Prius Envy: Gas Prices Climbing, Think About Security

The world is full of people who misplace their aggression. It's not the oil companies and the markets and the supply/production problems and the sabre rattling... it's that Prius going 50+ miles on the same gallon of gas I burned backing out of the driveway this morning!

Skerrr-attch!

As the price of gas goes up, the frustration level of people who drive inefficient, oversized, gluttonous vehicles goes up with it. In 2008, they were even beating up gas station attendants, as if the minimum wage kid behind the counter sets the price.

So I'd like to touch on a couple of minor things to consider when parking your Prius.

Generally speaking, I never park in the full half of the lot. It's so much easier to park in the empty half and walk an extra few yards. I don't have to 'search' for empty spots, or wait for people to pull out. I don't have to wait for people who are waiting for other people, who are in turn waiting for yet other people, to get into a space. I just pick a spot and pull right into it. When it's time to go again, I pull right out, because there's almost never anyone in the way of that, either.

Want shade? Want light? Want a cart corral? Want a security camera? A straight shot at the exit? Get just the spot you want, and get a little exercise, too.

Near the door is the worst possible place to park.

Parking where most people are already walking and driving around, with keys and rings and grocery carts and swinging bags of crap and kids and whatnot, scratches and door dings will 'accidentally' happen with FAR greater frequency.

If people have to walk out of their way to vandalize or 'accidentally' damage your Prius, they mostly won't.

If your shiny little car is right there, and their oversized SUV or pickup is blocking the view of everyone else... temptation beckons. 'Oops', that door swung a little wider than I thought... three times.

Out there in the open, where there is no cover, it will make it a little more secure against many other kinds of threats, too. The price of Prius cars goes up substantially when the price of gas goes up, too.

Just something to think about, and it's unfortunate we do have to consider it. But 'Prius Hate' is alive and well, and will only get hotter this summer, as gas gets higher.

Phew.

I think you need to take a couple days off work, chill and have a beer.

You're right on some points but it sounds like the anti's have got to you!?!

My beautiful Molly has so many scratches on her.

She's a trooper though and she doesn't give an eff about what these a-holes do to her.

Some haters probably will start scratching them a little more, but not to a degree that I'll change my behavior. People already in parking lots act like animals, so best to always park at the back to avoid this kind of thing...I did that for a while but got sick of it, so back to my old ways, closest spot that's already open

I always park far away from everyone near the entrance/exit of the parking lot. I try to get far away from the idiots.

I hope the price of gas does not turn SUV owners into monsters and go in rampage against Prii!

Well, I don't think it is just Prius hate though. I mean, my 15 year old Sentra, I had douches trash my mirrors three times, 2 times within the last 5 years. It is just people who don't give a hoot that they damaged someone else's car and not wanting to pay for the damages cause the owner isn't there to blame them.

I park out pretty far, walk and hope for the best.

I park in the back where lot of spots are open. But my wife makes up for it by hitting the curbs when parking our corolla S. That is the reason I don't let her drive my Prius.

Is she from Europe? I know a lot of europeans who do park on the sidewalk.

And no, this isn't an insult towards Europeans, it's actually how some of them park their cars.

Because we have to!

Our roads were often designed long before cars were thought of, so are narrow. Being impossible to knock down all the buildings it is easier to have a narrower path/sidewalk or allow the vehicle to park on it to some degree. The law varies around Europe and also around the different areas of Countries. In France they mark out spaces on some of the paths/sidewalks.

In London I believe it is illegal to pavement park (we call the sidewalk the pavement), but in my town in the UK they turn a blind eye to pavement parking so long as the car is not an obstruction. In other words, if you leave enough room for a wheelchair user or pushchair/stroller to pass then you won't get a ticket. The road is so narrow outside my house that we park one car on the drive and the other half on, half off the pavement. Alternatively, if you park in a marked space in the town then you must not park outside the painted white lines or face a fine.

Clear as mud

If I know I'm going into unfriendly territory, like the local maul, I use the Buick. No one bothers it.

It's funny I read this now, because some SOB hit the back bumper of my Prius on Tuesday (or Wednesday? I'm not exactly sure when it happened). It's near the bottom and hard to notice unless you're looking, but you'd think whoever hit it would at least leave a note, or something.

The part that really grinds my gears is that I've had the Prius for less than two weeks.

Edit: A bit about security. I park downtown. I -hope- the tinted windows are enough to discourage people from peeping too closely. But if they do look, they won't find anything except my phone charger. Everything else I hide when I park, but before I get out of the car. Also I have a locking gas cap (if someone gets any funny ideas about stealing gas).

Oh, I know, I know. Arghhh.

I work at a grocery store. I can only avoid those people with carts and keys by not driving to work.

I always park away from the high traffic areas, but actually the Prius is the first car I've owned that never suffered vandalism... so far, knock on wood! A couple of Prius hating curbs left their mark, tho!

There is alot of hate here.

Oh I forgot, you're not a man if you don't drive a full sized pickup

Remember, the UK is the Country that gave the World Jeremy Clarkson - the hybrid advocate!

If you're worried about this Prius hate why not just install a cctv system to your car. You can get a good one for $200 or so. If someone scratches your car you have it recorded, report it to plod and post it on youtube and embarrass the perpetrator.

Opinion talk shows sometimes do not help when it comes to conservation. What was said in 2008 and Now!


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-jOiSgbmhc&feature=relmfu]O'Reilly's Alternative Fuel Flip - YouTube[/ame]

First post. I joined this forum after reading about various Prius vandalism incidents because our Prius V 2012 was apparently a victim of such idiocy.

I was traveling out of country last week on business and my wife was driving the Prius. Sometime during that week, someone put two very deep to the metal scratches on the hood of the car. It's not like a branch fell on it or someone threw something on the hood (no residual scratches of the debris sliding off). No, this is distinctly human made damage. The gouges are at the perfect height of someone who just felt the need to do this. To me it looks like pushed down key scratches with no secondary scratching (e.g. some one sitting on the hood with keys on their belt).

My wife is quite mellow and not one to piss anyone off, ever. I'm very angry over this. I haven't had a new car in 16 years and someone felt the need to pull this crap. Maybe it has nothing to do with having a brand new Prius, but after reading through numerous accounts of similar vandalism, I'm thinking it could very well be some sort of gas efficiency envy thing. Or maybe just a new car envy thing.

Our Prius is silver, so the scratching isn't terribly noticeable like it would be on a dark vehicle and my wife didn't notice it until I arrived home. I saw the scratching right away. I'll try to take a photo and add it to this post later today.

Sorry for venting, just needed to write this somewhere.