The Pruis effect

No strange out of car experiences yet, but a lot of co-workers are asking me questions and sometimes people on parking lots ask questions or point my car out to each other. It's nice to return to your car in a parking lot with a few people around it.

 

I walked up on a guy admiring my car's light banks, both front and rear. He was about 25 and liked the futuristic look. Didn't really seem interested about the technology, or to my great surprise, the fuel economy. I handed him one of the John 1701a cards and off he went in his Civic pseudo-racer.

Also received some attention from a couple of middle-aged golfers (loading an Escalade) who saw me place two full bags of clubs and two gym bags in the area behind the rear seats. I pulled the cargo cover over the top and closed the hatch - they were amazed that there was zero evidence of all the stuff in there.

Style and cargo space -- not exactly what I'd expected to receive comments on in my first couple of weeks in my Prius, but I'll gladly accept that kind of positive feedback.

 

Owners make quite a first impression on people sometimes. I'm sure many on the receiving end of an on-the-fly presentation think we are just exaggerating.

But then when curiosity gets the best of them and they actually take one for a test-drive, they're hooked. We've all heard that story before. But along the way we have built-up massive resources online, like this forum and my website. When the curious finally discover all that's available too, Prius instantly jumps from what they thought was a "specialty" vehicle to one that is leading the way to the future.

Face it, as popular as Camry & Corolla are, they just don't stir emotion to the level Prius does. And later on down the road when Camry & Corolla are equipped with HSD inside, everyone is going to turn to Prius for hybrid real-world performance data.

Feel the effect.

It's great!

 

Last week we pull into a parking space and there are several people chatting just in front of it. They were amazed with how quiet it was.

Turns out one of them drives atuo transport trucks and had once carried a Prius. Yes, it took him about 20 minutes to get it started. But what impressed him was how easily the Prius would just go up the ramp. Apparently, most cars have to be gunned to go up the ramp.

 

I was really excited when a man walked up to me as I was getting in my Prius, thinking he wanted to ask me about it...it would have been my first such event...but no, he just wanted to get me to buy him gas, ironicly (it was some kind of scam).

 

I just picked up my '05 #9 on Friday. Over the weekend, my Prius got alot of attention from my neighbors. I discovered that for people who have not researched the car or are not familiar with the trends in hybrid technology, they have some interesting misconceptions.
Here are some questions and/or comments that I had to field. These are in no particular order:

"So where do you plug it in?"

"Does the electric engine just add power to the gas engine?"

"How does it do on hills?"

"Wow! There's alot of room in here!"

"How does it recharge if you don't plug it in?"

"Damn! There's a computer screen in the dash!"

"Honey, can we get one?"

(The last one is my favorite)

 

My 16 year old son just got his driver's license and we were driving in my silver '04. I asked him if I was rich and would take you to get any car you wanted, what would it be? I expected an answer like Ferrari, Viper, etc. He answered "The only car I would buy would be a Prius!--it rocks!" I was quite suprised and very happy. He took his driving test in the Prius and the instructor was so taken with the car I talked to her longer than his test took (he passed).

 

After the PLUG question... I think the next most asked is the timid asking how much did it cost... I usually ask what do you think... then stand back and grin... all this car for under $27,000... I love my Prius..


Bob Andersen

 

HA! I completely forgot about the "price" question. That was exactly the reaction I got. Especially when I told them what the base price was!

 

i think the word about the Prius simply has not gotten out very well yet. i bought a a 1/18 scale (i think) model from Speedracer and its an exact match Toyota official licensed product for my car down to the Tideland Pearl color. i have it sitting on my monitor at work and i cant believe how many people who have seen my car and thought my car was a corolla!!

most have heard of the Prius, very few have more than a vague understanding of what the Prius is, and almost everyone thinks their car gets about the same or nearly the same gas mileage as my car does...

LOL... that is until i tell them that i spend 20$ a week for gas...(i have to make a 120 mile round trip for work 3 times a week and they all know it) and then their jaw drops... their brains start working the mileage in their heads... then they ask again how much gas i bought last week, then they think some more, then they start looking at their checkbooks to verify what they spend on gas.

then that is when the accusations and jokes start coming... but i quickly realized that all i had to do was take a select few for a short ride in my car and they spread the news for me. now i average 1-2 people a day stopping by to ask me something about my Prius.

the synergy took 4 months to manifest, but i feel the momentum building... now i have people coming by to ask me how much money i made on my mileage reinbursement every week... (that is when i really LOVE my car)

 

P.S.

that is P-R-I-U-S

 

Still Prius is not commom car in Japan as well, even I'm living home town of Toyota. Sometime people stare my car(I dont know good or bad)... Most common quetion is MSRP or MPG or tell me I could buy Rx-8 or you know mid $20k car..
Other interesting thing in Japan is everyone know some Hollywood Celeb is driving this car and concider as "IT" car :roll:

 

it is kinda strange that so many people have not heard of the Prius but before the Motortrend article came out, i was just as ignorant.

also because we are in a rather select group of people whose collective knowledge of the Prius probably exceeds what is generally available in public information sources, sometimes its hard to understand how big of a secret the Prius truly is. i am convinced that if everyone really knew what the Prius was all about, it would easily become the best selling car in the US right now if the supply was there.

the Prius could easily steal several thousand car sales from nearly every mid sized car sold in the US plus, because of its high mpg's, it would take a huge chunk out of the compact car market as well.

ive said it before and i will say it again, the lines for the Prius will not shorten this year... 100,000 will prove to be woefully inadequate to supply the US. 2004 maybe when the Prius moved into the mainstream market, but 2005 will be when most of america will know it.

this is all assuming that gas prices remain stable. i see a bump up in prices to something leveling out at $2.50 (still cheap by anyone's standards)

this would explain $3-5k premiums on USED 2004's. dealers know that the demand is building and the lines of 2004 will look like the attendance at Saddams welcome home party in comparison to what is coming.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"43593)</div>

Pssssssssst... your model, like mine, is a RIGHT hand drive... ooooooops
but it is way cool...
I saw a Minichamps diecast... almost the same think.. go for about $100 on eBay...SUPERB TOYOTA PRIUS HYBRID 2004 SILVER ARGENT PROMO Item number: 6929698448

Bob Andersen

 

psssssssst I still have one for sale
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BobA\";p=\"43634)</div>

I would like minichamps but I cant spend 100bucks plus :roll: Because I bought new cell phone in U.S :mrgreen: and I put my name on waiting list for another cell phone in Japan :roll: I never able to buy Ipod min

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LeVautRien\";p=\"43535)</div>

Christopher - you need to change your signature!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"43616)</div>

I think we have to remember that the 'average' person doesn't read MotorTrend regularly, and doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about cars, except when they are planning to buy one. Unless it looks really different, most cars don't grab people's eye unless they are generally interested in cars. Does the 2001-2003 Prius look different? Yeah, some, but it looks a lot like a Corolla. The 2004+ looks different too, but not unlike other 4 door liftbacks. It has a more continous curve front to back, but at a quick look, it is a 4 door liftback. Now a vehicle like the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile or the Meow Mix 'catmobile' will always get noticed There are a lot of cars getting noticed when the Street Rods come to town in Sept too, though they wouldn't have 50+ years ago when they were 'normal'.