Comment: Civic Hybrid and Prius are overrated

Folks, I think articles like this are classic FUD from the oil companies, American car companies and BushCo. So far we've seen the "hybrid cars are dangerous to rescuers" and the "mileage isn't that great", but we will see more negatives. Hummer sales are down and these guys are going to do everything they can to see that it doesn't continue!

While it's really horrible to see the media and the population manipulated in this way, look on the bright side, maybe this will shorten the wait time for the Prius!

--tb[/url]

 

Anyone here do the Atkins eating plan? I started about 3 months ago...

Very similar thing. The first wave of FUD came from the competing diets (e.g. Weight Watchers started including lower carb meals in their supermarket offerings, but every box now calls out that "calories are the only thing that matter"; competing (but similar) diet plans like South Beach start off with "Atkins will kill you, but our plan won't").

The second wave of FUD is now coming from the carb-makers, like Florida OJ and the Potato Lobby. Corn, wheat and rice are going to take a beating as well...

But I think the final wave will be the scientific studies showing that low-carb is in fact just fine, and the low-fat mantra that's been around for the past 2-3 decades is the root cause of modern obesity in the US, and Atkins will win in the end because it's fundamentally sound.

Same with the Prius. They can have a hundred articles about the low mileage and exploding batteries, but as more and more cars get on the roads and have good mileage and nobody's ever heard of an exploding battery, those articles will fade away.

Of course, then they'll be replaced by "our system is better" articles from late-to-market folks like GM... :cussing:

 

to address some points brought up in the article. they said that Toyota and Honda should put more effort into letting consumers know that they will not get any where near the gas mileage the EPA says they will. well as inside auto industry experts, they should know that it is illegal to advertise any mileage other than the official EPA ratings. granted the law was written to prevent auto manufacturers from inflating their mileage claims. i doubt that anyone could have imagined someone wanting to deflate the EPA's numbers.

and also, they say that regular vehicles get similiar mileage. but their only example is a 16 year old diesel. you might not remember what diesels were like that long ago. believe me, most have tried to forget as quickly as possible. if the lack of power and noise didnt bother you, the "sardine" feeling would.

its also rather apparent that the test drivers failed to drive properly. you will see that in all tests, they got better mileage on the freeway then they did in city driving. this is only possible with very erratic driving. jack rabbit starts and sudden full stops.

as for the Civic Hybrid, the dealership in town has 2 brand new ones sitting on his lot... dont know how long they have been sitting there but they are and from what i understand, he is not alone in his inability to push the honda hybrid.

as for Toyota, every dealership for 100 miles in every direction is pretty much garanteed to not have a single Prius available this year.

 

Something similar happened to me today. I was easing down the road in a 45 MPH zone at a reasonable 48 MPH, when I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the bottom of a Dodge Ram's bumper right on my tail. They quickly got impatient and whipped around me, going at least 55. About 3 minutes later I passed right by them as they made a right-hand turn. What I found interesting is that they had a big dent in the driver's side door, and another large dent on the tailgate and rear bumper (it looked like they backed into a pole). It's not very reassuring to know that such a bad driver has such a dangerous vehicle.

 

Ha ha ha! That's funny. I think it's probably the same people who thought DVD and CDs were only fads, the microwave causes cancer, and better yet, the "mechanical horse" would never replace good ol' Mr. Ed.

We should challenge anyone that owns an 04 Prius and is not happy with it to put it on the market. It would be interesting to see how fast it sells.

 

You do know that you'll have to be replacing your DVDs in a few years with the HD-DVDs, right?

-m.

 

Does this mean that I'll finally have to give up my Sony SuperBeta VCR?

 

I personally, would not jump to conclusions. They may have purchased the vehicle with dents. I know many of the cars I have had in the past, looked like they were used as extras in Mad Max movies.

 

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I've read reports that big vehicles are more dangerous than small ones because they give their drivers an exaggerated sense of protection. Rings true, dunn't.

