My neighbor also had a Prius. He started it and I couldn't believe how quiet it was. That's a biggie for me as I like listening to music in cars. Since music is sound PRESSURE cars are great for music other than the noise they produce.
Another guy I met had a use Prius. He replaced the batteries but he got it cheap. He was super happy with it.
I'm gonna be in the market for a car this year. These guys might have me convinced.
My friend just bought a Prius. He's got a masters in Psychology, one of the smartest people I've ever met. Lived a totally fascinating unconventional life. Here's what he had to say about it, and he mentions, in passing, the MAGAs at the end:
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My new car is a 2014 Prius V 5 and it's great.
I never thought about getting a hybrid car because I was worried about the hybrid battery which have a notorious reputation for cost when they fail. But my mechanic who works only on Japanese cars, said the Prius is one of the most dependable cars on the road today. I later learned that the hybrid batteries don't fail at all if you keep them clean and don't stupidly abuse them. Toyota has also learned a few valuable lessons in their manufacture and cooling design from the early days. I have a third generation Prius and if you take care of them, the hybrid battery will last 300,000 miles just like their engines and transmissions, which are the best in the business. Toyotas are by far the best made cars the last 20 years and I originally wanted to get a Toyota Rav 4 as Midori has had one the past 8 years and everything works great.
My last car was a 2008 Mazda Tribute, but it was a Mazda only in name as almost every single part was made by Ford. I didn't know that when I bought it, but it was when Mazda had done a collaboration for a few years with Ford. (They dropped Ford as partners once they realized they made junk.) The last American car I owned prior to that was a 1995 Ford Thunderbird and when I first got it, it was fast and fun. Being American, however, everything turned to shit around 60,000 miles, problems with this, problems with that. I even started getting blow-by where the rubber gaskets around the pistons wore out and great billows of smoke started pouring out on acceleration as it burned oil profusely. American cars had manufactured cars to have "planned obsolescence" during the 1970s so they would break down constantly after the first few years to the point where it was a worthless piece of junk, and you were forced to get a new car. Typical crap from good old corporate America who make garbage to sell to the public, claiming it's great because it's American. They never got out of that mode and to this day, American cars turn into awful buckets of garbage if you don't trade them in every few years. Every part in my Mazda that was Ford failed. The starter, two new water pumps in six years (there's even a class action lawsuit over these "genuine Motor Craft water pumps" because they routinely fail and cause engines to overheat and seize up due to their crappy design) there was also a variety of small parts here and there but what killed that piece of junk was the transmission died at just over 100,000 miles. The transmission guy looked it up in the service manual and sure enough, it was a Ford transmission. He didn't even seriously discuss rebuilding it. He just laughed and said, "Junk it, the transmission will still be crap even if I rebuild it". I was stressed out being without a car which I need for work.
I found a great deal on this Prius and took it for a drive. It runs smoother and better than any car I've ever driven, even a Rolls Royce and Bentley a wealthy friend has. The Prius even has serious torque and pickup when I need it such as merging on the freeway. It still runs like a brand-new car and the previous owners were ideal. It was a company car for visiting corporate executives the first two years and the second owner was the mechanic who had worked on it. He kept it in showroom condition, mechanically and physically. A friend who is also a mechanic saw the engine and was shocked how pristine it has been kept. Once you also realize it is in pure EV mode about half the time, the odometer may read 90,000 miles but the gas engine actually has around half that. It is almost completely silent and runs so smoothly and sedately yet with enough power that you just want to drive it gently because that's all it needs to perform well. It's strong and fast enough that I can race it but I'm long past the age of stupid bravado and couldn't care less what a bunch of strangers in other cars think about how fast I can go or beating them to the next traffic light. I know someone that used to teach cab drivers here in LA and he always opened the first class with this quote: "Too many people are unhappy, angry, mentally ill, and they prove that to you when they are driving." Also, the longer I live the more I realize how incredibly stupid it is to worry about what others say, think, and do. Just look at the total POS they admire, and you have to laugh to yourself about their awful judgement. The quote from my friend who teaches cab drivers can be easily applied to the vast majority of the population. They waste their lives getting angry and upset over what total strangers do or don't do but would otherwise have no impact on their daily life whatsoever if they just ignored them. What truly awful, meaningless, joyless lives they must live. For me, every day I wake up is a great day and since the vast majority of the time I feel physically great, it's almost always a perfect day. Now that I don't have to worry about a piece of American crap car failing, my life is so stress-free.
So, I give a big thumbs up for a Toyota or Lexus hybrid and you'll also be tickled pink because you will spend about a third of what you do now on gas |
