My girlfriend wants a prius
 

... so we took one for a test drive Saturday. And I have to say, it was nice. Seriously. I couldn't believe how fast and agile it was in traffic and on the highway. And there was a lot more room inside than I thought. It actually felt like something out of the future, like some Jetsons-mobile that flies you to work and then folds into a suitcase.

But it wasn't all rainbows and smiley faces. The prius is ... well ... bland. It comes in one flavor, does one thing and makes one statement. It looks like a bug, zips you from A to B on a thimbleful of gas, and does so with irritating smugness. It's the ultimate in automotive sour grapes. "Well, I didn't want to go offroad anyway (or tow boats, haul kayaks, carry bikes, go camping, take dirt roads or drive in the snow), and anyone who wants to is stupid. Who's up for a zip from A to B? B to A? Anyone? Bueller? I have a touchscreen..."

Maybe I'm old-school, but I still think of cars as mechanical things with gears, wheels and grease. The prius was all touchscreens, levers and digital displays. Open the hood? Not without a PhD. And that irritating whine as the engine surged through traffic!

Hummers want you to open the hood and listen to the engine. Ok, not so much the 5-cylinder. But even the H3 begs you to tinker with something, add something or make it your own. You can bling a hummer, lift it, chrome it, dub it, armor it, rack it, outfit it for safari, build it up any way you like and change your own oil. It's a tow truck, an RV-towed truck, a plaything and a hobby. You can work, play, haul or just plain drive in it. It's good for family trips, road trips, offroad trips, grocery trips or mall trips.

Come rain, sleet, snow or ice ... in blizzard, mud, sand or flood ... over the river, up the mountain and through the woods ... the hummer gets you from A to B and all points in between. In short, it's versatile, it's fun, it's useful and you can make it your own.

So yeah, she wants a prius, and that's fine. But for fun, you can bet we'll be taking the hummer. Cause if it's not downtown, the prius doesn't cut it.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

My brother in law has one ,It drove GR8 its like a pod.
Funny taking off without the engine running.
He's been getting over 50 MPG 500 to the 10 gallon tank.

Theres no key and no starter .It has more room then you would think.

You can get bumper stickers that say My other car is a prius,She can get one that says my other car is a hummer.:jump:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like it's time to dump her. If you need any help throwing her stuff out on the lawn, let us know.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

There are other choices for hybrids that are not nearly as lame or ugly.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Congrats, you now will be the laughing stock of the community.:beerchug:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

GO with something that has a better crash test rating. To me, safety is much more important than mpg IMO....esp with the kids.

There are a few other cars out there that are safer, have more room, great fuel eco. and don;t cost and arm and a leg to fix once the warranty is out.

Try Honda too.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

I forgot to ask. Is she after the Toyota because it a Hybrid? Price? Looks?

If that's what this car is to her, check out Honda's Hybrid Civic and Accord.

http://automobiles.honda.com/models/...=Accord+Hybrid

THa Camry isn't bad either.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

I agree.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

This is how it starts.

Next, she'll start making you eat tofu instead of steak, and then, she'll stop shaving her legs.

Its all downhill from there... :giggling:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

No f**king way there's going to be a Prius parked on my driveway or in my garage...

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

:iagree: Amen brother.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

put your girlfriend intouch w1th gooey gaybob or better yet with zoe

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

We may as well evict him from the herd now. :twak:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

I agree on the safety issue. Her 07 legacy outback has great crash ratings and AWD. Plus it hauls everything she needs for her son (wheelchair, walker and stuff). She's not in a huge hurry, but if she can fit all that stuff in the Prius, she's really going to want one.

This all started with summer vacation. After she stopped driving 60 miles round trip to her daughter's school, she stopped getting 30+ highway mileage. Now that she stays in town, she's only getting 25 mpg. I remind her she drives less now, but she wants that mileage back.

You know, I really don't care about it being a Prius, but I do care about the lower safety rating, smaller cargo area, cost of repair and not having AWD. At least the reliability ratings are high

Anyway, if it does happen it won't be for a while. She's still upside-down on the subaru and doesn't have the cash to even out the trade.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

take her car shopping. alot of people are dumping them becase of poor ride, accl, and get burned out quick on the save the world sh*t. Go drive more cars now!