 

well i sure hope that current technology will continue to strive for bigger and better things. for anyone who thinks that what we have now is the ultimate in anything i sincerely hope you are mistaken.

 

I've also read reports that Prius's only get 40mpg at best. (Rings true, for some people dunn't??) But that doesn't mean It the case for EVERYONE. Some people may only get 40, others 60, everyone is DIFFERENT, even driving the SAME CAR.

Quite honestly, I thought most Prius owners and future Prius owners, would be a bit more open minded about what they read and what actual facts are.

I am not defending people who drive bad, for their actions speak for themselves. But to jump to the conclusion that (I have an EXAGGERATED SENCE OF PROTECTION) because I drive a 4Runner, makes no sence at all. You know VERY LITTLE about me, my driving record, WHY I need my SUV, or most anything else about me personally.

I don't have a problem with people stating their opinions. but as more and more people join this Fourm, I find that it is becomming more and more a "I'm better than you", because I drive and XXXXX car., and how quickly topics get back to the "Evil SUV's" and the bad owners.

 

im not mad about possible variations in economy or performance. what i am mad about is that oil company interests are painting what i consider to be a false overall picture of what the Prius really is. you have to realize that less than 1/10 of one percent of the population has first hand knowledge of the car.

last month i had a windshield repaired on my pickup and the installer who works on cars every day had no idea what the Prius was about. He had heard of them but had HUGH misconceptions about the car. And these continuing articles and newscasts will only further the spread of misinformation to the nieve public.

 

No worries Rich. Similar to generalizations about SUVs, people tend to generalize about the Prius fanatics on this forum. I took own, and have owned numerous Land Rovers, Mercedes, BMW, and Jeeps.

Guess what, I'm enjoying the heck out of driving the Prius....especially in traffic. Getting 99MPG is kind of addictive since the best tank I've got was 58MPG.

None the less, you'd have to have serious problems if you can't even get better than 40 MPG driving normally. Moral of the story, not all SUV owners can be categorized into the "evil" category as not all Prius drivers can be categorized into the "environmentally sensistive" category.

 

Adrenalinwill,

Well said.

I hope to take delivery of my Prius in the next few days. I am sure that I will be very pleased with it's performance, reliability, as well as the FUN factor.

 

Peace, Medved, peace. I was just ruminating on why one might see lots of SUVs with dents in them. Didn't mean to touch a nerve or anything :_>

 

Sorry if I came off a little brash.

There are a few people on this board who are very ANTI-SUV, and it is difficult sometimes not to DEFEND myself, when comments are made directed right at me, a SUV owner.

As I said, I hope to take delivery of my car within the next few days. Getting back to the topic, Civic Hybrid and Prius are overrated, I don't believe it.

As I said, I don't believe much of what I read from news sources. There always seems to be some kind of spin on it. I like to form my own opinions. Also if this car is so overrated, why is there such a demand for it. More so, I don't see many trade-ins. I would bet a lot of the First Generation Prius's are being traided for the Second Generations. I would be curious how many have purchased a traditional gas vehicle AFTER having a prius.

 

Getting back to the mileage thing, whenever anyone asks about my Prius, I begin by telling them that I don't get the EPA mileage. With our arctic winters, and my typical 10-minute commute, I may get the record low mileage for the Prius. But that's still about double the mileage any of them gets in their own cars, and they are, without exception, impressed. The big news conglomerates may be determined to trash the Prius, but real people are impressed as h*ll. (Which may be why it's so hard to get one.)

As for the HCH, I still say the Civic is a great car. Honda's problem was that by putting IMA in the Civic, they made it too easy to see the price differential, and calculate that the gas savings would not pay the added cost. Toyota, by comparison, built the Prius from the ground up, and gave it features otherwise found only in much more expensive cars, and then priced it to sell, with a low price-to-value ratio. And being unique, there's nothing to compare it to.