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The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

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241–250 of 292 posts

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#241
post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly never quite understood this perspective or why it's so popular... in general I try to always find ways to do normal life things a little weird, or make it a little more challenging, fun, and memorable- and try to break up the routine drudgery. Even just getting groceries can be a fun adventure with my kid if we put the top down on the Porsche, play some music we love, and maybe go to a weird store that tar…

A significant chunk of the crowd here is very anti-car (to varying degrees), so I wouldn’t expect much sympathy if you’re the type of person that enjoys driving. I’d cut your losses in trying to argue your point…and go enjoy driving your car! As somewhat of an old timer (turning 43), I remember the techie population seemed to overlap a lot with the car enthusiast population a long time ago. Nearly everyone at my firs…

Yeah, I am about your age, and it is taboo in my work and social circle to even drive a sports car- I can tell most people I know see it as ostentatious, which I am annoyed by since I bought it for less than 1/10th the price of what most of them drive, and I find it fun, I don't care to impress anyone.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#242
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish Toyota would make enough Siennas to satisfy demand. Instead, there's are long wait lists at dealers.

There is only one factory, and it also makes the Highlander, Grand Highlander, and Lexus TX. The Sienna would need to become a lot more profitable for Toyota to reduce production of the other 3 to make room for more Siennas.

They could raise the price if they wanted it to be more profitable! Dealers already exploit the long wait list to do so in a way that doesn’t pass through to Toyota.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A significant chunk of the crowd here is very anti-car (to varying degrees), so I wouldn’t expect much sympathy if you’re the type of person that enjoys driving. I’d cut your losses in trying to argue your point…and go enjoy driving your car! As somewhat of an old timer (turning 43), I remember the techie population seemed to overlap a lot with the car enthusiast population a long time ago. Nearly everyone at my firs…

Cars have a lot of unpriced externalities. I see them as a necessary evil. I'd rather future generations had less pollution and more natural resources to enjoy. There are plenty of other things to tinker with.

I feel the same as you about the awful externalities, but doing it anyway and refusing to enjoy it as 'penance' just isn't how I would want to deal with that. I really love driving, love the freedom of exploring things in cars, and love working on and fixing them. Instead, I work on sustainable biofuel tech- and even as a hobby use and test it out in my own vehicles.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#244
post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is only one factory, and it also makes the Highlander, Grand Highlander, and Lexus TX. The Sienna would need to become a lot more profitable for Toyota to reduce production of the other 3 to make room for more Siennas.

They could raise the price if they wanted it to be more profitable! Dealers already exploit the long wait list to do so in a way that doesn’t pass through to Toyota.

I’m in a large metro area; when I go to the Toyota website and look at inventory within 20 miles, I see 1 Sienna that is not in transit and not sale pending. That’s across 9 dealerships! By contrast, for the new Land Cruiser I am seeing 31 vehicles that are not in transit and not sale pending. On dealer lots. Most of them have $3k+ discounts listed! 12 Corolla hybrids; 24 Camrys. 87 Tacomas!!!

I have no idea what Toyota’s strategy with the Sienna is.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#245
post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly never quite understood this perspective or why it's so popular... in general I try to always find ways to do normal life things a little weird, or make it a little more challenging, fun, and memorable- and try to break up the routine drudgery. Even just getting groceries can be a fun adventure with my kid if we put the top down on the Porsche, play some music we love, and maybe go to a weird store that tar…

I'll take the bait, what part of what you wrote makes it funnier in a Boxster than a Prius?

Funnier? I assume you mean fun?

I assure you there is no bait- it’s an example of things that would make an everyday chore fun to me, and needs no justification. I would suggest you do what would make it fun to you.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#246
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love to hypermile my accord hybrid, but when my wife pulls the exact same mileage without doing anything special, it makes me feel so goofy. I’ll continue to hypermile for fun anyway lol

I hypermile my gas SUV cuz I feel guilty about the inefficiency, but we just got an EV and Im driving like a maniac breaking it in for fun and cuz no more guilt.

Sorry to ruin your guilt free parade, but don’t forget that your charging is still producing emissions - just from a distance.

Congrats on the EV though. I really want one, but it’s just not practical for the 400+ mile trips we regularly need to make throughout the year.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#247
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hypermile my gas SUV cuz I feel guilty about the inefficiency, but we just got an EV and Im driving like a maniac breaking it in for fun and cuz no more guilt.

Sorry to ruin your guilt free parade, but don’t forget that your charging is still producing emissions - just from a distance. Congrats on the EV though. I really want one, but it’s just not practical for the 400+ mile trips we regularly need to make throughout the year.

Nonzero for sure. But regenerative breaking plus fairly green energy (lotta hydro) is a whole different ball game than 100% gas.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about how the CVT transmission sounds?

Not sure exactly what you mean. As in, hybrids don’t have a CVT transmission, one with belts and the thing that changes diameter to achieve variability. Haven’t had one, but heard only bad things about those. But yes, in that the power transmission is variable (e-CVT, right?), and that sounds a bit weird. You’ve spent so much time hearing how the engine gets louder with acceleration that it feels weird when the engin…

Yeah I meant e-CVT. We actually own a highlander hybrid with e-CVT.

Actually every vehicle I've driven was CVT/e-CVT. 14 Corolla, 18 RAV4, 21 Highlander hybrid and 24 Integra. All super reliable. I'd still say CVT bothers me and I love it every time I get to rent a vehicle with traditional automatic.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#249
post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could raise the price if they wanted it to be more profitable! Dealers already exploit the long wait list to do so in a way that doesn’t pass through to Toyota.

I’m in a large metro area; when I go to the Toyota website and look at inventory within 20 miles, I see 1 Sienna that is not in transit and not sale pending. That’s across 9 dealerships! By contrast, for the new Land Cruiser I am seeing 31 vehicles that are not in transit and not sale pending. On dealer lots. Most of them have $3k+ discounts listed! 12 Corolla hybrids; 24 Camrys. 87 Tacomas!!! I have no idea what Toy…

Yeah, I see four. Mostly $6k over MSRP.

Re: The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

#250
post #97

Toyota explicitly stated that the hybrid strategy spreads the lithium out to more cars, increasing fuel economy across the fleet. Tesla's 800hp super cars aren't green and never were. They consume lithium to such a degree that they are, maybe even worse in the long run. Using 800 horses to transport one human never could be efficient, no matter the technology.

Spoke like a true oil industry executive
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