<VV> Hybrid Saturn SUV - GM Is Listening - No Corvair

[Tony]

At 09:45 AM 1/9/2008, you wrote:
>While I might agree, and lots of people seem to like their Prius, I do
>question the 95% satisfaction with the car.


I do not question many people's satisfaction with the Prius, because 
they were already presatisfied before buying it because it catered to 
their self-proclaimed "green" wisdom, and besides, they PAID for that 
satisfaction and you can bet they're damned sure gonna get it one way 
or another.   The ones who do not will quietly lick their wounds, 
trade the car for something else.


I do not like the Prius... not because of what it's supposed to be, 
or its (expensive) technology, or because of any doubts as to the 
quality of its construction which is good...  but because of how it 
came to be here for a price less than the 75,000 bucks it took to 
BUILD one of the little bastards.

I'm also not real pleased with its timely introduction which 
countered efforts by GM and Ford for a marketable affordable hybrid 
or zero-emissions vehicle, and of course seeing as how nobody was 
gonna pay what it cost to build a Prius, Toyota convinced the 
Japanese government to subsidize most of the expense of building it, 
so as to get not only a foot in the door, but take the foot and kick 
GM and Ford in the balls in the process, backed up of course by 
Japanese government money.

Toyota sucks.   As I've said before, the product is fine; it's their 
policies that alarm me.

Then again, GM could sure as Hell learn a thing or two from Toyota, 
which at least DOES know how to deal with unions.   GM used to 
know...  but they forgot.   Their error... now it's costing them out 
the ass, literally.


>  Is that was the case, and most owners were, say,  environmentalists, then
>they might be highly satisfied with a Yugo if it was  meeting their 
>expectations
>as an environmentally sensitive vehicle.

The Yugo was a FAR less polluting vehicle than the Prius once you 
consider the resources used to construct it, compared to what it 
takes to build a Prius... and it got fuel mileage that wasn't that 
far removed from what a Prius actually gets... and the Yugo cost a 
tenth of what the Prius sells for.   My Yugo will pull down close to 
40 mpg on the highway if I keep it below 70, and around town it would 
still averaged close to 30 mpg if I drove it like an old 
woman.       And NO, it's not a slug, will smoke the tires through 
1st gear and bark them loud in 2nd, runs well.

Again, Yugos never got any respect, just undeserved criticism... and 
the majority of that came from people who never drove one, much less 
owned one.   Mine is in storage, stashed away... has 124,000 miles on 
it now, and it's in excellent shape, engine tight and smooth and runs 
well, uses almost no oil between changes.   I may well break it back 
out and tag/register it again and put it back to work if gas 
continues to go up in price...


Now, we have people singing the praises of the Prius...  more power 
to them.   I'm waiting to see how many end up in used car lots for 
discounted prices when the battery wears down.


>Is it  the car, or what they
>perceive the good that they are doing by driving it?   I guess it 
>doesn't matter
>either way, and I have no problem with the car, but  for me, I too would be
>buying the VW diesel!


I'd sure as Hell buy the VW diesel before I'd even as much as 
consider a Prius.   Then again...  give me a Prius and I'll sell it 
to a greenie and use the bucks to buy two VW diesels.


Or... one VW and use the rest of the bucks into the 'Vairs.



tony..