What percentage of Prius drivers actually think about the driving experience?

I think they'd Maintain sales, I doubt any notable increase would occur.

 

I'm happy it all worked out for you. I hope you enjoy your Prius as much as I do mine.

 

It's my second one! Traded my 2010 III for a 2014 Three w/solar. 70,000 miles to 0.

 

EXACTLY.

Cars are boring, and at best pleasant. They are also polluting hulks that mesh with the American culture that is Walmart.

 

oh, that's a low blow.

 

Oooh, I thought about getting mine with solar....maybe my next one. This is my first Prius.

 

4-5 years and ill be up for a new csr as I have 600 miles on this one...

By then who knows what manufacturer will have what.... id like to go full electric but 124mi round trip....

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

 

Was that comment directed towards me ?

I'll tell ya bud, to be alive is to feel a strong connection to your body, your self, your surroundings, and your community. Cars just about wipe that all out and leave depressed, obese couch potatoes behind.

 

I haven't been depressed since I got my driver's license over 50 years ago and I'm far from a couch potato. However, even if I were, I fail to see how that is the fault of cars.

 

maybe, but now, all i'll be able to think about when driving is walmarts. talk about depressed.

 

I took a Gray throw pillow, opened the zipper along one side and slipped it over the headrest. Initial drive around block certainly supported my head. Hopefully it works great on tomorrow's commute. I try new things to get comfortable and hope I'll get in the clear soon.

Last resort is we have a 2005 Accord sedan in the family which I could buy out. It's comfortable and easy to live with, but gets exactly one half the MPGs of the Prius, about 26, and it's totally out of warranty. Last resort.

So over the top. What do you think the world would be like now if there were no cars, trucks, no airplanes, nothing motorized or mechanized of any kind, nothing??

So, perhaps you admire how the Amish or folks like that live? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

i don't mind the horse and buggy, it's the beeforino that gets me. rusty!

 

I admire the Amish for many reasons. To answer your question, I am not a luddite. After all, I own cars and computers etc. I do however recognize their very clear downsides. Hell, just look around you. Rampant obesity, complacency, laziness as a 'virtue.' Comfort as an ultimate goal in life. People who use calculators for arithmetic.

Technology is at its best when it extends and multiplies our efforts. Most people use it to minimize their own effort. They tend to become isolated from one another and from nature.

Technology is used to build cocoons, and the car is the apex of a cocoon: No outside noise! AC all the way! A wall of steel! Perfectly filtered air! It goes on and on ...

And then you end up with people who sit on 4 inches of foam and whine that their butt hurts. Who feel a little pressure on one cheek as they turn a corner and think it is titillating. Or OP, who exchanged cars for that extra 0.01G occasionaly, because all the rest of the time he lives at zero.

 

Wow! Talk about cocoons, you just wrapped everyone who owns a car in one. That's a pretty dim view of everyone outside your personal space, though you're entitled to your opinion and I'm just making an observation.

I don't yet know how I'll use the Prius, but I run with my window down on my truck and the A/C running for my wife. She has medical issues and can't deal with too much heat in a confined space or I'd leave the A/C off most of the time, even in the heat of summer here. The Prius might be different because it's mostly about mpg and I assume opening the windows will result in a penalty. Unfortunately, living in Phoenix makes it very difficult to go without A/C.

We take a lot of day-trips to the mountains to walk through the forests of Northern and Eastern Arizona, looking for wildlife, photo ops, etc., I suppose you'd call it 'communing with nature'. When we go on trips to visit relatives in Wisconsin and Georgia we take different routes so we can see different sights all around the country. When we head to Wisconsin in August, we're going by way of Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks this time. We have 4 routes to Georgia and always plan new stop along whichever route we choose, it's not all about A to B. Between the two locations, we see most of the Midwest and South. When we get to Wisconsin, we head north to Canada or up and around the Lake into Michigan, etc. When in Georgia, we take trips up and down the East Coast all the way to Algonquin Park in Northern Ontario down to Key West. Year before last we drove back from Wisconsin via Ely Minnesota and Mount Rushmore without using the A/C until we hit Phoenix, over 2,000 miles.

