days is nothing to frown about. I love the look, both inside and out, as well as the comfort and the technology.

The Prius may not be the solution to the health of the environment, or lack there of. But vehicles such as the Hummer as well as other larger SUVs doesn't help. It also doesn't help that emissions testing isn't required in all parts of the nation as well as the world. It truly makes me ill when I see a vehicle putzing down the road spitting out the nasty dark exhaust, as well as the crap that comes out of the hauling trucks.

We do need to get away from oil, as soon as possible. But we need to hit it from the other side as well, and that is making sure that all existing vehicles are in good working order and as clean as possible.

 

Hi Sydney...,

Well, your not the first one to come on Priuschat with the European micro-diesel arguement. And sooner or later, as has happened in the past , a Europrean Prius owner, who owns, or has owned, or has relatives that own one of the European micro-diesels will come on here and exclaim what an ignoramous remark it is to compare those cars with a Prius.

I am sorry if that sounds smug, but hey, the Prius is a 10 year old car, and this stuff has been hashed out over and over. You are just late to the party.

The Prius does not have great specs, but it has great low-speed in-traffic flogable nature. Which is what it was designed for. Another person has commented on energy policy in the past, that people do not buy Electricty for Kilowatt-hours, they buy electricty to have lights at night, warm houses and cold beer. The point being that conservation can be more economic thannew power plants to the people who have to build the power plants. His name is Amory Lovins, and you might want to go check out the website Rocky Mountain Institute : Abundance By Design .

So, it goes with the Prius. People do not buy cars for power, but they do buy cars for accelleration. There is confusion that power and accelleration are directly related. But if the more powerful car has the traditional 4 speed automatic, well it might not be as quick as a Prius. The Prius transmission has such a wide range, the car can reach full power at a very low speed. So even though it has low power spec, its accelleration is quite respectable in traffic. I know I have literaly seen people's mouths dropped wide open in the rear view mirror in traffic. The Prius is significantly quicker that my last car, which had 125 HP 1.9 liter DOHC aluminum engine and head, with a 4 speed automatic transmission and weighed slightly less than the Prius.

And this is one of the things that sold me on the Hybrid concept. In 1979 I was in Analog Circuts class, and the professor pulled out his Hybrid Car Research presentation. It was sponsored by GM, and was a series hybrid Chevy Vega. And it was able to smoke its tires. Electric Motors have upside down torque characteristics to air-breathing engines. So this is just a natural outcome of the concept.

Toyota says the Prius has the same accelleration as a car with a 2.0 liter DOHC engine, and a traditional automatic transmission. Toyota makes such a car, and it has a 145 HP rating. This is probably why Mercedes and VW are going to 6 and 7 speed DSG transmissions, also entering the hybrid car market. The quicker you accellerate, with an engine at its optimum efficiency, the quicker you can turn the thing off, and the better fuel economy you will get. And that takes a special transmission.

 

I have a serious question for you, Sydney... are you stupid? No, seriously, I'm interested... seriously. It's just a question, 'cause I'm seriously interested in knowing.

 

Forum mates, you are doing an exceptional job not over reacting to this posters persistent provocations.

My opinion is to be mindful of:

"LAW NO. 4 – NEVER PICK A FIGHT WITH A PIG
Why? Well, in reality, all that will be accomplished is that you will get dirty and the pig will have a good time in the mud. This law is important because you want to ensure that when you are ready to take on someone, you need to analyze things very carefully, what you hope to accomplish and how will you be better off after the interaction."


David Bratton is a Certified Management Consultant and president of Bratton Consulting Inc. in London. He also represents Drake Beam Morin (DBM), one of Canada’s largest career counselling and outplacement firms. ****************************************************

And this from

http://www.shoof.co.nz/NZ/nzcatalogue/page_60.pdf

might be a worthwhile expenditure:


Anti-fight Liquid Pig Pax
liquid only 200 208 $25.95
sprayer only 200 209 $5.95

Prevents fighting and tail biting,
especially when assembling pigs
from different pens. Apply to
rump and tail area. The foul taste
means they only bite once! Apply
liberally before transporting to
slaughter, to prevent down-grades.
Spray in mouth of offending pig
for added effectiveness. 500ml
bottle should treat 100 pigs.
Note: Can also be useful as an
anti-suckling spray for cattle and
other animals.

