I bought a Prius!

"PowderHound" (PowderHound) 03/22/2015 at 11:33 • Filed to: None

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I'm helping to save the environment!

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 11:36

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Can't argue with the avoiding driving when possible to be fair, I do that too. The Prius isn't the saviour some people seem to think it is though.

Crest > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 11:39

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Awww man, and i'm looking to buy a prius too. Don't hate because i'll be saving the environment too.

Coty > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 11:40

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I bought a Beetle, which is sort of efficient. Then I pulled the emissions shit off and put an exhaust on that shoots fire every shift.

PowderHound > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 03/22/2015 at 11:41

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Exactly. They were probably better off with the paid off truck. Even buying and old civic will just about get the same mpgs as a Prius with out the car loan. Then again, I'm probably just a cheap bastard

PowderHound > Crest 03/22/2015 at 11:43

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I'm just bitter because I drove one once and hated everything about it. I'm also constantly stuck behind them on on-ramps.

PowderHound > Coty 03/22/2015 at 11:45

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Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 11:50

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I know a guy with a Prius and he gets 45mpg. I get over 50 out of the Panda in stop start heavy traffic and up 70 out of town. Plus the Prius batteries aren't exactly great for the environment.

shop-teacher > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 11:56

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The "idle-free" zone at school is a good idea. I get leaving your car running when it's freezing out, but when it's nice, shut the damn thing off and open the windows.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 11:57

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They'd have been better off keeping the truck considering that the energy expended and emissions produced in manufacturing a vehicle almost always exceed the emissions created through operation over the lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius is an especially dirtily made car, and the battery manufacturing process is toxic. Prius driving environmentalists are the worst because they're more interested in the show they put on of it than putting the effort into actually making a change to their lifestyle. I get someone wanting to save money on gas, so maybe buying a used Prius as a commuter car, but it is not environmentally friendly at all.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 11:58

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Don't forget about the passing lane!

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Coty 03/22/2015 at 11:58

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I love shooting flames at people behind me.

PowderHound > shop-teacher 03/22/2015 at 12:05

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for sure. I always try not to idle. Waste of gas.

duurtlang > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 03/22/2015 at 12:06

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Those are UK gallons, right? No US gallons (and certainly no metric units)

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > duurtlang 03/22/2015 at 12:09

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Yeah UK gallons.

OPPOsaurus WRX > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 12:46

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tapzz > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/22/2015 at 12:58

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Interesting- do you have a source or data to back up all those claims?

Coty > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/22/2015 at 13:16

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Windshield level too. Not sure how legal that is.

HammerheadFistpunch > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 13:19

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Dear ass hole prius owner: your high ground pressure and low fuel use are destroying our roads and not paying into the funds to repair them. I love utah roads so I bought big balloon tires and use as much gas as I can.

Jonee > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/22/2015 at 13:42

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You're kind of overstating it. Especially dirty it is not. Yeah, mining the materials for the batteries is dirty, but it would be happening whether the Prius existed or not. And, most people who buy them nowadays buy them because they're really cheap to run. I can't stand driving them, but if you're a commuter who doesn't give two shits about performance, you can't do much better than a Prius. They've proven to be reliable. They're safe and reasonably priced. It's a good car if you don't care about cars and that's a healthy segment of the population.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Coty 03/22/2015 at 14:08

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Lol, no. Mine's low. Definitely not legal, but no emissions checks in Florida, and it's exempt most places anyway since it's over 25 years old.

Coty > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/22/2015 at 14:31

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Mine's at windshield level but the car is low. That counts, right?

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > tapzz 03/22/2015 at 14:54

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I started doing research on it, and apparently it's not accurate and never really was. There was a point in time when it would have been more equivalent, but that's not the case anymore. Toyota took the initial claims and changed their manufacturing process and released new materials manufacturing data in 2009 that shows that it's significantly better than it was, but the battery back alone still generates over 9000 lbs of carbon just in manufacturing and it doesn't last forever. I don't really feel like looking too too much into it at the moment, but Toyota are also counting carbon offsets in their materials manufacturing claims, so I still consider their claims somewhat dubious. I've always considered carbon offsetting to be like burning a house down while donating to the local fire department. The house has still burned down.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Coty 03/22/2015 at 14:54

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SHOOT FLAMES IN ALL THE FACES!

Frenchlicker > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 03/22/2015 at 14:54

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Buy an ancient Subaru. That's what real environmentalists do, plus they can get to the places where there are tress and animals and waterways to clean. Wait, this is a pseudo-environmentalist that brags in a newspaper.

ranwhenparked > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 15:01

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Wow, that's retro. What is this person stuck in, like, 2001 or something? Hybrids are mainstream now, if you want to stand out as an eco-friendly iconoclast, you have to buy a Tesla.

yamahog > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 16:53

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I love holier than thou hybrid/EV drivers. Guess what, fartsniffers, I get better mileage on my motorcycle than your silly Prius without looking like a pompous jerk!

Crest > PowderHound 03/22/2015 at 19:29

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i want one because i have an almost 90 mile commute roundtrip everyday. I wouldn't mind trading my soul for a little better economy

soundman98 > tapzz 03/22/2015 at 19:37

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this article hits the bullet points.. it was the first i could find.. i could find the other one i recall reading a long time ago..

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.…

the major point where electric cars loose in eco-friendliness is the battery tech. both in the creation of the battery, as well as the recycling. i read somewhere a while ago that the prius had been put into production when they didn't actually have any plan what to do with the battery pack once it reached the end of it's life.. it looks like since then, some companies have developed processes to deal disposing of the batteries, but it's still a nasty process..

tapzz > soundman98 03/22/2015 at 21:19

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The article you cite is based entirely on a 2007 study by an automotive marketing company called CNW Marketing Research called "Dust to Dust: The Energy Cost of New Vehicles From Concept to Disposal". It's been debunked as seriously flawed in methodology, assumptions and presentation over , and over , and over , and over again, but still keeps popping up all these years later.

That generally happens because of confirmation bias: the tendency for people to selectively find evidence –no matter how flimsy– for opinions they've already formed. I can be as guilty of that as the next person, which is why I'm always on the look out for reliable, peer reviewed studies that show that hybrids are anything other than slightly less bad than conventional ICE cars for our climate. I've not found anything yet.