Prius owners get the last laugh as gas prices rise

[zenMachine]

Originally Posted by taggart

By the way, my wife and I know ugly. When we were married, she brought her 1971 Gremlin with her

That explains it. The Prius and the Gremlin share at least one thing in common:

The cut-off "Kammback-type" design was the butt of jokes such as "what happened to the rest of your car?" However, it allowed for interior space and was aerodynamically efficient so that other subcompacts, including the Chevrolet Vega station wagon, later adopted it.

AMC Gremlin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[robbyr2]

I have to say that in the comments I was saddened to hear that a Prius owner had felt compelled to ask a big SUV driver to justify their choice. That is just not necessary. Your cousin, your closest friend, your ex-spouse, maybe. But not a complete stranger. Maybe you didn't see the oxygen tank in the back or the wheelchair, or the well-used trailer hitch. Maybe they really just can't afford to trade in the gas hog right now. Maybe they have read and believe all the crap about the limited duration of Prii, the battery replacement cost, the electrocution of their rescuers, etc. Maybe they like their little Honda Fit or Toyota Corolla.

Is it okay to proud of what you drive? Yes, most definitely. All of my coworkers and most of my friends know by now I have a new car that I love. And I will proclaim loud and long that I think it would be great if they could have one too. But I'm not going to look down my nose at other people because you never know someone or their situation until you walk a mile in their shoes (or drive 52.7 miles on a gallon of gas)!

[a priori]

Originally Posted by pewd

. . . i still don't understand the reasoning behind criticizing someone just based on what type of car they drive. we still have a long way to go in this country to get attitudes changed . . .

Time for a bit of a confession on this one: I have a real difficult time when I see someone drive by in a Hummer2 or 3. I make just awful assumptions about them. I know it isn't fair. I don't know all of the circumstances involved in the purchase or use of that vehicle.

At least I've learned to keep my terrible thoughts to myself.

[JamesWyatt]

Originally Posted by a priori

Time for a bit of a confession on this one: I have a real difficult time when I see someone drive by in a Hummer2 or 3. I make just awful assumptions about them. I know it isn't fair. I don't know all of the circumstances involved in the purchase or use of that vehicle.

At least I've learned to keep my terrible thoughts to myself.

Having been on Jeep, FJ, and Land Rover forums, I can tell you there is no love for the H2 from anyone else. Ridiculous as either a cargo mover, off road vehicle, or commuter. An H3 isn't so terrible off road, but it sucks gas like a full-size SUV. If you want the function of the H3 you can get it with an almost-20mpg (highway) Wrangler or FJ Cruiser.

So long story short - don't feel bad. Everyone not driving a Hummer thinks badly of them

[Godiva]

Originally Posted by effwitt

The article mentioned "Dingo and Digby". Where have I heard those names before?

Those are "dogfriend"'s furbabies. Dingo is his avatar.

[dogfriend]

Didn't see this thread until now.

I left a comment on the article at about 6pm. I wasn't able to read the comments until late this afternoon because our internet at work is really slow and the Sac Bee website is not the fastest site either.

Rae: The reporter (Dan Vierra) was asking questions along the lines of "A lot of people think the Prius is ugly, what do you think?" Its not the most beautiful car I have ever seen, but it does grow on you. I also told him that I didn't have look at it while driving it, but he didn't use that quote. I also told him that the car looked that way because it was designed to be very aerodynamic, but he didn't use that quote either.

Another question that he asked was: What do you think the shape of the Prius resembles? I didn't have any answer to that one. I told him one of my coworkers thought it looked like a wedge of cheese.

Also the comment about driving through the National Park came out a little weird and disjointed; in context he was asking me about how important the "green" ness of the car was and if my GF and I were "treehuggers". I told him that was not the main reason I bought the car, but it was an added bonus and it is cool to cruise silently through campgrounds. The part about the National Park was related to those questions.

Its kind of enlightening to do an interview like this; we talked for about 30 min, but he picked out about 4 or 5 things that I said.....makes you wonder about anything you read in the media. I don't feel that he distorted anything purposely, its just that it was a much longer conversation.

[F8L]

I think your portion of the article came out fine Jason. The whole thing was a bit "disjointed" and a bit difficult to follow though.

I think Dan did a fine job with my quotes, yet I do feel like I somehow made the Prius sound bad. Especially where I talked about how slow it was at the track. Truth be told; it was slow! But I love the car and enjoy it nonetheless.

[dogfriend]

I told him it is faster than my Ford Explorer (it is) but he didn't use that quote either.

Before the article came out, I was somewhat concerned that he might try to make me look like a kook, but I was relieved that he didn't. But I did get the impression from the questions that he already had something in mind. He asked more questions about how the car looked and the image of the car and not many questions about how the car worked.

I do think that the title of the article may be causing some of the negative comments; they are assuming that the Prius owners are laughing at them. I don't really think anything bad about other drivers - after all, I have an SUV (and my GF has a fricken motorhome ) parked in my driveway. If anything I wonder why anyone would buy a big vehicle with gas at >$4. And I feel sorry for people who are upside down in a gas guzzler and didn't see this coming.

I only laugh at the lifted trucks and SUVs that go blasting past me to wait at the next stoplight. That happens almost everyday around here.

[donee]

Originally Posted by taggart

By the way, my wife and I know ugly. When we were married, she brought her 1971 Gremlin with her

Hi tag..,

Well, you know if you stretch out the rear portion of a Gremlin and put big tires on it - what do you get ?

Hmm -- Jeep Cherokee comes to mind. Yet nobody calls those ugly. Somehow the Gremlin-esqe style became in-vogue. Indeed, both vehicles were designed by the same company.

I never saw the Prius as Ugly, just form-following-function. Styles come and go, but FFF lives on forever. Think of the Porshe 911, Mini or other cars that have had long lived shapes. And now the new Honda hybrid has a close shape to the Prius. In time, the Prius will be the doctrine, and the Apterra the ugly newcommer.

[bac]

I like my Prius at $4+/gal, and also at $3-$2-$1-free/gallon. It's just a fantastic overall auto that does everything I need and more.

Oh yeah .... I love the way it looks also!

... Brad