I guess living on one of the best coastal areas in Australia you really take for granted the air quality. We just came back from Asia where the smog was almost unbearable making us both feel sick. We are both doing our tiny part for the world in the purchase of our Prius arriving 27th of June. I have had so many friends trying to talk me out of our purchase with comments such as “Australia is big and you need the power of a big carâ€. :x We know we made the correct decision with no regrets from us at all, just anticipation on the arrival of our new car. :lol:
I encountered my share of nay-sayers as well, although I made the decision to buy (and did so, just last week) based on available facts, plus my own gut instinct. Most of those who tried to steer me away from the Prius did so on the basis of the recent reports (which I know we're all sick to death of hearing about) regarding shutdown at high speed. I think that some people simply have an innate fear of anything that's even remotely new (which the Prius isn't really by this point), coupled with insecurity about themselves and their own choices. And sometimes the only way they can feel okay about the road (no pun intended) they're traveling is to convince you that you need to be traveling on it, too.
The USA is pretty big too and I think the Prius has plenty of power ... Unless your friends want to drag race you from the stop light, there's more than enough power available from this wonderful car. From an environmental standpoint, I'm not sure you can find a car that has better "environmental power" :mrgreen:
Welcome to PriusChat! haha, I wonder if that's the same reason here. "America is big, you need a big truck (like the HUMMER)" hehe There are a few Aussie owners here too!
Horespower is always used to sell cars in advertising. It is much easier to to make profits by charging for a bigger engine than it is to develop a hybrid synergy drive. That takes brains. Prius drivers prefer brains to brawn.
Here in the Pacific Northwest (one of the TRUCK capitols of the world), I "used" to have a lot of Prius nay-sayers at my job, then gasoline prices jumped ~40%. I still get a few "golf-cart" comments :roll: from co-workers, usually followed by my rebut, "So... how much did you spend on your last fillup?". I have yet to get an answer while they walk away grumbling. I won't even get into the fact that one of my main reasons for buying my Prius had to do with the increasingly frequent summer "Air quality advisory" days here in the Portland area. That point would simply be wasted.
