Snappy comebacks to stupid Prius remarks

Them: "You'll never make your money back on that, you know."

Me: "What are you doing in your car that earns you cash?"

 

When some one asks me, "where did you learn to drive?" I smile and politely tell them, "in the street."

 

Hey Mmcdonal,

Were you the one that made the post I'm looking for at http://priuschat.com/forums/freds-house-pancakes/109242-help-me-find-post-priuschat-thread.html? If so, can you point me to it?

 

"It's insurance against rising gas prices."
"Can your car get 80 MPG in a traffic jam?"
"My neighbors appreciate how quiet it is."
"If everyone drove a Prius, there would be no foreign oil dependency."

Scene: Allie Moore Prius (AMP) and Lightning McQueen have a race through a city. McQueen waits impatiently at the first traffic light, then races to the next one, and the next one... then runs out of gas... Meanwhile, AMP times that light, the next one, and the next one... all the way to the finish line...

 

Had a buddy this past week go off on all the standard Prii BS about my new ride. Let it roll off, said I "hear him". Then asked him if he had $20 that I could borrow. He said sure, as he handed it to me I thanked him for the "loan" - telling him that would pay for the r/t to the beach this coming week (a 300 mile r/t).

 

I ask them, "Do you want to race to the Gas Station? I Guarantee you'll Win!"

Usually shuts them up, quickly.

 

I passed a Porsche and a Lotus with my Prius' commuter lane sticker.

 

My boss said that to me, and I replied that I was already ahead of his Cadillac. Yes, I still have a job.

 

You know who also wouldn't drive or ride in a Prius? Hitler.

 

They don't say much when I show up at the pump with my car... the just get out of the way.

 

Why try to argue with stupid?

If somebody is smart, AND if I value their opinion then I might entertain their thoughts about MY car.
Otherwise?

Their opinions are valueless.
Stupid comments are......stupid.
Don't give into the temptation to flop and twitch every time somebody makes a disparaging remark about the type of car that you drive.

There are people out there paying most of $100 for a 300-mile tank of gas, or paying $50,000+ for a really flashy car that will be worth $5,000 in 10 years. I don't care WHAT they think about what I chose to drive.

Prius drivers have a rep for being a very VERY thin-skinned bunch.
I try not to perpetuate that stereotype.


.....$30 gas station visits help!

 

I agree with this. But I also feel that just because I drive a Prius I shouldn't look down at someone who drives an SUV and be arrogant or superior about it. Cars are awfully personal things, and while many people see them as purely a means to get somewhere, many others find their cars to be a very personal extension of who they are and what they represent. Yeah, it would be nice if more were concerned about the environment, or saving gas, but that's in a perfect world, and last time I checked it didn't appear to me that we live in one.

 

People are always going to have opinions and share them with you. It's called making conversation. Personally, I've gotten mostly positive comments about the Prius. The same can't be said for the rusted out orange Chevette I owned after college.

I tend to gravitate towards cars that generate comments. A boring sedan that everybody understands is, well, boring.

 

I've seen the numbers that show that once you account for EVERYTHING that goes into making a Prius, ultimately it has a more negative environmental impact as compared to a traditional automobile.

So, it appears that the "greenness" of the Prius is just an illusion the buyer can feel good about.

Still, that doesn't mean there isn't an up side to owning a nice techie car that saves you 50% on the gas you buy. Especially if you would have spent about as much on what your other options were at the time.

 

I've seen some of that too, but what I've seen were comparisons to specific vehicles, mostly those made entirely in the US where shipping parts to be assembled, especially the stuff to make the batteries, aren't an issue. The ones I've seen too only seem to take into account building costs, not fuel and other savings, like maintenance, etc. My usual takeaway from such "studies" is that one can come up with stats to support any position. No one will ever convince me that the Prius is worse on the planet than an H3 over the life of the vehicles, something one study said. And most naysayers use battery disposal as the primary example.

 

The Prius versus Humvee nonsense was debunked long ago. From the PDF report by the Pacific Institute linked on that page:

"The CNW report offered the startling conclusion that large SUVs like the Hummer were more energy efficient over their entire lifecycles than small cars and even hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius. Although the data, assumptions, and methods used to produce that conclusion were largely unavailable for analysis and peer-review, the Institute assessed the approach and limited data
used in the analysis as well as evaluated other comprehensive automobile lifecycle energy assessments. Our analysis identified key assumptions in the CNW report that were unsubstantiated, grossly inaccurate, and misleading. When those assumptions were corrected, the CNW report conclusions were completely reversed, supporting conventional wisdom: smaller cars, and especially the Prius, are far more energy efficient over their lifetimes than larger ones.

"If consumers want to reduce the overall energy and greenhouse gas emission costs associated with transportation, buy a car that has a high mileage rating, that uses flexible fuels, or that uses no fossil fuels at all. Other options? Explore public transportation or get out of your car altogether."​

 

I have a simpler approach to debunking that study. Energy and materials costs $$$, so the cost of a car can be used as a rough proxy for the amount of energy and resources that went into designing and manufacturing it. If making a Prius truly took as much energy as CNW claimed, then the car would cost a lot more or Toyota would have gone out of business by selling cars at a huge loss.