Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Reasons People Buy a Toyota Prius: Environmentally Friendly, Tools, or Other?


We stumbled across this entertaining article and brief video about a guy in Santa Monica, Calif. who bought his first car, a Toyota Prius, after more than ten years of riding his bike everywhere (and probably car-hating). While everyone has their own reason for choosing a Toyota Prius, this was the first time we’d heard his reason: “I like a quiet car.”

That’s right, the biggest reason he bought a Toyota Prius is because it basically silent. His reason is no more or less valid than someone who buys the Prius because of its incredible gas mileage (he logged 58 mpg) or environmentally friendliness, but we thought it was unique.

Why did you or are you considering buying a Toyota Prius? Check out the inventory of Toyota Prii (the plural of Prius) at Burien Toyota HERE.

In fact, so popular is the Toyota Prius in California, that it was the number one selling car in the state last year. The Toyota Prius is so ubiquitous that the salesman who sold this writer his Prius sold 19 Prii the month before…out of the 20 cars he sold. While California is usually one of the first lead the way when it comes to technology and environmentally friendly products, Western Washington isn’t usually too far behind because those are both things that we value. So, do you think that the Toyota Prius will soon be as widespread on I-5, 520, 405 and 167? Will most of the cabs in the Seattle-Tacoma area become Prii like in the Santa Monica area?

The ubiquity of the Toyota Prius in California has brought a certain ‘greener-than-thou’ attitude to Santa Monica, according to this writer. Will the Toyota Prius be so ubiquitous that non-Prius owners may be looked down upon?

 “I’m better than you because I own a Prius. And if you own an SUV, I’m 100% better than you,” said the writer in the short video.

Of course, he was being sarcastic (convincingly so). But he uses the rest of his article to discuss the possible ‘real’ reasons people by a Prius, including that he thinks some people by the Prius to satisfy their ‘do-gooder’ needs because of its environmentally friendliness. And then he calls people who are sanctimonious about their Prius ownership “tools” (one of the definitions of ‘tool’ on UrbanDictionary.com is “one who tries to hard.”).

He goes on to describes that some who are too satisfied with the environmental friendliness of the Toyota Prius may be subject to “rebound creep,” where, for example, you decide to drive your Prius 5 miles to the grocery store instead of riding your bike because it’s raining (because it's environmentally friendly), or you feel okay buying orchestra tickets but the show is across town.

However, we actually think that’s one of the benefits of owning a Prius and a very valid reason to purchase one. Maybe you really want to be a season ticket holder at the Opera across town but are worried about the price of gas and impact on the environment. We think that means the Prius is the perfect fit for you because of its great gas mileage and environmental friendliness will be low impact on your wallet and the environment.

While we know that buyers who purchased their Toyota Prius from Burien Toyota (your Puget Sound Prius Headquarters) genuinely care about the environment and have very sincere reasons for buying the Prius (even if its because it’s a quiet car), we wonder if you ever find yourself dealing with rebound creep? Have you found that you feel more comfortable driving further distances because you drive a Prius? Do you think that’s a bad thing? Leave a comment below!

Stop by Burien Toyota, the to have all your Toyota Prius questions answered and drive home your own Prius today!

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