[The kickoff post's here]
Euclid’s a residential street that averages about a Prius a block. Walking down the street, I was initially gonna do a sort of Prius vs. SUV contest type thing.
But I quickly found that giant SUVs outnumbered Priuses about 5 to 1, and gave up –
Still, it’s a lot of Priuses.
One Slate writer wonders if she’s annoying for owning a Prius. The fear’s that she’s “prius preening” — as in using the Prius as more of a status symbol than anything else:
Why are Prius sales surging when other hybrids are slumping, the Times asked? Because buyers “want everyone to know they are driving a hybrid.” According to a marketing survey (which the Times ran in a graphic I couldn’t hide from), more buyers bought the Prius this year because it “makes a statement about me” (57 percent) than because of its better gas mileage (36 percent) or lower carbon dioxide emissions (25 percent) or new technology (7 percent).
My take’s that too much self-consciousness ’bout this type of stuff’s not terribly helpful. Of course, Santa Monica’s a v. walkable ‘hood and its residents really, really don’t need so many cars. But the bigger problem’s the SUV drivers, not so much the Prius owners, regardless of the reason they bought said Prius.
If you’re a Prius owner who feels guilty: Drive less. The Mini Blue runs all over the city — Take it.
Also, I did spot one SUV on Euclid that runs on biodiesel –
Update, 7/19/07: The northeast section of Santa Monica’s here.
The Prius does make a statement. It looks different from other cars. I drive a Honda Civic Hybrid. It looks like other Honda Civics. I would guess this different look for the Prius was not planned, but it’s worked great for Toyota. Now we just need to continue the press to remove the unnecessary SUVs from our culture.
Comment by vic — July 16, 2007 @ 6:58 am
SUV’s annoy me. I live in the countryside and in reality most farmers don’t even need a SUV. But I do worry about people buying hybrids and getting rid of their old cars thinking they are going to lower their carbon foot print. When the manufacturer of a ten year old car constitutes 40% of the emmisions. (or 4 years worth). So if you are buying a hyrid and selling the old car.
Your saving the environment is not dependent on the hybrid but that your second hand car will prevent someone buying a new car. (unless you are planning to keep the hybrid for over 10 years)
Comment by simon — July 16, 2007 @ 9:19 am
Oh wait. Should be 7 years worth of emissions not 4
Comment by simon — July 16, 2007 @ 9:21 am