Forbes article supremely critical of Prius

Now what does it communicate that:

1) Next to the article is an ad for Jaguar.

2) The specs page at the end links to Mazda for the manufactuers web site.

:?: :?: :?: :?: :?:

 

Here's my reply to their article:

I find it interesting that you denigrate the Prius for not matching the EPA mileage stats, then quote the EPA mileage stats for the VW Passat for a comparison. Do all Passat drivers achieve EPA predictions? Where are you getting your data from about "most" Prius drivers experiencing mpg's in the 30's? If you consult a knowledgable group, such as Priuschat.com, you'll find plenty of drivers who have met or exceeded the EPA estimates. I am one of these drivers, and my driving is not only city driving, but a mix of city, interstate and suburban. I have consistently averaged 55-60 mpg over the past several months of ownership, and I certainly don't creep along in electric only mode to achieve this as your article suggests. We all have our personal prefernces about styling, performance, and comfort, but perhaps its time we set aside these relatively minor points for the "bigger picture" concept of protecting our planet by making environmentally sound choices.

 

Here's mine:

I own a 2004 Prius and I feel this article has seriously misrepresented this car. This is the best car I've ever owned, and it's clear to me that Toyota put a great deal of thought into its design that has been overlooked, ignored, or distorted by this review. I'll take them in order:

- "...most buyers are getting mileage in the mid-30s in the city.." I get 50-60 MPG in the city and high 40s on the highway, and my Prius isn't even broken in yet. Exactly where are you getting these statistics? Shouldn't you cite them?

- I love having the gauges near the windshield. I don't have to refocus my eyes every time I want to check my speed. It's much more comfortable and I'm sure it's much safer.

- You don't have to use the touchscreen to change the radio station or fan speed if you don't want to. Did you not notice all of the standard radio controls on the dashboard right below the screen? Or the climate controls right on the steering wheel? It seems like you are more interested in portraying the display as a dangerous distraction than in telling the whole story.

- Your complaints about the shifter being confusing are ludicrous. A child could figure it out, and if you'd given it any thought you'd realize that the standard PRND pattern simply wouldn't work in this car. The car automatically enters Park when you shut it off. Should the shifter jump from D to P when this happens? And your concern about accidentally entering Reverse is unfounded -- the car prevents you from doing this if you are moving forward. And when you do Reverse it beeps continuously to make it abundantly clear in which direction you will move.

- You describe the silence of the car when it is operating in electric mode as though it were a drawback. The mind boggles.

- "In addition, the seating position is a bit uncomfortable if you don't naturally slouch a great deal, as if this car was made either for slackers or for people who just spend too much time sitting." I take offense to this characterization. This kind of personal attack is extremely unprofessional and entirely irrelevant to the review.

- Page 4 lists the manufacturer as Mazda. One final bit of evidence that very little time or thought has been given to this "review".

 

An extremely sloppy review.

Basically read as if someone fairly dim had been confused about the Prius, and had written a grumpy review about it, full of vague excuses. The link to the Mazda web site underlines the sloppiness of the writing.

 

Wow. What a terribly written and poorly researched article. Not only are all of the observations in the posts above correct, but I noticed typos, as well. Gee, I didn't know that Prius had a "steering whee" instead of a "steering wheel" - is that a hybrid specific feature Wouldn't that suggest how fun the Prius is to drive - whee!!

 

Maybe they actually tested a Mazda and didn't realize it :lol:

 

This article, like many other, was brainless to write, is brainless to read and no brainer to critisize.
Forbes clearly deteriorated. Couple weeks ago they written completely idiotic aricle (cover story, actually) critisizing [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/ammo/maniac.gif hedge fund industry. Financial community [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/ves/ves04.gif [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/ves/ves05.gif [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/ves/ves12.gif [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/ves/ves07.gif

Brainless *entertainment*. [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/muz/leb1.gif


Show them guys, vote for Prius! [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/przd/przd11.gif [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/przd/przd11.gif [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/przd/przd11.gif

Current results
[web:8a1030c508]http://forums.prospero.com/n/mb/viewpoll.asp?webtag=fdcvehicles&vote=0&msg=190[/web:8a1030c508][

 

what does Forbes mag know about cars anyway? :guns:

 

Overpriced luxury "sports" cars & overpriced luxury mushmobiles. :lol:

 

I think it is easy to see what kind of quality this piece
was by quoting it

Just look at the pump, where gas prices are
averaging more than two bucks a gallon, and in some
places a gallon is edging darn near $3. Hey, that's more
than the price of bottled water, dammit!

