1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Waiting List Guy Needs Emotional Support

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by scottw07071961, Mar 17, 2005.

  1. scottw07071961

    scottw07071961 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2005
    27
    0
    0
    PRIUSCHAT is the first chat room I've ever entered and I love it! I recently posted "[POLL] Second Thoughts" and I've come to terms with saying goodbye to my '95 Geo Prizm. I'm on the list for a new '05 Prius, and I should have it in about a month. I can't wait! Problem is, I'm way too emotional about this. I've been waiting several years for the perfect car, and now that I've found it, I'm disappointed that people at work and in my family just don't get it.

    Everybody talks about "horsepower this" and "zero to sixty that". I'm not trying to start a big political argument, but people around me are ultra-conservative, "rape the earth", "what's in it for me" people. You know the type. So....instead of feeling good about my choice, I'm feeling like an outsider. Shallow as it may seem, I'm looking for encouragment from my Priuschat friends.....people who have a broader, more sensible view of cars, the enviroment, and life in general! Help!
     
  2. kkister1492

    kkister1492 New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2004
    355
    1
    0
    Location:
    Fremont, CA
    You'll have the last laugh as the cost of gasoline goes up and up and your friends are complaining and going broke filling up those gas hogs.

    Remember to be kind to those less fortunate in the area of common sense. They will need it when prices reach $3.00 or more.
     
  3. Robert Taylor

    Robert Taylor New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2004
    451
    0
    0
    Location:
    Rocket City
    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(scottw07071961\";p=\"73476)</div>
    Odd. Many think I am the ubber conservative and I know quite a few of them but the obsession with zero to sixty bit has never come up in conversation in my life except as a poke at Cadillac's recent ads and the discussions of this forum.

    As far as Horsepower is concerned, it is more than adequate. Sniff around here long enough and you can see where people "race" on the roads with the Prius, even I have done a bit of that since the car turns out a pretty respectable performance and the pleasure of getting up to speed quickly isn't robbed by blowing the fuel out of the tank.

    Do not forget that the acceleration is not ICE dependent, the Prius taps that battery and the electric motor combines its force to move the car forward in rapid acceleration.

    Forget them, you will have more fun with this car than you have had in any motoring experience in a long time.
     
  4. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2004
    4,147
    19
    0
    I just got my gasoline bill for last month. $62.40
    now just sit back and have a coffee or your fav. beverage and think what they'll say when you tell them your new car uses about $60 a month in gas and still gets you where your going faster than your GEO and in better style and comfort. The first time you smoke'm at a stop light and they'll shut right up.
     
  5. Hatfield

    Hatfield New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2005
    91
    1
    0
    Location:
    San Diego, CA, US
    ScottW,

    To quote Richard Feynman "what do you care what other people think?" I think you should sit back, relax, enjoy a cold beverage of you choice, confident that you have chosen the right car for you. I think you're really going to enjoy your Prius. I know that mine has changed the way I think about cars. Not everybody gets it. Not everybody gets Miles Davis either. That's their loss, not yours.
     
  6. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    45,024
    16,243
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    You know, I bragged that my fill up cost $14 (when it was 69.9¢/litre that one day) and my friend countered that with 0-60 in 7 secs (btw, his car probably is closer to 7.5 or 8 ). Now, the funny thing is, while he's boasting about that which really has no affect on him, I'm laughing my head off cause he has to use Premium fuel and his tank is 65 litres. 700kms and $30 on the Prius? I'd take it :D
     
  7. rflagg

    rflagg Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2004
    947
    9
    0
    Location:
    Springfield, VA
    As someone once did not say, "Let them eat cake."

    If they still live in that dream world where their drive to work is similar to all the stupid car commercials where they have the winding road completely to themselves with no traffic, no stop and go for miles, and so on - then yeah, they have fun with their 0-60 times.

    But if you live in the real world where there's always backed up traffic and you're lucky to even see 60mph during your commute, then you've seen the light.

    Besides, with a CVT (variable transmission), when their cars are auto or manually shifting gears, your will just continue to speed up.

    I love seeing H2s trying to pass me. Sure I'm a dick about it, but I take the temp. hit to mileage to make sure they have to use half their gas tank to pass me if at all. :)

    -m.
     
  8. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2003
    19,891
    1,193
    9
    Location:
    Nixa, MO
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Ask them how much instantaneous torque they have in their car.

    Ask them how often they need to, or are even able to, accelerate from 0-60 in 7 seconds (or whatever their car does). Ask them how many have a SKS, VSC, give a shit about the earth, or subsidizing the middle east. Point out the drilling of ANWR and how that would be unnecessary if everyone drove a car that got 40+mpg.

    Ask them if they have any idea how hybrids even work or if they know how the cargo capacity of the Prius compares to the car they drive.

    Patiently explain that all that excess HP they pay for is useful only in those brief times of hard acceleration and towing heavy loads. 95% of the time all that extra power goes to waste as heat or lower fuel economy b/c the ICE is operating outside its most efficient RPM range.

    Take on their questions, if you don't know the answers you can come here and find them. There are very few good reasons to bash the Prius, and almost none to bash hybrid technology at all....we can make thier F350 have MORE torque, MORE HP and still get better gas mileage by incorporating it in to their out dated technolgy.
     
  9. Kurt

    Kurt New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2004
    15
    0
    0
    It's a bit disheartening when you pull up in your brand new Prius...the highest tech vehicle presently on earth which also has a lots of power and lots of room not to mention the highest gas mileage vehicle in the U.S. and your friends look at you and say, "That's cute, my grandmother would love to have a car like that."

