Boy, did I just get beat up.

Ditto, I'm at 132,000 miles mostly all highway ( 85% ) at 8 mph over the speed limit with a lifetime average of 47.5 mpg..2.1 GPC.

At 40-45 mph I normally average ~60 mpg.

 

My Prius is exactly that, my Prius. My wife's car is her Matrix.

 

There are a lot of misconceptions and I've noticed people tend to not like things they don't understand. I think this a a big part of the problem. The Prius is a complex vehicle. Look at the poll thread here on what jobs people here have. There are a lot of tech and professional types that are not scared of technology, in fact we seek it out. I doubt there are a lot of old time wrench heads buying the Prius. They don't know how to work on it. Takes too much chaw in the cheek to figure out where the flux capacitor is. Dang, I ain't buying a rig I have to take ot the dealer, mentality.

I also think many see the Prius and hybrids as small and week so they just want to blast you off the road by intimidation or irritation. I occasionally hit the power button just to let unsuspecting jerks know the Prius DOES have "cojones." It's rarther satisfying until I glance up at the mpg display and see the 0.1 mpg I just lost showing off.

PS, there are a lot of Prius in my area and they are all driven by guys except for one. I have 8 within 1 miles of my house alone. The Prius is mine and the Altima v6 hot rod is my wife's car.

 

Hi Mark:

I think you have it pretty much figured out. Too bad there are so many closed minds about new ideas and new technology. Thinking does take some effort.

Jim

 

I think there is a general tendency in people to put dowh other people's choices. This is not limited to your choice of a hybrid or Prius, but people come up with more "arguments" against the Prius because of these common misconceptions. I remember when I bought my 2006 -- the reaction from one colleague was, "You don't have that much of a commute, why would you need one?" and from another, "I heard that it's only good for city driving and isn't that great on the highway." Other arguments against buying a Prius include "the technology is still too new" and "it would cost too much to repair (if the battery fails, for instance)." Basically, there's a certain mistrust of anything different from what they're used to. I have been tempted to say, when people buy a new car, "Consumer Reports didn't recommend that car," or "That only gets 20mpg" ... but I try to refrain.
Everybody wants to feel that they made a better buying decision than the other guy.

 

My daughter, SIL and I were just talking about this other day. She is vegan and takes lots of crap for that as do most vegetarians......not enough protein, you need more calcium. Prius, wind power, different lifestyles. We got to the point of saying that it was because we as a nation tend to want to defend our own ways rather than being open and accepting of others views. We in America are still basically like a bunch of 5th graders at times.

 

Oh man, isn't that the truth. My wife and I travel a lot. There have been many times that we've been in a different country and watched groups from the US. Seems like there's always at least one in the group that embarasses everyone. I could go on, but I'll stop there.

Everyone is resistant to change at some level. Messing with their cars and making them more efficient seems to be tabo for many. The wife and I have discussed this many times. I really think it's going to take $5/gal gas to shake everyone up enough to wake them up and be open to more efficient vehicles. We saw some change with last year's high prices and then the economy tanked and prices fell and everyone forgot about it.

 

For those who are not concerned about the emissions reductions of a Prius (w.r.t. other cars), the only credible argument that I've heard for not getting a Prius, but buying a similar mid-sized sedan is:


"For my daily comute, and current cost of gas...it will take me 7 or 8 years to recoup the price differential between the Prius, and a similarly equiped (but much cheaper) sedan. Since I typically don't keep my cars more than 5-7 years, or more than 100,000 miles, buying a Prius does not make (current) economic sense."


The only retort I have is - should gas climb back to $4+/gallon, you might want to revisit the economics of your decision. I think until prices increase significantly from where they are today, I think many potential buyers are not buying because of the higher cost for the Prius. For the aforementioned driver, it's hard to justify the higher cost of the Prius based on $$ you save at the gas pump. Personally, and given the tight economic state every state and municipality is in right now...I'm surprised gas taxes have not increased to boost state/federal revenue. Further, since "going green" is on Obama's agenda, one would think the federal Governemt would "nudge" consumers into "going green" by gently increasing gasoline taxes? Yes, I realize nobody wants to hear or talk about taxes right now...but unless there are incentives (which there are not for the Prius), it's hard for many to justify the higher cost of the vehicle. The vast majority of Americans are not going to jump on the "green" bandwagon without some incentives to do so. The reality is - most Americans care little about the environment (unfortunately), and are primarily driven by one factor - $$$,

 

My Gen II Prius gets better economy than my 650cc Cruiser motorcycle on a trip at 70mph or more. How is that a bad thing?

