Article in NY Times (London ed.)

[Oxo]

A piece in the NY Times (London edition) today gives a list of "Top reasons customers cited for buying a Prius" At the top at 57% is "Makes a statement about me". Only 36% said "Higher fuel economy". I suspect these figures do not agree with surveys there have been on PriusChat.

The item starts with a question, "Why has the Prius enjoyed such success [in the USA]...?" but in the suggested replies there is no mention of "Because it's a far better car than the other hybrids." which is the answer I would have given. There are said to be over 400,000 Prius in the USA, with sales up 93.7% in the first 6 months of this year.

I thought MPG was the commonly used standard in the USA but in this article we're given "kilometers a liter". If they're going metric I wonder why they don't use the usual "liters per 100kms". Who uses "kms a liter"? They also quote gasoline as "80 cents a liter" so is the USA going metric now?

[hyo silver]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ 2007 July 29 09:43 AM) [snapback]487095[/snapback]</div>

A piece in the NY Times (London edition) today gives a list of "Top reasons customers cited for buying a Prius" At the top at 57% is "Makes a statement about me"...

...is the USA going metric now?
[/b]

The first statement shows how successful advertising has been at convincing us cars are an extension of our personality, rather than transportation. As for the US going Metric, it's good to see you're keeping your sense of humour, Oxo.

[FL_Prius_Driver]

An accurate, unbiased poll is actually very expensive and difficult to field. The biggest problem is there are very few organizations willing to pay money for a poll that is "validated" to be unbiased.

Now conducting polls for paying customers is a completely different operation. These are easy: 1) Determine what you (or your paying customer) want to "uncover", 2) Structure the questions according to the purpose of the poll, 3) Use the cheapest labor available to execute.

So in the poll below, which answer better reflects your feelings:

a) Owning a Prius make a Statement about you and the need for addressing many issues, including oil dependance and environmental impact.

B ) You bought it only for higher fuel economy

You get the idea. If you were at the receiving end of a poll like this, it all becomes clear.

[PriusTouring07]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Jul 29 2007, 11:43 AM) [snapback]487095[/snapback]</div>

A piece in the NY Times (London edition) today gives a list of "Top reasons customers cited for buying a Prius" At the top at 57% is "Makes a statement about me". Only 36% said "Higher fuel economy". I suspect these figures do not agree with surveys there have been on PriusChat.

The item starts with a question, "Why has the Prius enjoyed such success [in the USA]...?" but in the suggested replies there is no mention of "Because it's a far better car than the other hybrids." which is the answer I would have given. There are said to be over 400,000 Prius in the USA, with sales up 93.7% in the first 6 months of this year.

I thought MPG was the commonly used standard in the USA but in this article we're given "kilometers a liter". If they're going metric I wonder why they don't use the usual "liters per 100kms". Who uses "kms a liter"? They also quote gasoline as "80 cents a liter" so is the USA going metric now?
[/b]

The reasons I got a Prius:

2) Fuel Economy (saving ca$h)
2) Convenience (not having to stop for gas so often, less frequent oil changes, reliability)
3) Futuristic design and many advanced features available usually only in a lot more expensive cars
1059) Saving the environment ;-)

And it'd be very nice if the US finally went metric. It's a lot easier, ya know!

[TonyPSchaefer]

A piece in the NY Times (London edition) today gives a list of "Top reasons customers cited for buying a Prius" At the top at 57% is "Makes a statement about me". [/b]

Wait a minute. Are you sure this article was about a Prius and not a Corvette, Ferrari, or BMW? I thought for sure people bought Mercedes Benz because of the statement it made about them. I guess people buy the Dodge Charger for the great towing capacity.

[dhancock]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Jul 29 2007, 12:43 PM) [snapback]487095[/snapback]</div>

A piece in the NY Times (London edition) today gives a list of "Top reasons customers cited for buying a Prius" At the top at 57% is "Makes a statement about me". Only 36% said "Higher fuel economy". I suspect these figures do not agree with surveys there have been on PriusChat.[/b]

I'm curious: did they publish the two photos that they did in the NY print edition? One is of a couple in the trunk of their Prius, and the other is of someone (actually it is me) with my Prius in front of some power lines (some sort of "statement" I guess).

I purchased the Prius because we drive our primary car 33,000 miles/year and basically they pay back period for the car was 18 months. I detailed this to the writer, but all she was interested in was the comment that our daughter had made that she "was so proud to have such environmentally conscious parents". I'm sure that if I hadn't passed our daughter's comments on to the writer, that I would not have been included in the piece.

After the article appeared, I wrote to the writer complaining about the "slant" of the piece and she replied "that was the direction that the editors wanted to take".

Though I am a (retired) engineer, I do have some background in market research studies (I've been resposible for probably 24 of them for Kodak) and do recognize that they can easily be terribly misleading. Being very careful about what questions you ask, and how you ask them is most critical. A good survey does not have to be expensive - but it does have to be intelligently designed. I really doubt if this one was.

[Stev0]

People only buy Hummers because the Prius doesn't come in yellow.

[JimN]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Jul 29 2007, 12:43 PM) [snapback]487095[/snapback]</div>

I thought MPG was the commonly used standard in the USA but in this article we're given "kilometers a liter". If they're going metric I wonder why they don't use the usual "liters per 100kms". Who uses "kms a liter"? They also quote gasoline as "80 cents a liter" so is the USA going metric now?
[/b]

The USA is converting to metric inch by inch.

[mjms2b]

don't forget, the Brits are not keen on the Prius because for years they have had cars that get better mileage (non-hybrid). this is a UK thing and a trend that we have fallen waaayyy behind.

[Rae Vynn]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Jul 29 2007, 02:31 PM) [snapback]487184[/snapback]</div>

People only buy Hummers because the Prius doesn't come in yellow.
[/b]

I find this very, very funny