That's a great article!
When I was carpooling, my riding partner was a basic Detroit-gearhead, who fell in Love with my Prius! Those who really love cars can't help seeing the elegant simplicity of the Prius.

Thanks for posting this.

Must be Jeremy Clarkson's arch Nemesis wrote that. I love it.
Almost factual too!!

very well written article and expresses my view of the prius much better than i can. i too am a car guy who loves fast cars and even faster motorcycles. so, sometimes i feel a little out of place on this forum where the majority does not share my love of sportscars or my pragmatic out look on the earths survivability despite the nuisance of man living on it. on the other hand, there are some great and lovely folks here and i value their prius enthusiasm. so, in general, when i see all the controversial (to me anyway)nonprius stuff here i just skip over and enjoy the other comments. i love my violently fast harley vrod and my sedate prius at the same time

Very interesting. I like how the author was quick to recognize a positive feature that is easily overlooked -- the gearshift lever. People quickly realize the gearshift is on the dash but few people (including myself) go the next step and realize that a bunch of room has been freed up near the steering wheel or the middle console area.

This is the same reaction I am getting from many people when I show the Prius people who have an existing negative opinion of the Prius. Their opinion is what they have heard from others that have an agenda against the car. Once they experience the car themselves, they change their minds and realize that it is a great car.

The Prius is that good. Once people see it for themselves, it wins them over.

Almost right. Maybe he should have talked about pressing the brake pedal...


@ fred

I feel the same as you. I grew up with cars. I love fast cars. I own a 250hp fwd car and a 300hp awd jdm import. I drove those on weekends or at the dragstrip for my own pleasure. I also, of course, own a Prius that I use every day to go to work. They are different but the more I drive my Prius the more I like it. Soooo relaxing, so smooth... yet if you floor it it really goes forward. I think the Prius is the best buy I did in years. Because of that I also plan on getting an EV this summer

couldnt agree with you more sy

My bike will do a 1/4 mile in about 12 seconds which breaks no records but it in none too shabby for a 650 cruiser. I have races in a modified Mazda RX2 with a 13B engine and very low gearing to increase acceleration, the porting made the revs to get the speed. Even in my Prius I like to be at the front of the pack, I want everyone to see the tree hugger hippy car gets along and I make no secret I get 4.3 to 4.5L/100km or half the fuel consumption of your average 2 litre car. To my way of thinking, impress petrol heads and you are over the hump with the Prius.

I bought a Prius because some bloody hippy beat me at the traffic lights in one!! Until then they were too slow.

I also give free rides and guided tours to anyone interested. Several of my friends have had a drive of my car.

ah, my other gearhead friend, pat.you are right. it surprises folks when i hit the gas in city traffic.no hesitation equals great scooting. now when you leave your foot on the floor, well, you know, it becomes kinda slow, but quick dabs, great!

I like to hold the pedal down till after they change gear, you can tell they changed gear because they drop back. I also don't go over the speed limit,







much.

Pat, I'll have to send you a picture of a Harley Davidson sweatshirt I own that says "Coast to coast in 60 seconds!" I made a trip to Wake Island in the Pacific and one American working there had a Harley and had the shirts made.

very cool, jack.

I'll post the picture after I get home from work tonight.

Here is the Wake Island Harley shirt. I don't actually think it would take 60 seconds to coast to coast unless you slow down before you hit the water.

Yep, you took the words right out of my mouth. Jeremy is obviously not on speeking terms with this dude.

great t shirt. i wonder how he got the harley to that dinky island

for me the Prius is a shining example of what can be achieved when technology is used positively, not just to superficially impress buyers.

one of the best... he states simply what many of us struggle to express.

For anyone who previously drove nothing but manual tranny cars all his life (like myself), I had a horrendous time getting my new Prius into DRIVE. Thats of course because with manual transmissions you never hold the brake while you shift into 1st gear (for a good reason: you only have 2 feet! One to push in the clutch and the other to press the gas pedal). So I had a hard time remembering I have to hold the brake pedal in while I shift the lever into DRIVE.

So I laughed when this guy said the Prius was easy to drive right from the beginning! Maybe for him, yeah!