Waiting List Guy Needs Emotional Support

[scottw07071961]

PRIUSCHAT is the first chat room I've ever entered and I love it! I recently posted "[POLL] Second Thoughts" and I've come to terms with saying goodbye to my '95 Geo Prizm. I'm on the list for a new '05 Prius, and I should have it in about a month. I can't wait! Problem is, I'm way too emotional about this. I've been waiting several years for the perfect car, and now that I've found it, I'm disappointed that people at work and in my family just don't get it.

Everybody talks about "horsepower this" and "zero to sixty that". I'm not trying to start a big political argument, but people around me are ultra-conservative, "rape the earth", "what's in it for me" people. You know the type. So....instead of feeling good about my choice, I'm feeling like an outsider. Shallow as it may seem, I'm looking for encouragment from my Priuschat friends.....people who have a broader, more sensible view of cars, the enviroment, and life in general! Help!

[kkister1492]

You'll have the last laugh as the cost of gasoline goes up and up and your friends are complaining and going broke filling up those gas hogs.

Remember to be kind to those less fortunate in the area of common sense. They will need it when prices reach $3.00 or more.

[Robert Taylor]

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PRIUSCHAT is the first chat room I've ever entered and I love it!  I recently posted \"[POLL] Second Thoughts\" and I've come to terms with saying goodbye to my '95 Geo Prizm.  I'm on the list for a new '05 Prius, and I should have it in about a month.  I can't wait!  Problem is, I'm way too emotional about this.  I've been waiting several years for the perfect car, and now that I've found it, I'm disappointed that people at work and in my family just don't get it.

    Everybody talks about \"horsepower this\" and \"zero to sixty that\".  I'm not trying to start a big political argument, but people around me are ultra-conservative, \"rape the earth\", \"what's in it for me\" people.  You know the type.  So....instead of feeling good about my choice, I'm feeling like an outsider.  Shallow as it may seem, I'm looking for encouragment from my Priuschat friends.....people who have a broader, more sensible view of cars, the enviroment, and life in general!  Help!
[/b]

Odd. Many think I am the ubber conservative and I know quite a few of them but the obsession with zero to sixty bit has never come up in conversation in my life except as a poke at Cadillac's recent ads and the discussions of this forum.

As far as Horsepower is concerned, it is more than adequate. Sniff around here long enough and you can see where people "race" on the roads with the Prius, even I have done a bit of that since the car turns out a pretty respectable performance and the pleasure of getting up to speed quickly isn't robbed by blowing the fuel out of the tank.

Do not forget that the acceleration is not ICE dependent, the Prius taps that battery and the electric motor combines its force to move the car forward in rapid acceleration.

Forget them, you will have more fun with this car than you have had in any motoring experience in a long time.

[Frank Hudon]

I just got my gasoline bill for last month. $62.40
now just sit back and have a coffee or your fav. beverage and think what they'll say when you tell them your new car uses about $60 a month in gas and still gets you where your going faster than your GEO and in better style and comfort. The first time you smoke'm at a stop light and they'll shut right up.

[Hatfield]

ScottW,

To quote Richard Feynman "what do you care what other people think?" I think you should sit back, relax, enjoy a cold beverage of you choice, confident that you have chosen the right car for you. I think you're really going to enjoy your Prius. I know that mine has changed the way I think about cars. Not everybody gets it. Not everybody gets Miles Davis either. That's their loss, not yours.

[Tideland Prius]

You know, I bragged that my fill up cost $14 (when it was 69.9¢/litre that one day) and my friend countered that with 0-60 in 7 secs (btw, his car probably is closer to 7.5 or 8 ). Now, the funny thing is, while he's boasting about that which really has no affect on him, I'm laughing my head off cause he has to use Premium fuel and his tank is 65 litres. 700kms and $30 on the Prius? I'd take it

[rflagg]

As someone once did not say, "Let them eat cake."

If they still live in that dream world where their drive to work is similar to all the stupid car commercials where they have the winding road completely to themselves with no traffic, no stop and go for miles, and so on - then yeah, they have fun with their 0-60 times.

But if you live in the real world where there's always backed up traffic and you're lucky to even see 60mph during your commute, then you've seen the light.

Besides, with a CVT (variable transmission), when their cars are auto or manually shifting gears, your will just continue to speed up.

I love seeing H2s trying to pass me. Sure I'm a dick about it, but I take the temp. hit to mileage to make sure they have to use half their gas tank to pass me if at all.

-m.

[efusco]

Ask them how much instantaneous torque they have in their car.

Ask them how often they need to, or are even able to, accelerate from 0-60 in 7 seconds (or whatever their car does). Ask them how many have a SKS, VSC, give a shit about the earth, or subsidizing the middle east. Point out the drilling of ANWR and how that would be unnecessary if everyone drove a car that got 40+mpg.

Ask them if they have any idea how hybrids even work or if they know how the cargo capacity of the Prius compares to the car they drive.

Patiently explain that all that excess HP they pay for is useful only in those brief times of hard acceleration and towing heavy loads. 95% of the time all that extra power goes to waste as heat or lower fuel economy b/c the ICE is operating outside its most efficient RPM range.

Take on their questions, if you don't know the answers you can come here and find them. There are very few good reasons to bash the Prius, and almost none to bash hybrid technology at all....we can make thier F350 have MORE torque, MORE HP and still get better gas mileage by incorporating it in to their out dated technolgy.

[Kurt]

It's a bit disheartening when you pull up in your brand new Prius...the highest tech vehicle presently on earth which also has a lots of power and lots of room not to mention the highest gas mileage vehicle in the U.S. and your friends look at you and say, "That's cute, my grandmother would love to have a car like that."

They just don't get it and there is absolutely no way they will. If they aren't a high tech sort of person they will never get it. Not any time soon anyway.

I live relatively close to work and fill my Prius up every 3.5 weeks or so with 8.5 gallons of gas (400 miles). Once a month I'll mention to my fellow workers that I just spent my monthly $17.50 for a fill up...then I walk away. :wink:

[scottw07071961]

O.K. !! Thanks to all of you, I feel much better now. Special thanks to efusco and others for challenging me to combat ignorance with knowledge. I think I'll spend less time 'chatting' and more time studying the car for a while.
And you're right (Hatfield, Kurt, others) some people won't care or won't listen. When that happens, I'll try not to take it personally (I do that too much).
I've come to terms with parting with my '95 Prizm (I get attached to my cars) and I'm better prepared to defend my Prius purchase to those who will listen to reason.
So...enough mental hopscotch for me for a while. It helped though, getting some things off my chest. I am now more eagerly awaiting 'THE CALL' from my Toyota dealer and I am now 100% convinced that this is THE car for me. I can't wait!
Feel free to send a follow-up on this topic. I'll keep checking my messages. Love this website! Take care all - Scott