We repeat: the Toyota Prius is the official car of the intellectually superior. According to InsideBayArea.com, after trailing Camry, Corolla, Accord, and Civic in Santa Clara County in California's Silicon Valley last year, Prius has outsold all four through May of this year. Ron Diridon, executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University and himself a Prius militant owner, shows no lack of hubris in his assessment of the situation: "The intellectual capacity within Silicon Valley is amazing. That higher level of education reflects a higher level of understanding of the terrible consequences of global warming." Intellectual superiority aside, the free pass to the carpool lane that was available for Prius drivers, the outrageous price of gas in California and the fact you can now buy a Prius for less than sticker had a bit to do with it as well.
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But willing buying a Prius make me smarter?
Unfortunately, there’s no antonym for “hubris”. But two back-to-back Prius-bashing blog posts adequately represent that elusive word, whatever it is.
Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus gives the antonym of "hubris" as "humility" or "modesty."
Well don’t confuse the hubris of the head a state funded university public transortation think tank with that of the buyers. Hybrids simply make more sense the higher the price of fuel becomes.
Ignoring hybrid SUVs and performance sedans, I think the current crop of small hybrids cost too much to justify their marginal increase in fuel efficiency. Right now, I would rather save ten grand and buy a Yaris, or a used Elantra, and simply drive a lot less than buy a Prius or Civic hybrid.
If they ever deliver a small hybrid that would let me take short trips in EV mode, and recharge overnight, that might be worth the extra money.
The Prius is a great concept, but the buyers often don’t seem to realize why. Doesn’t the high level of education suggest that they should be aware that global warming is likely to be a non-issue compared to peak oil? We can survive in pretty much any climate, but can we survive without the almost free energy that created such a large population?
I like the Prius, and if I was required to drive only one car for tax purposes, it would probably be my choice.
I have to drive about 45k miles a year. Last year I managed to buy a 2002 Prius with 123k for around $6500. Every single maintenance requirement had been performed at the dealership (including oil changes every 3k) and a new battery pack had been put into it as well.
I seriously considered keeping it over the 1995 MB Diesel I was driving at the time. But the Ebay hysteria won out and I sold it for about $8800. What startled me even more was that the E300 Diesel sold for $8500.
If I realized 45 mpg, the cost differential for the Prius vs. the typical mileage I get (25 mpg) would have worked out to about $2000 per year. The MB with about 33 mog in mixed driving would have been somewhere in the middle. As it is though, my profits are based on what I sell. Both on the block and off the block. Overall it made more sense to drive/sell drive/sell than to keep it for the long haul.
If I had to keep a vehicle for 200k, either a Prius or a Civic with about 120k miles would have been my top choices. So long as the manufacturers are willing to replace the battery packs I have no problem with either one.
I don’t know (or care) about the intellectual capacity of Silicaon Valley but the idea of recapturing energy at every stinking red light around here (and there are a lot of them around here and they’re long) has a powerful attraction. My current cars aren’t very large but still get poor fuel economy as a result of the large amount of time spent idling and a lot of energy wasted in braking. A hybrid cuts those losses dramatically
People are all in a lather to ascribe motives to Prius owners without any evidence. The car gets great fuel economy, especially in stop-and-go driving. Isn’t that enough reason to buy it?
For those who may buy them because they believe human-driven CO2 emissions cause global warming and they want to reduce their carbon footprint, buying a Prius is putting one’s money where one’s mouth is. What’s wrong with that?
In 2009, when the next Prius is available, I may get one myself, partly because I like the way they look. When I was little and dreamed of the cars of the future, they didn’t look like the Chevy HHR or the PT Cruiser. The production car that they most closely resemble is the Prius.
I like KixStart’s perspective.
When I see a Prius, I think, “That person made a thoughtful choice and an admirable statement.” I’m not a Prius owner and would probably choose a Civic nonhybrid sedan over any hybrid. But those hybrid folks have certainly gotten the rest of us thinking, haven’t they?
I think that the “hubris” useage has hit critical mass here — I’ll be happy to replace it with another (IMHO) apt description of why eggheads like the cars: GEEK COOL!
For those who may buy them because they believe human-driven CO2 emissions cause global warming and they want to reduce their carbon footprint, buying a Prius is putting one’s money where one’s mouth is. What’s wrong with that?
I think that there is a real reluctance in the United States for people to believe that consumerism should be ever be limited or restrained. This is a country built on a prosperity ethic; to succeed is good, to spend and consume is divine.
The Prius sends the message that we have been doing something wrong, and that this something needs to be fixed. This flies in the face of the message that consumption is our mandate as a people, and is a slap in the face to the widely held belief that we are entitled to consume as much as we can, whenever we can, however we can, because that is our right as Americans.
As a result, we end up with attacks on anything that is associated with the environmental movement, which is viewed as an attack against our very right to succeed (even though it isn’t — it’s not as if the ambitious and the politically conservative don’t need clean air to breathe or water to drink.) We don’t want to admit that perhaps we are living unsustainable lifestyles, for to do so would be tantamount to admitting to failure.
I wouldn’t buy a hybrid just yet, as I am a late adopter who is price conscious and awaiting a few more generations of the product cycle to be completed so that the bugs can be worked out. But at this point, I’m convinced that this is the next step where the auto market is going, as there is no other practical alternative that can both be propagated at a reasonable cost and will be accepted by the public.
It is just a matter of time before hybrids are the dominant drivetrain choice in the US. Things like this that begin at the fringe eventually evolve to become mainstream, to the point that the next generation of kids won’t even know why there was ever a fuss about it.
Driving a Prius is the same as driving a Hummer
it says “I know nothing about vehicles, I take no joy in the driving experience, my car is a fashion accessory”