 

The obvious is so hard to see. ;-) A.

 

Is a Porsche 356C Cabrio good looking? Not really; they were refered to as upside down bathtubs but they grow on you. I see nothing wrong with the design of the Prius except I would lower the roofline a little but then again I'm short so no problem. The Prius hold 4 people a lot more comfortably than most in their class. The leather interior is very comfortable and there are plenty of electronics to keep lots of people happy. I regularly go 70/75 on the highway(Owl Gore's son clocked going much faster) I personally do not believe in Global warming but does it not make sense since we all breathe pretty much 24/7 to own a car that allows us to do that. Does it handle like my old 356; No it doesn't but it was never made to. Hey neither does a 55 through 57 chevy but they can go fast with enough bucks spent (like a Prius could) Does it go fast like my old 64 Vette, Not even close! But it gets 51mpg on a regular basis. I am really at a loss as to why you even made the original statement since others have pretty much shot your Diesels all to bits. A nice comfortable/safe care with room that is kind to lungs without me having to do anything at all to accomplish it. Not bad I'd say.

 

LOL

 

I like it because it has a low Coefficient of Drag, is a 4 door car that seats 4 and it has a hatchback.

I prioritize function over form.

If a giant octagon with 64 tires got better mileage and met my needs above and beyond the Prius, then I'd buy it over the Prius.

 

Sydney Bernstien: All BS aside...why are you really here? No one wastes their time looking into something that they are not remotely interested in. There is a whole world out there full of things that you do like (or maybe not). Why not spend some time with those? No one here cares whether you like the Prius or not. So really...what's the point? Perhaps we'll all change our minds? Yeah...that's it. LOL!

If you put both the Hubble, and Palomar telescopes together, you still could not see our interest in you not liking the Prius.

Pinan walks away chuckling to himself about the many odd people on the web.

 

UK Prius driver here....

I like the looks inside and out. I understand it can look unusual, my eye always gets drawn to how small the wheels look, but honestly I do like the looks, inside and out.

Not sure where you got the great spec thing, I would retract that because it does make you look uninformed. My car parks ITSELF! It has a screen where I can control the functions. Satnav built in. 6 disc mp3 autochanger. I understand some of your comments are subjective, but you cannot describe the spec list on prius as poor.

Slow - Hmmm, its not quick no. But slow, not sure I would use that word. It's sufficently fast, hows about that. Most of the time when the lights change I am wishing the driver in front of me would put their foot down and go a bit quicker. A faster car would just leave me with more acceleration I cannot use most of the time on UK roads. I spose its just a state of mind, I want a car that gets me from A to B in comfort, I don't have to thrash it to go the speed limit (or a bit more), I can overtake slower traffic on single carridgeways safely, I just won't be setting any records.

Driven by smug people - And you think you haven't mocked anyone? This one comment entirely sums up why so many other posters have considered you a troll. If you want a reasoned discussion keep your snide comments to yourself.

And the final why - Mine is a company car, of the cars on the list that had the space I needed its the cheapest overall (tax & economy). The list is hardly definative but, smaller diesels don't have the space, larger ones have less economy (than smaller ones) and the difference in tax and the higher price of diesel puts them out of the race. After driving it for 4 months I have absolutly no regrets, I just hope its on the list when the time comes around again.

As a private buyer - hmmm not sure I personally would have been adventurous enough. Until you know what you are talking about it looks like there is plenty to go wrong with them - however a little research indicates they are one of the most reliable cars on the road. Just not sure I would have put my own money where my mouth is.

 

So all we have to do is move to Europe and ignore particulate emissions? Sweet! Where do I sign up?

More to the point, I like it because it minimizes emissions of everything but CO2 and represents an excellent compromise between CO2 emissions and all remaining considerations. As for performance, it is sufficiently satisfying to beat typical drivers of small sporty cars and overpowered behemoths off the line, which is possible because most of them are poseurs and wannabees who do not know how to shift properly (the Prius has no shift lag whatsoever, just continuous acceleration). It also does quite well when passing at highway speeds.

 

See? He's not troll . . .



Click on every post he's done ... then do the math

 

Or as Tony says :

http://priuschat.com/forums/priuschat-website-questions/25749-how-tell-troll.html