The Hybrid Hoax

works like a charm here at my house.. must have been the crappy proxy servers at work....

 

Not that it matters, but here's my 2 cents worth. I'm on my 2nd Prius. The first was a 2005 that averaged 48MPG in mountain country. I LOVE my Pria AND I'm a staunch Republican. I wish all Republicans including Bush would drive Prii. Maybe you gotta own one to love one.

 

Geesh! People in this thread are NOT saying that all right-wing conservatives are talking dirt about hybrids. No one is saying that only liberals love the Prius, or that Republicans hate them. Read what is being written, people, don't make up statements just so you can argue a non-issue. What I've read here is that the news "commentators" who can be identified that are talking s**t about hybrids are the right-wing nuts like Barnes, Limbaugh, Hannity, and the FOX hacks. Yes, others have criticized aspects of hybrids that don't necessarily live up to every stupendous claim, from the left, right, center, or none of the above. Objective criticism is a good thing and leads to improvements. But those pundits so actively rabid against the hybrids, with little basis in fact and reality, ARE on the right, unless someone can give specific examples demonstrating otherwise, which no one has been able to do yet.

 

I've read Shermer's book. It's excellent!

 

I don't think that all conservatives are against Hybrids... but going back to the original article, the author is clearly a conservative with some kind of hidden agenda. Prove otherwise. go.

 

Hey, I'm a Bush fan and I don't believe in wasting anything!! I even turn the water off between shaving strokes. Recycle everything and drive a Prius. Non of this has to do with politics, but more to do with being a good stewart of natural resources. Even if we had an unlimited amount of everything it still makes good sense to conserve.

 

You must feel that the author of the article gives conservatives a bad name then...

 

Actually I didn't read it, but I know there are yayhoo's on both sides! I don't think we should chop down trees either, unless they are from a renewable tree farms. We should make houses out of garbage, and they should be completely off the grid. I think there is big money in this stuff. It coming, but it takes time. All I can do is do it myself, which I slowly am. Its the journey thats fun.

 

I'm generally a rabid centrist. I'm not a Bush fan (at all really) but I agree with everything else that imnotacrook mentioned. Eventually the republicans are going to have to realize that they've alienated a lot of their support. If they could return to the "classic" conservative point of view they'd get my vote a lot more often. Where's IKE when ya need 'em?

 

Hey, are you building an Earthship?

 

No, but in about 2 years I'll be designing and building my dream house, I already have it actually, but it wasn't my design and in the last few years its been very prone to hurricanes. I'm getting too old for this.

 

Yeah, the summer storms, to use an old expression, just seem to be getting worse. I'm glad (for many reasons) that I don't like in the Southeast anymore. My parents left Savannah and came out here to Colorado 3 years ago. They've never regretted the decision. A not insignificant part of that decision was the fact that their house was 5 ft above sea level on a spring high tide. It's just a matter of time...

 

You're a Bush fan? Now there's a surprise Actually, I'm not of the opinion that conservation is a partisan issue. It's great that you believe in conserving. I wish a lot more people did but America is in love with consuming and conservation seems to be antithetical to consuming. We waste a lot; food, water, pertroleum and definitely money. As long as you believe in conserving, I don't really care who you voted for, you're all right in my book.

 

My 2 cents - I agree. As a life long conservative, I find it stunning that so many so-called "conservatives" don't seem to even understand the root word that defines their political beliefs (i.e., "conserve").

Anyway, I'm not sure how hybrids became such a politicized issue. For many people they make sense and thankfully, the free market operates in such a way that we can buy them if we like. What is it that some of these conservative pundits object to about that?

 

I agree... I can't see that whether our leader has coconuts swinging between his legs or not has any bearing on whether I want to drive a prius?

I just prefer to have one.. and I appreciate nature as much as anyone, but I don't go trying to find an airfilter everytime I need to release gas?

Its a fact of life.. as long as we are on the planet, our technology doesn't marriage with nature too well.. but at least we're trying to think about it now.....

Now if we can just keep from blowing ourselves off the planet it may be worth it all... but its just a matter of time before it hits the fan in the Middle East....... Things aren't going to be pretty "anywhere" when that happens.... owning a prius will just help a little bit more.

 

I don't know about $5.4 a gas, but I saved about $200 this past half a year (I bought my 2005 Prius in July).

I don't make the $65000 he claims hybrid owners make. In fact, not even half of that. I graduated from college in 2004 and have been dreaming about owning a hybrid since 2001. The moment I could afford the monthly payments, I bought one.

I won't even address the issues of low gas mileage (I have yet to get below 50 mpg and that's with running a/c on high or driving in below 40s).

 

The USA Today article they quoted admitted that the Prius MFD was actually showing somewhere aroound 50 mpg but they ignored it and used the gas fill technique, which in the Prius is very inaccurate because the tank will fill very differently depending upon the pump. The article very explicitly mentions the gas tank fill up problem and a quote from Toyota that the MFD estimate is actually very accurate. However, they sort of ignored it and summarized that the Prius in the Summer on the highway got 38 mpg.

Roomer has it a HUMMER H1 got over 100 mpg while rolling down a steep hill in neutral with the engine stopped and with the parking brake released. Wow so the HUMMER must do better than a Prius.

 

No one ever mentions the "Winter Mix" gasoline sold in California. My Prius mileage drops 7% during the selling period. I believe it's between November and February. Anyone know when the sales period is exactly?

 

Ah thats ok... even with the media butchering the figures, the prius still has a long waiting list... at least this may buy more time for Toyota to catch up its production by the time the media admits to how cool the prius really is!