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

"Good" ratings in crashes involving similar vehicles. But if the crash involves a larger vehicle/truck/SUV, good luck. It does get better than that and larger vehicles usually have lower death rates.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Man, first Moonie turns into a greenie, now you. What's happening to CO people. :D

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

:fdance:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Ohhhhhhh ROFLOL!!!!!!!! :iagree:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Mooooooooo.... assuming it's a herd of cattle.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

X2 maybe kick her to the curb on recycle day and we'll take a look at her.;) Know what they say if you start takin her **** she'll have you on a steady diet.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

She'll probably fit this, and more, in the Prius. Waa waaa waaaaah, for you. :) Since the back seats fold down, there's a whole lot of cargo space. The flush bumper also assists easy loading. But, she'll need to know that longer drives are where she'll recognize the best mileage. If she's commuting in 10 minute intervals, she'll probably only see 40 mpg. If she's driving for more than 20 minutes, she'll see 50's and up. Get on the road for more than a half hour or so and you'll be running 75 mpg trips. Colder temps = less mpg and mileage increases with duration of ownership, so she'll need to keep that in mind as well. The only negative things I've heard about the Prius is that if it gets stuck in snow, it's hard to get out. This is due to the anti skid system and the problem isn't a "Prius" problem. The Prius handles reliably in snow and ice otherwise. The other negative is seat comfort.

If she's interested in only short, city trips where speed is limited to 35 mph, an electric vehicle may do her well. Conversion kits are sold for around $10m-$15m. Think of it, she could convert her current car and never, ever have to buy a tank of gas or change her oil and filters again. The conversion would pay for itself in short order. And, you wouldn't (as someone else mentioned) be the laughing stock of your neighborhood as no one would suspect you're affiliated with a greenie (why this is bad is beyond me. Don't we all drink the same water and breathe the same air?) If she considers this, she best make sure her range is covered and make sure to take into account any winter cold conditions as range drops by around 25%, from what I've read.

So far as maintenance is concerned on the Prius, it doesn't require any extra maintenance than does a conventional car (the brake system actually lasts longer). The hybrid components are warrantied for 8 years/100,000 miles. If concerned, she could always opt for the extended warranty. There's supposedly a Canadian taxi Prius fleet with their initial hybrid components with well over 100,000 miles logged.

Sheesh, what a bunch of macho types on this thread. Is this supposed to be appealing? I'm wondering how long y'all's relationships are lasting if you hassle and ditch your significant others about something as menial as a car purchase. I give the OP credit for not being imposing and instead being open minded to her views. Sounds like she's got enough problems being a single mom and caring for a handicapped(?) child without having to worry that her car purchase is going to create a rift in her relationship.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Zoe brings up a good point. That's what she is going to become if she gets a Prius. Your very own Zoe. She is going to become annoying, put her nose in places it doesn't belong and try to force her views and opinions on you every waking minute. In no time she will be telling you the best way to piss standing up and that you don't need anything more than what she has.

But no worries... she will likely die very shortly after getting a Prius when she gets into a fender bender, touches the frame and is electrocuted. It will probably start the car on fire and the firemen will have to wait for instructions on how to handle the electricity so they don't die as well, all while a child is trapped inside the vehicle. Tragic.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Well, I'm not afraid of her turning into a ultraliberal, ecoterrorist just because she wants to save gas. Besides, she loves the H3. We went on a killer trip to Ouray and Moab a couple of weeks ago. She got a real taste of wheeling and was amazed by what our trucks can do offroad and how comfortable it was to travel in.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

I don't know, I wouldn't risk it. You know I worry about her sometimes, not to mention a child just died in the vehicle fire. Honestly, I have to hear her say she is no longer considering the Prius before I will be able to sleep. I'll PM you my number.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Your concern is touching ... and well, kind of scary. Did you catch what Dennis has? I was hoping that wasn't contagious :D

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Same could be said for girlfriends. :jump:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

ENVIRONMENTAL COST:

The Toyota Prius Hybrid: $3.24 a mile
The Honda Civic hybrid: $3.23 a mile
The Big Awesome Shweet AZZ H2 Hummer: $3.02 a mile
and the H3: $1.94 a mile

And that nickel mine in Sudburry, Ontario, one of the world’s worst environmental messes, saying it is the largest single point source for acid raid-causing chemicals in North America.

It is also the place where Toyota gets the nickel for the batteries that run its hybrid vehicles.

