AutoWeek: 2004 Toyota Prius: Wrap-up

I wonder if this is the case of not "getting" it or simply not wanting to understand what it is all about.

And funniest thing is when they mention their readers and how the readers dont have problems with Prius... hellooo, maybe it is you? lol.

 

For me the most amusing part was when they said:

fewer than half the road miles clocked compared to the previous quarter....Blame can fall in part to the addition near the end of the Prius’ stay of more practical .... cars such as the Volkswagen Phaeton and Dodge Magnum R/T.

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The fact that they consider those two examples to be 'practical' cars speaks volumes for their mind-set.

 

autoweek is a load of crap it seems

Funny how they compare it to a 2001 focus(which i own), which i am getting rid of to get the 06 prius

focus zx3 = 20mpg YUCK! , and lots of problems

 

Here's an interesting fact:

I went to kbb.com and plugged in both a 2005 Prius for 2005 Ford Focus Hatch Back. Prius value was $20k and Focus was $10k (HAHA :lol: ). Prius spec'd was $22k and Focus was $16k (invoice). Soooo... which would you choose?

 

Typical.

These car guys, when they're not driving a "fun" car that is tuned for endless performance, treat driving the car as a "chore"... part of a job, so they didn't enjoy it, and treated the whole thing like a burden.

That's why they got terrible mileage... because they refused to change the way they drive to adapt to the car.

Useless.

 

I don't have a problem with what they wrote. Autoweek is a publication for car enthusiasts, and the truth is, most Prius owners, and most car owners aren't car enthusiasts.

How many of you have owned a car with over 300hp, or which cost over $50,000? I'd say it's hard to call yourself a car enthusiast if you can't say yes to at least one of those questions. So don't get your panties in a bunch if someone with totally different interests than you doesn't find your car as compelling as you do.

 

The real problem here is that AutoWeek owns the credit card. These people have probably never paid for a tank of gas that they didn't turn in the slip and get reimbersed. That totally changes your preception of an automobile. They give you the car then they pay the gas, in that case even I could have fun driving around in some 10MPG behemouth. Unfortunatly I own the gas card and pay the gas bills and I also bought and paid for the car, whole new perspective.

 

Wow, how many stale tired arguments can I find in one article?

1) Prius doesn't get "advertised" mpg... jeebus, cry me a river. It's not designed to do so unless you change the way you drive (which the mpg chart really helps you do)! My first tank used in our Prius was only 39mpg (lots of small city trips), but as both my wife and I learned to adapt to the car, our avg is now 49+ (again, mostly 2-5 mi city trips).

2) "We don’t hate the little hybrid..." Arrgggh, it's not LITTLE! It has about as much room as a Camry, and a hell of a lot more than any other car that even gets 35mpg. Even my 6'5" coworker had no problems with riding in the car (in the back seat too).

3) Comparisons that are all over the place (comparing it to a Focus ZX3? or an SUV?). Hmm... lets see, if I compare cost vs. a smaller car, do you THINK it'll cost less? (hint: only if that smaller car is a BMW or Mini Cooper).

4) Elitism. Another poster said that these guys don't pay for a single cent of their driving. So I guess rich-boy reviewers and corporate lackeys won't like the Prius. Good enough of a recommendation for any reasonable people, I'd say.

5) Things they didn't mention about the Prius: like oh, I don't know... HOV lane access? How about NEVER having to get a smog test? Or being able to beat many other cars off the line due to the low-end torque of the electric motor? Guess these guys are all about driving for driving's sake. A small but boisterous crowd, IMHO.

 

hm, you dont have to own car over 300hp to be enthusiast, or over 50k. I own turbo'd MRS with around 200hp, and Corolla 2zz with 192hp. I put the turbo in myself. I consider myself enthisast.

And I love my Prius. Not only that, most people that saw it love it too. It is amazing car, with lots of technology that is able to get best MPG out of all normal sized cars. If you dont get the Prius, you dont want to get it.

 

The new Honda Civic Si has 197hp. Any car that makes the same power as a stock Honda Civic can't be considered an enthusiast's car, sorry.

 

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you. I don't think you have to own an expansive car or a car with 10 trillion hp to be a car enthusiast. A friend of mine own a 2000 Nissan Altima. He work on his own car and he mod almost everything on his car, the intake, suspension, tire and wheels, steering wheel, muffler, etc etc... you name it, he probably mod it on his car except the engine. He also goes to club meetings and races. In a recent race, he won 2nd place in his class. I consider him to be an enthusiast. Now for an enthusiast like my friend, he said he won't drive a Prius because he's looking for performance.

Now for myself, I consider myself a Prius enthusiast. I look for efficiency, technology, environmental benefits, etc. And I am crazy about my Prius and want to know as much as I can about it.

And you are right about people having different interests. For car enthusiasts that look for performance, I doubt they'll like the Prius. But if we all think about the fuel that we are burning are limited and basically our lives depend on it, the time it takes for a car to go from 0 to 60 and how tight a turn the car can turn doesn’t really matter that much anymore.

 

I think you misunderstand what enthusiast means.

en·thu·si·ast ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-thz-st)
n.
One who is filled with enthusiasm; one who is ardently absorbed in an interest or pursuit: a baseball enthusiast.
A zealot; a fanatic.

So it doesn't need to be a car with high HP or an expesive vehicle. You could clarify the type of enthusiast a bit further however, such as a Hybrid Enthusiast or a Gas Guzzler (read high HP) enthusiast or an elite auto enthusiast.

 

Here we go again. You guys get your panties in a wad whenever someone disagrees with you.
Its great everyone here loves their Prius. Woot. What would you expect? You can't discount their opinion beacuse its different than yours. You also need not agree.
I would suspect everyone was curious when they first got it, and then they got bored with it. Hmm, road trip in a Prius vs a Phaeton? I know which car I'd get in, AND I'd gladly pay for the gas.

And, no, I don't think you need to have an expensive car to be an enthusiast either. The people here are VERY clearly enthusiasts.

 

Ok, let me clarify. The type of car enthusiast I was thinking of is the type targeted by publications such as Auto Week, Road & Track, Automobile, EVO, CAR, Top Gear, etc. I'm guessing that Prius drivers who subscribe to any of those magazines are in the minority, and that they probably depend more on a publication like Consumer Reports for automobile reviews.

 

I actually subscribe to Automobile and they have treated the Prius very well. Most of their articles about it have been very positive and balanced and they haven't tried to make wild comparisions. Automobile is a bit high market and they do their fair share of stories on super cars and cars most of us will only dream about, however they also talk about real life and cars and that is where they really shine.

In a common note, I don't subscribe to Newsweek because they are not balanced and often don't get new straight; I choose U.S. News for straight and balanced. And I don't subscribe to Auto Week or Road & Track for the same reasons.

 

seems to me that we all here are enthusiasts... enthusiastic over our Priuses