It is obvious that the writer thinks water should be more expensive than gasoline. It is this gas-guzzling, environment-bashing, petal to the metal attitude that has the world in this dire predicament. The writer obviously knows that the power of the pen is very strong and also knows that many will take anything he writes as gospel and is willing to take full advantage of that fact.

 

That their readers like to spend their ridiculous CEO incomes on outrageously expensive status symbol cars. :roll:

The Prius doesn't fit that archtype for any number of reasons.

 

"HIGHS:
Everyone will know which party you vote for."

That they unprofessionally choose to summarize the highs of vehicle with a political slam is indicative of the subpar quality of the journalism.

I mean c'mon, they admit to other decent points about the Prius, then take on a classic bully mentality to deny it a genuine list of high points. Immediately discrediting for the writer.

 

I am reading bi-weekly Forbes Global which has carried this year (last one May 24) regularly a two page advertisement on the Prius "The future starts now" which proves that there appears to be no relation between the editorial/advertisement pages. :wink: In this international version I have not found any car reviews but this week's issue has an interesting article by Jerry Flint "Broken Lights" about experiences with Toyota's US competitors which speaks for itself , see

http://www.forbes.com/columnists/business/...4/0607/020.html

 

I stopped trusting anything that Forbes said after they proclaim Enron to be a great company and foresaw great things for Worldcom.

Also, you have to keep in mind their key demographic. Conservative business Older Men. This is not the key demographic for the Prius. Thus, we are more inclined to see them bad mouthing the car.

Bottomline on any car review. They are just a base for your opinion of the car. Unless you actually drive the thing and see if face to face you will have no idea what the car is like.

 

Jerry Flint is a great award winning journalist, I mean he's really fine representative of one of the most ancient profession. [Broken External Image]:http://www.smailiki.nm.ru/ero/ero8.gif Because he knows what to write for international audience ("Broken Lights") and one day later for fellow Americans."Detroit Gets Better-Looking".

The only problem, he's mixing up design and cheap styling. It's not the same.

 

Forbes Out Of Touch



So Forbes doesn't like the Prius. Probably because it's not a Lincoln Town Car.

Boo Hoo.

The real world knows better.

Home, Jeeves.

 

As someone who teaches in a broadcast school, I have somewhat of a perspective into the inner-workings of the minds of journalists.

Infact, one of the students (in a different program) at the school interviewed me about my Prius. The gist of the story was (surprise, surprise), that the extra cost of a hybrid wouldn't be offset by the fuel savings over the life of the car.

The way I approached it was as follows:

-Any fuel savings is extra money in my pocket at the end of the day. I was perfectly willing to pay the same price for a non-hybrid with poorer milage, worse maintenance costs, and a shorter warantee, so I really didn't lose-out on anything by buying a hybrid, and I'm saving on gas costs, and being envrionmentally concious.

I truely believe that the anti-hybrid sentiments were spread by north-american car companies in order to get the media to try and do their dirty work to attempt to "pop the hybrid PR bubble" before their gas guzzlers were shown in too bad a light.

Of course they failed

Any journalist will jump on the opportunity to try and show how a "big bad car company is trying to pull one over on consumers". Unfortunately all they really revealed was:

-Drivers with lead feet and who make no attempt to alter their driving styles to take advantage of driving a hybrid will continue to get poorer milage than what the vehicle is capable of, no matter what they drive.

-The EPA tests are way out of date. People just don't drive the same way, and in the same kind of traffic as they used to.

I suspect that if the EPA made a new test, with people stuck in traffic jams and inching along for hours at a time, or accellerating fast/braking hard every 2 blocks as they hit a traffic light, that suddenly north american car companies would be singing the blues about how unfair and biased the test was.

Dave.

 

LOL, a review fitting the Forbes Magazine. Never liked that magazine. And I'm rather on the conservative side of politics (sorry! ).

Anyway, one of the Dutch car magazines had a three page review of the Prius, comparing it with the Avensis (diesel). No talk about the greenness (sp?) or lack there-off. Well a bit maybe. Just a comparison on roadhandling, price, options etc. In the end it turned out that the Avensis had slightly better handling and was a tad more roomy: more headroom in the back and the cost per km was almost the same.

One of the few trully 'neutral' reviews of the Prius I have read.

Conclusion was: the geekness of the Prius, the nice technology, standard nav system etc. combined with the environmental plusses make this a desirable car. But the Avensis was the winner because of cost/km (diesel really is a lot cheaper over here) and the fact that the writer of the article didn't know what the resell value of a used Prius would be.

 

Which dutch magazine was this ? Maybe we should refer the Forbes author to the article at:
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/consumersmo...2004/index.html?
and ask for comments