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Detroit, 9:26 PM
Wed Nov 11
34 posts in the last 24 hours
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01/12/09
01/12/09
01/12/09
I love it when I ask Prius owners about the batteries and the fact that the mining and disposal are probably worse for their precious Mother Earth than my dinosaur-fuel burning Mustang. To watch them realize that people see through their charade and don't worship their greenness is one of the few joys I have during the long, cold Detroit winter.
01/12/09
You also realise that the amount of nickel that goes into these batteries is less than a one digit percentage of the nickel mined?
01/12/09
Second, saying that the nickel used is only a small fraction of the nickel mined does nothing for the argument that nickel mining, period, is a nasty process (both by the process itself and the energy expelled in executing the process) and people who are truly "green" would not want a product that contributes to that process.
My point is that people who drive the Prius are ecosnobs who do not fully understand the fact that their car has just as much impact on the planet as any other car.
01/12/09
01/12/09
01/11/09
Has anyone from Toyota actually looked at the fish-like melted front end that they are putting on their cars?
01/12/09
01/11/09
01/12/09
01/12/09
It might not be the car most here would buy, but that doesn't make it a bad car.
01/12/09
As is the case with most of the people here, this car utterly and completely fails to incite any automotive lust or excitement, and I can't argue with the "smug emissions" being a HUGE turn-off.
BUT the Prius was never intended to be a "driver's" or "enthusiast's" car; it was intended to be an efficient, reliable, and hassle-free means of TRANSPORTATION. I don't recall ever seeing any marketing suggesting otherwise, and Toyota's sales numbers (especially during the gas price peak last year) would seem to confirm their desirability to the general population.
People who buy the Prius ARE NOT stupid or unenlightened, nor do they necessarily lack a sense of aesthetics, they just have different interests and priorities. Prius buyers harbor no delusions of "performance"-they just want a comfortable, reliable, and efficient car, and the Prius provides these attributes while also being fashionable (very important to a lot of the population) and containing "the latest" technology.
01/12/09
For that reason, I still believe Toyota products have no place on Jalopnik. They are not "cars" in the Jalopnik sense. This is a blog for people who are passionate about cars, and about the culture surrounding cars. Toyota has deliberately shut us out, and made a point of designing cars that are not for the enthusiast. In the Jalopnik sense, Toyota does not make cars, they make transportation appliances.
Now that is not to say they are not excellent transportation appliances. And despite my cheapshots in good clean fun, I harbour no ill-will towards drivers of Prii. (My choice, obviously, would be a clean diesel, but they're a bit more available up here than in the 'States.) But then, I harbour no ill will to someone who spends too much money on a very nice washer and dryer, either. Toyota has about as much relation to the "cult of cars" as does Maytag, except that Toyota puts four wheels on their products.
As I said, I have no problem with the Prius on an objective level. But I still fail to see why it would be discussed on an enthusiasts' blog, when Toyota has specifically said they want nothing to do with enthusiasts.
01/12/09
01/12/09
Maybe it's just me, but I definitely read Jalopnik, so as long as I'm here I'm part of the target market, I guess.
12/29/08
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12/27/08
12/28/08
12/27/08
NSFW.
12/27/08
12/27/08
12/27/08
12/27/08
12/27/08
Seriously, though. It was bad enough in the Echo and Mini, this is going too far. Not like most Prius drivers pay attention to the road anyway.
12/27/08
12/27/08
12/27/08
12/27/08