Toyota pays Prius owners $100

Oh, and to answer your question... no. Nobody asked me.

Usually places like this pay me $100 just to stay away.

 

Happened to me once I think I got 10 bucks for evaluating the concept for a cheap steak house operation. We looked at decor, menus etc. Took about 30 Min. That was in 73. Prices have gone up. I could give Toyota an ear full.

 

Roger -

If I lived closer, I'd pay you a second $100 just to switch places with you.

 

darelidd, can you photoshop your rav4 picture, so that the 'electric vehicle' text on the back reads 'plug-in vehicle' instead ?

I wouldn't want Toyota to think we were unreasonable

 

getting to highway speeds on electric only... wouldn't that cost a ton? the RAV4 EV has a limited top speed of 79 which is suitable for me... but the RAV4's 0-60 is 18 secs which is NOT suitable for me..then there's the problem of what happens if i need power and i'm running low on juice and i'm at 70mph, then you have to wait for the gas engine to spin up to speed, and if you want the electric motor to do better than 18 secs you gotta get a bigger motor which means a heftier engine to match that...

that's a lot of work. i'm not saying it's going to be impossible and it will probably be much more expensive, but its really going to take TIME

i think if you really want to demand something, it should be hybrid school buses. i don't like having kids being choked with diesel emissions

 

Speaking of focus groups, I've been to a bunch hosted by this company: http://www.fieldwork.com/basic_info.asp?fr...12%3A11%3A35+AM Other companies hire them to conduct the focus groups, do the taping, etc. They usually pay $50-$100 cash for a few hours of your time. I can't go anymore since I moved away from WA state.

 

Did one there in Carillon Point last month on the "What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas" commercials. Kinda entertaining ideas they had for more commercials, but a little intense for me with only 2 people in the focus group. Can't complain about a crisp $50 for being mostly entertained for 20 minutes though.

 

I did one a few years back where I had to use a computer to "virtually" shop for toothbrushes, I chose the most basic one every time. And they also wanted my opinion on a movie trailer for "The Majestic" with Jim Carrey. They only gave me $10 for about 90 minutes of my time.

 

Perfect summary!

 

I've done several of these focus groups over the years. The best one was when I was the last one to show up and they had enough people. They gave me a nice new $100 bill and sent me on my way. Fastest $100 I ever made

Ken

 

Probably too late by now, but ... flex-fuel retrofit kits for
the Priiii out there already.
.
_H*

 

I second, third, fourth, and fifth this motion (voting on behalf of my wife and two kids).

 

If you get a chance, ask about hybrid pickups in a rear drive or rear drive/four wheel drive configuration (you know, with a traditional transfer case). Nobody has yet created a production rear drive hybrid and that needs to happen sooner rather than later. The performance improvement for pickups and other utility vehicles could be extraordinary in addition to efficiency.

 

Is the company conducting the research for Toyota based in California? Because I got the same offer last week. I'd love a chance to earn 100 dollars to walk into a room and say "great engine, Wth were you thinking with the seats".

 

The deal is, the Prius starts up whenever it needs gasoline power. Having it be a plug-in optional hybrid would only improve the mileage, it wouldn't affect the operation of the car, other than use the electric more.

Nate

 

http://www.connectlive.com/events/austinen...50k-archive.asx

great link Darelld... here is Dr. Andrew Frank again. he spoke at an energy conference in Spokane earlier this winter about the AER Prius. if you havent seen this, watch it. its great information for anyone who has any questions about the benefit of the plug-in hybrid

 

Nate covered this pretty well. You're making several assumptions that go a bit wide of the mark. The Prius already has EVERYTHING it needs to be a very capable plug-in vehicle, except for battery capacity and a plug. It would still be a hybrid, just a hybrid that could run around town without EVER spinning up the ICE... unless you really needed it. And if you needed it, it would just happen like it does now - without the driver needing to do anything. No, it really would not be all that much more expensive, though I'd easily pay $6k extra for that "option."

(I could talk at you for hours regarding the performance of the Rav - don't test me on this, ask Nate! You assume the Rav is too slow, but the fact of the matter is that the 0-10mph time is artificially surpressed (electronically) to preserve tire life. From 10-60, it does way better than the 0-60 numbers would have you believe - it is at least as quick as the gasoline version. In 30k+ miles of driving our Rav, we've never needed better acceleration. Plus, you need to remember that this vehicle was NEVER intended for public consumption. They were made for utilities, and were only available to the public as an afterthought, and only for a short time. Trust me when I tell you that small (relatively cheap) electric motors are capable of WAY more than what the Rav can deliver! And if you don't believe me, I'd be happy to bury you in links. But in the case of the Prius, the limiting factor is the battery capacity).

Hey I warned you!

 

Sounds like fun! Thanks for the report, and thanks for talking to the guy after the official biz was over. Did you have a chance to mention specifically how poor the Prius manual was??