For what it's worth, I'm 6'1", weigh 192 and am on my way back to 180 after some medical issues kept me from exercising, etc. My wife is a little overweight, but her medical issues preclude being able to do enough exercise to combat the effects of her medications. Still she does as much as she can as often as she can and that's hardly the definition of a couch potato. Yes, we have out laptops, TVs, etc., but it's a virtual necessity when family and friends are scattered from Central New York down to North Florida over to Oregon down to Southern California and points in between. This trip we'll be visiting friends in Idaho, Minneapolis and Estes Park CO. I hardly think we fit in your little cocoon.

 

DoubleDAZ,
It is not all about you.
Although if you and your wife are less than 80 years old, you may want to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself how much the medical problems are self-inflicted by your lifestyle.

Clearly there is a spectrum to what degree technology is used for self-castration, but make no mistake: it is siren call to a lot of very negative outcomes. Be wary.

 

Jeez, some of you sure have thin skins when everyone doesn't drink the kool-aid.

Last comments - If I were a smoker, drinker, etc., I might agree with your assessment. And not that it's any of your business, but I was born with kidney problems and it's my lifestyle that has let me live to 67 and my nephrologist and dietician tell me I've still got many more years ahead of me as long as I stay on track. My wife was born with a short leg, no kneecap in her right knee and some internal female problems, that's why we only have 2 kids. So I guess her lifestyle has led to her medical problems too, huh? Not all medical problems are lifestyle related and fortunately ours can be controlled and only debilitate us every once in awhile. And I didn't ask to be sent to Vietnam with Agent Orange, but then I guess that was a lifestyle choice too, right? Sigh......

 

I think I know the cause of the pain in your car:

1) You probably put the seatback fairly upright as it ought to be to place headrest near your head

2) No fault of your own, front edge of seat cushion is too high**, causing excessive pressure on your legs (and there is no way to reduce the cushion tilt. You have the base seat).

If so, there's no real fix, but reclining the seatback an extra notch or two will relieve the pressure on your legs, but you might need a 'car neck pillow' (from Amazon) to prop your neck up and you will likely have to deal with a headrest that is a little too far away from your head (and may contribute to more whiplash if rear ended). You might also try raising the seat up a little extra which reduces the tilt a bit, but you may end up sitting a bit higher than you'd like to be.

Sigh. Would be so much better if they included a bottom cushion TILT knob right in front of the height adjust lever.

 

This "cars are making us unhealthy" rational has some merits. My take:

Cars are not going to be banished anytime soon, they are needed, but be careful and aware that they do influence. Just something like fast food being just a few minutes away. D.O. for the beer/wine store (Canada). The easy, but not all that healthy, choices get easier with cars.

One thing that helps us is a pretty strict adherence to using a block heater before the first cold start each day. Besides the obvious, it makes us weigh choices, to drive or not to drive. A lot of one or two mile errands become walking trips, and the longer ones are put off, to be consolidated with others on an errand day.

 

Ah, so would the plot to give us all cars and turn us into depressed, obese couch root vegetables be a COMMUNIST plot or a CAPITALIST plot?
Reminds me of the Dr. Who segment where Vogons or some similar rubber-faced alien race had inserted remote controls into all the new cars made on Earth, and was going to suddenly take control of all of them one fine day for some dastardly purpose, like running like lemmings into the sea or creating a huge traffic jam.
Oh, wait, they already did that in L.A., didn't they.

I admit the conversations with my Prius are terse, nagging , and occasionally downright demanding (Maintenance Required!), but would you really want to have a serious conversation with your Prius on the current political situation in the Mideast whilst driving?
"Polluting Hulk" sounds suspiciously like a horse's pet name, to me, as in : "Hi Yo, Polluting Hulk, Away!!", which works for me as mine is Silver!

To be fair, cars are but one aspect of the Western hyper materialistic , consumer-oriented culture , but what would you replace it with?