    They just don't get it and there is absolutely no way they will. If they aren't a high tech sort of person they will never get it. Not any time soon anyway.

    I live relatively close to work and fill my Prius up every 3.5 weeks or so with 8.5 gallons of gas (400 miles). Once a month I'll mention to my fellow workers that I just spent my monthly $17.50 for a fill up...then I walk away. :wink:
     
  10. scottw07071961

    scottw07071961 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2005
    27
    0
    0
    O.K. !! Thanks to all of you, I feel much better now. Special thanks to efusco and others for challenging me to combat ignorance with knowledge. I think I'll spend less time 'chatting' and more time studying the car for a while.
    And you're right (Hatfield, Kurt, others) some people won't care or won't listen. When that happens, I'll try not to take it personally (I do that too much).
    I've come to terms with parting with my '95 Prizm (I get attached to my cars) and I'm better prepared to defend my Prius purchase to those who will listen to reason.
    So...enough mental hopscotch for me for a while. It helped though, getting some things off my chest. I am now more eagerly awaiting 'THE CALL' from my Toyota dealer and I am now 100% convinced that this is THE car for me. I can't wait!
    Feel free to send a follow-up on this topic. I'll keep checking my messages. Love this website! Take care all - Scott
     
  11. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    May 11, 2004
    14,816
    2,498
    66
    Location:
    Far-North Chicagoland
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    Scott, if I can add my thoughts here.
    They don't get it. They won't get it. They can't get it.
    Not until they see it.

    Do your best to explain to someone born blind what the color red looks like. They can't see it, they won't get it, they don't understand.

    Show someone born deaf what your voice sounds like. Same results.

    A few years ago Plato used the analogy of four men born in a cave and forced to keep their backs to the opening of the cave their entire lives. These poor people could only see the shadows of the objects that pass by, having never once glimesed the actual objects. This shadow of an existence became their whole lives and they were proud of what they had.

    But when one of the men was removed from the cave and shown the sunlight, he understood why the cave got brighter and darker. When shown his reflection in a lake, he knew for the first time what he looked like. When shown the stars at night he realized his place in the universe. Plato called this person the Enlightened Man.

    How sad and depressing it was for the Enlightened Man to return to the cave. How much he fought it and with so much regret he went. The other three men resented him for his new view of the world. He attempted to explain it to them but they were not only incapable of understanding but they resisted to learn.

    Those around you will either understand or they will not. They are either capable of casting aside the effects of being brainwashed by the American Marketing Machine or they are not. In the end, you may be the Enlightened Man in the cave. But I can tell you this: the more you try to force it upon people who are not interested the more they will fight and resent it.
     
  12. Old n Bold

    Old n Bold New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2005
    79
    0
    0
    Location:
    Bellingham, WA
    I don't think it has anything to do with being conservative. I am conservative but I am not stupid (PhD) and am pleased with my Prius.

    I am also a old retired navy pilot. This is the first car that I have had to sit down and study how everything works (I have the BC, nav pkg). It is not unlike checking out in a new airplane and having to study the scoundrel before taking it up the first time. In some ways, it even feels like a small but very good plane.

    Not to gloat, but I got my Prius 24 hrs after ordering it from the dealer in WA state -- at MRSP. I think, if one is willing to look beyond local dealers, one can be found. Of course, since the gas price just jumped a LOT, that may no longer be true either.

    Good luck. Study your NATOPS (oops, I mean owners) manual and enjoy. P.S. I got 50 mpg on my first tank of gas and 48 on the second as I was messing around a bit more as I got used to the thing.
     
  13. coloradospringsprius

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2005
    171
    0
    0
    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer\";p=\"73760)</div>
    There's a relevant addition to Plato's famous parable of the cave. When the man first got out into the sunlight, its brightness hurt his eyes: That is, his first reaction upon encountering the truth was discomfort. Many people who don't understand the Prius behave the way they do because, unconsciously, they can't accept what it would mean to their value systems if they DID understand the Prius. It's not just a different car - it's a challenge to their very idea of what a car-owner's priorities could be, and possibly should be.

    It will be easier for you when you have your car. After driving around in a Prius, even naysayers are left grasping for arguments against it.
     
  14. greencanuck

    greencanuck New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2005
    18
    0
    0
    Location:
    Toronto
    I imagine many others on this site have friends and family that just don't 'get it' as well. I too, not very long ago, was more impressed with horsepower and speed performance data then just about any other component of a car. In fact, until recently, I had my heart set on something with a 'Hemi'. I currently own a 1997 GMC pick up, as I too am waiting for my Prius to arrive. Ever since I bought the vehicle, five years ago, I have never complained about my mileage or what it cost to fill. I knew what I was buying, and I could afford the gas. I can still afford the gas, and would continue to not complain about the mileage, however, I felt that it time for me to do my part for the environment. If it were just about dollars or high mileage I would likely be looking at a Golf TDI. Great mileage, cost, and longevity. But not nearly as good emmisions.
    Anyway, feel good about your decision. You should feel proud that you've at least done something positive for the environment...and your kids. I know I do.
    Can't wait to start driving mine too.
     
  15. scottw07071961

    scottw07071961 New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2005
    27
    0
    0
    Quick follow-up:
    Tony - nice analogy. I hope to become that enlightened man someday. I'm on my way!
    Old n Bold - sorry 'bout the political comment...my bad. Actually, I'm 'mostly' conservative myself. I can't wait to get familiar with the 'cockpit' on my Prius!
    Colorado guy (and others) This could be one of very few cars that could actually change the way one percieves things! Amazing.
    Toronto guy - We're going to love our new cars. We 'get it' and we're going to drive it soon. :}