The nickel is smelted, removed from the rock and then it is shipped by container ship to Wales for refining.

Its trip takes it to China where it is turned into nickel foam, then on to Japan to Toyota’s battery plant.

The trip, start to finish, is more than 10,000 miles, mostly on heavy polluting container ships.

But Wanna-be,

Get her whatever she wants! She is really cute and your ugly azz prolly won't find another like her.

:fdance:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

This has already proven to be non factual. I said it before in another thread, the Hummer was provided with a 300,000 mile life span and the Prius a 100,000 mile life span which has provided this huge disparity. But besides that, I was thinking about this last night. The environmental cost of the daily oil spills that are occurring are frequently never recognized or assessed. More frequently they are ignored and remain to contaminate the environment and the livelihoods of the people native to the land that can no longer fish for sustenance and a means of income. And, it doesn't just happen overseas to poor people, it happens here too. The ruptured pipeline in Alaska, the enormous oil spill that recently occurred due to the flooding..... So, until the oil industry gets their act together and cleans up their daily mess, the environmental cost for owing ANY car cannot be adequately assessed. It's quite logical, however, that any car that uses more gas will have a much higher environmental operating cost when this is taken into account. There's no disputing that.

I've no idea why you guys are on me so much. I've provided you with a very reasonable summary of the Prius and basically said that if she's not going to be driving it for periods of time over 10 minutes, the car may not be for her as she won't recognized the full economic value of the car. Totally unbiased review.

Maybe one day when you're off roading in an area that I helped protect from development, or you hike or hunt a pristine area that I've helped clear of invasive species, you'll appreciate me more. Sniffle.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

:giggling: :clapping: ;)

Is she serious? Really? Come on.....this has to be a put on here, right?

I am LMFAO! A real live crazy liberal making arguments for the enviro-mentally insane........ here at Elcova??

This has potential, I hope she sticks around for awhile. :giggling: Maybe she can convert some of us.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Thanks. I knew someone would appreciate me, even if it's just for the entertainment value. My sniffles have turned to a smile. I just hope that rubber duck lady doesn't come around or she'll ruin my new found glee.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Yup, you got it.;) So...Why are you here anyway?





http://cnwmr.com/nss-folder/automotiveenergy/

Read it all for yourself. It's perfectly logical to the educated.

Then get a Schwinn Bish!:fdance:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Ouchhhh:jump:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

LMAO!!! :clapping: :jump: :clapping: :jump: :clapping:

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

CNW ...... again?

Must be old data. In 2005 the Canadian Prius cab fleet recognized their first Prius to hit 200,000 miles on the original hybrid component system. Plans were to transition the fleet to more Prius. For profit companies wouldn't be doing this if there were cost ramifications to the transition.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8839690/

http://communities.canada.com/windso...and-going.aspx

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

You didn't read it did you. This is the educating part I was tawking about.;)

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

OK, you're right. I didn't read it as I've been conditioned to ignore anything published by CNW.

Now I've read it and had to ask myself what kind of a statement and vision is that for the progress of technological advances in the United States. With any progress, there is waste until such progress is refined and reaches it's potential. Brings to mind computers and space travel. Were these advances all for naught? So, we should just continue to design automobiles status quo while other countries engage in progressive technologies and recognize potential gains in usurping our GDP? Bad.

Concerning cost impacts and environmental impacts concluded by them, lots of assumptions and application of historical data applied to arrive at the conclusion. So, it appears the jury is still out so far as their "study" is concerned. Maybe that's why I read somewhere that they refuse to disclose their methodology for the study. It would be nice if some entity would provide solid research as I'm sure it would be helpful for some people in selecting their purchase.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Wait till she meets those rude Toyo sales asswipes...

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

Well, when someone other than CNW does such a study we'll quote from them as well.

And I dunno what it says about the US, but I know what it says for technological advances in Japan. They can do what they want, all I know is- you are buying into it.

Hummers are American and American tax monies (thank the Bush admin) is funding research for Hydrogen energy, presently being researched by GM and other American companies.

Re: My girlfriend wants a prius
 

You have to be a plant...no intelligent person says I, me, i've so much in just a few paragraphs...

Are you with greenpeace, or save the world, or are you part of gores goonies ???

the best part is that

"""U have supplied us with a reasonable summary"""