 

Since I got the car about two weeks ago I can't tell you how many skeptics of the car have become converts and enthusiasts. This includes friends, acquaintances and even strangers. In the case of the former, when they get in and ride in the car, they feel like my wife and I. They can't believe the amazing technology of the car and how well it is executed. The compliments keep coming. Now, when my wife sees a Prius on the road, she enjoys saying "there's another one...we're taking over."

 

Fast approaching a million sold in the US since they were first introduced.

 

Obviously, the automatic tranny can't be such a bad thing if you both need one now!

 

I blame most of this on those "feel-good" Toyota Prius television adds that do very little to help educate people. My teenage son has a single word to describe those commercials and it's not a favorable one.

As I see it, here are the main misconceptions currently held by the majority of the masses, misconceptions that are allowed to persist due to poor advertising:

1. The car must be plugged in each night to recharge the battery, so it will be tedious to use. Also, won't it strand you if you forget to plug it in and it runs out of power while you're driving? Just about everyone I talk to thinks I need to plug it in every night.
2. The car is extraordinarily complex with extra electric motors and batteries, therefore it's reliability is likely to be be extremely poor.
3. It's just a glorified economy car, so we all know it will be small, underpowered, noisy, and tedious to drive.
4. If you want to buy an economy car, you can save yourself a lot of money and just buy a Hyundai Accent. It's less than half the price of a Prius, likely far more reliable, and you'll probably get nearly the same fuel economy. Also, it's likely to be quite a bit faster than that glorified "golf cart".
5. Due to the obvious conclusions listed above, the only possible reason you might have for being even remotely interested in a hybrid car is because you're one of those people who is into "saving the planet". Some of the more diligent people will attempt to contradict even this final reason by explaining to you how dirty it is to mine the materials that are needed to produce the hybrid battery and the electric motors, and how this will result in the production of ever more polution than a standard car.

Toyota has produced a series of commercials to help sell the new 2010 Prius. It would be really nice if they could make at least one that would address the four top issues listed above. Surely it could not be that hard for them to do.

 

31 years together? Congratulations. Far be it for me to offer any advice about how you handle your relationship. Obviously it's working! Your further explanation illuminates why you chose the wording you did. Sounds like you have some things automatically refined and defined between yourselves. Again, Congratulations and I hope whatever vehicle your wife (and you) decide to purchase works out well.

 

I assume you mean higher than most brands costing under $60K & up?

Thats a slippery path you enter my friend. :car:

 

No, not really. Do not equate the ability to buy an expensive car with education (if that's one measure of being "smart").

Case in point - about 10 years ago I saw the demographic breakdown of most of the European sedans - from Audi's to VW's. Interestingly enough, one of the brands I would have thought should have the highest income and highest educational pedigre - the BMW - did NOT. In fact, it was well below Jaguar, Saabs and Volvo's. One of the theories I read was that BMW (among others), were bought from a very wide demographic spectrum of buyers...form the drug dealer that needs to be seen, to aspiring yuppie. Like Caddie was in the 60's, 70's and 80's...it was often bought by people who truely didn't have the financial means to afford such a luxury ride, but needed to make a statement.

My own belief is that many people who buy the Prius are focused more on practicality and reason, and certainly not by sex appeal...or to make some vein statement that I've "arrived". There are probably 5 Prii in my development of about 60 homes...and as far as I know, all of them are driven by highly educated professionals, such as professors, doctors, lawyers and others. Almost without exception, those driving the Porche, the big Benz or the BMW M3/M5 are the guys (mainly guys) that make a good income (to be sure), but are not necessarily the smartest rock. Many are district sales types, that when corned at a neighbood BBQ, are hard pressed to be able to talk intelligently about anything other than sports.

As an aside, it's my understanding (from watching the Jay Leno Show) that many celebrities in Hollywood have (among other cars) a Prius. Clearly, these folks can afford any car they want...yet many in Hollywood have opted to have one of these in their 6 car garage.

 

Oouhh, ich. I really loved my Prius until you reminded me of this.

 

Prius envy- makes rational people speak irrationally