A friend rides in your Prius for the first time, then buys one soon after...

Actually, I bought a Prius after going for a ride in a friend's Prius. The first ride was out to my house in the country over very rough dirt roads and up my loose sand and gravel covered driveway. The Prius did not get stuck in my driveway which was way better performance than my diesel pickup trucks. The second ride was 6 months later where we drive his Prius to Algodones, MX along I-8 for 6 hrs. At 70-75 mph and the ac running we got 45-48 mpg. Those two trips made me a believer and I bought one. Haven't given anyone else a ride.

 

my dad was very interested in a Prius, but couldnt wait and bought a 2005 Camry instead thinking it was a good car. well, he moved to Texas to a semi-retirement type of community and now, more than half his transportation is done by his electric golf cart.

he came up last winter for Christmas and we ferried him around a few places and he was then really turned on to a Prius especially considering the short distance mileage i was getting. so within a month of going back to Texas, he traded in his Camry and got an 2007.

i have also pretty much talked a few people into getting one, but none of them have the money to get one and used ones these days are going for a pretty good premium

 

I don't think my Prius has resulted in a new sale by any of my passengers (yet)... but it definitely has sparked conversation, and helped squash faulty-information about the Prius...
* Where do you plug it in at home?
* Won't you get electrocuted in a crash?
* Or if you go through a deep puddle?
* I thought about one, but the hybrid technology is just a year or two old--too new, still.
* I hear the MPG rating is baloney; are you really seeing a difference in MPG?

Several comments, after riding, tend to fall into the lines of "I had no idea it was so roomy inside!" and "Wow, this car is so cool!" (the back-up camera gets that reaction all the time!) and "Are you seriously, REALLY getting 53mpg!?" (Just look on the MFD, silly, while I'm driving!

I have taken to adopting a rule with certain friends, borrowed from an earlier post here on PC---Any time a 5-minute green bar exceeds 50MPG, the people in the car have to applaud. If the green bar hits 100mpg, applause and hooting is required. :lol:

My best friend, who is a very considerate guy, and always wants to chip in for gas over the years, even if I give him a lift say, the 2 miles from our former office to his home... he's now jokingly taken to saying "I'll leave you 12 cents for gas."

 

So, my question is: How many people on this forum have driven a friend or relative in your Prius... then find out they soon after bought Prius?
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I don't believe that I have caused anyone to buy a Prius except myself. I took my 05 Avalon in for a warranty repair and at my request, they loaned me a Prius for the day. I also at the time owned an 03 Civic Hybrid that I bought new in 2002. When I went back to the the Toyota store that evening the rental manager (who knew that I had the Civic Hybrid) asked me how I liked the Prius compared to the Civic. I told him that it was the easiest car to drive that I had ever driven and that if I could get a good enough trade, I would trade for a new Prius.

To make a long story short, less than two weeks later we had a new silver pine mica Prius. Didn't trade, just bought the car and took advantage of the 0% interest that was available at the time. Then sold the Civic and realized a little more money than the trade offer.

By loaning me the car for the day, they made an easy sale.

 

I am the friend that drove a friend's prius and then questioned him over dinner and eventually bought one

 

I rode in one in 2001 when they first came out. Ever since then... Of course I haven't thought I could afford one til more recently. I still don't know, but I will find out.


--des

 

A friend is interested in checking out the Prius, and I've offered to give her a ride. I only see her on Sundays of non-Summer months, so it may be a while, but I'm looking forward to that.

My wife and I took two boys, sons of friends, to see a movie last Fall, not long after buying the car. One boy's father later told me that he heard nothing about the movie. All his son could talk about was how cool the car was. He used the hands-free phone to call home and he got to see the battery bars go from blue to green. So, it wasn't like giving an adult a ride in the car. It was more fun than that!

 

I knew I was going to buy a Prius after we bought my Husbands. But, his parents & brother are in the buying process now as well. They loved ours so much, they decided to go with them as well!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Nda3rdCar @ Jul 24 2007, 04:31 PM) [snapback]484398[/snapback]</div>

To the best of my knowledge this has never happened to me. Everybody wants to ride in the EV instead... and buy one of those. WE don't drive the Prius enough to offer rides... plus everybody around here already owns one...or two.

 

I've had my car for a little over a month and a half or so and because of the good mpg I have been getting caused my dad to pick one up himself this past weekend.

 

1 couple bought shortly after we did. Numerous people highly impressed and are considering it for their next car.

 

I had test-driven one the year before I bought, but was more motivated when a co-worker bought one (not to mention the tax credit at the time). My mom and dad bought one a few months after I bought mine, though (after the tax credit popped!).

I agree with ChristoB on the comments/questions (almost to a T)...on the MPG, they simply ask what I really get. I always talk about the regenerative braking (whether they ask or not) and share my concern about how high gas prices could get.

 

My girlfriend traded her Volvo for a Prius about five months after I got mine. Several others are on the fence now whereas they wouldn't have considered it before.