Dude, I feel your pain. My first car was a hand-me-down family station wagon. After getting over the initial jokes and comments, I pimped out the wagon and my buddies loved it. It became the vehicle of choice to travel in. Now, 20 years later I'm shopping for a Prius.
LOL. Thus says a guy who's such an alpha male that he has a classic Land Rover as his avatar. No Prius there.
The problem isn't the car, it's your fraternity. Get a better group of friends. Life is too short to spend with a bunch of petty a-holes. Tom
Put in an aftermarket PHEV kit. That will make it much more geeky and fitting of UC Davis. It's only $3500 too. That's as much as you guy now spend for an amp and a subwoofer, right?
As an ex-frat guy myself you do realize that there are very few creatures on earth dumber than a pack of frat guys - they will give crap to just about anything and everything. My advice is to grow some thicker skin and let them walk next time they need a ride.
Well.....maybe not Battleships. We got rid of those. Women do however pilot combat aircraft, serve in ground combat units, and a host of other 'manly' occupations in and out of the military. They do so, in my experience---and I've had more than one female Commanding Officer in and out of seaborne assignments, either more or less capably depending on the content of their character, rather than their gender. Women are different than men to be sure, but those differences add to, rather than subtract from the capabilities of a military unit, or a company's BOD. Diversity 101. Using "girl" or "chick" as a pejorative term in describing a car, pistol, motorcycle, or other "manly" appliance is pretty 'low rent'... However (comma!) I'll admit that since I grew up in the 70's---I've been in the low rent district myself once or twice. I've tried to grow out of it. Re: How to make the prius [sic] less of a girls car... Like others said so well before me: Change the driver.
Nope nothing you can do. Because these are young guys, and they have bought the stereotype. They've seen the movies and heard the comedians that have inplanted the idea that Prius is "not manly". So you could weld a flame thrower to the hood and it wouldn't matter. I'm not perfect myself. There are automobiles that I think typically do appeal more to women and thus I think of them as more a product for the feminen. For example the VW Bug. But you get old enough, wise enough, and you don't care. You realize that Prius, VW Bugs, Miata's...aren't womens only, or "gay" or anything.... But if you don't have that wisdom today...you may never have it. And you certainly can't rush it. When gas breaks the 4 dollar a gallon barrier and starts climbing closer to 5...and you become the only one who can afford a road trip, you can use the opportunity as your friends are pooling money for the road trip to point out that Hybrid Synergy Drive and the utility of a hatchback pretty much make Prius a the ultimate frat boys road trip vehicle. I expect they won't listen, and they will still give you a bad time....but it plants the seed and someday? They might grow up.
I miss old Daniel Patrick. He and I were and are polar opposites politically speaking, but he was an honorable and gifted statesman!
Dude. You just need to show your buddies the cars potential. First get some tints on it. Next, hook up with some campus hotties in the back of the car. The seats fold down and makes for a nice area for evening gymnastics. It'll be the new shaggin waggin.
He's off to sell the Prius guys and that makes it available to someone who's a hell of allot smarter. Let him go!
Nothing you can do will make it less of a girly car, but with an attitude adjustment you can be less of a girly man.
Easy "Dude, prius is gay" "I'd rather be gay than help fund the next 9/11" Whack on an "Osama Bin Laden hates this car" sticker and all the girls will think you are "deep and stuff".
To troll a forum...make up a name, pull the pin on a hot-button issue, toss in, and run away... perhaps throw in a few quips here and there to keep the fire going.