I'm not a marketing person for Toyota. They don't pay me commission, they don't ask my opinion, they don't request feedback. BUT, I'm getting tons of questions like, "How does it work," and "Is it safe," and "How does it ride," and "What kind of mileage do you get," and on and on and ON. You'll notice I removed the dealership decal (I requested THEY not apply it however, they seemed to have "overlooked," my request) because I'm not their marketing department NOR did I receive any discount for carrying their logo. Yes, it's a personal issue--I asked them in negotiation if they'd pay me. I had to wait nearly 6 months for delivery--NOT what I'd consider conscientious customer service... Back to the point: I like my car. For all the reasons posted here (except some affiliations by proxy). I'm an advocate of everything it stands for (except buying foreign), but they're not readily available and I'm not in the car business. In this day and age of advertisement saturation, spoken word and actual EXPERIENTIAL TESTIMONY is more valuable than any television commercial--especially from people whom one trusts. So what do YOU tell them--without pros·e·ly·tizing [(prŏs'ə-lĭ-tīz'ing)? Consumer Guide Automotive Evaluation
I tell them to bugger off and get the hell away from my car. (jk) I simply answer their questions as best as I know how and smile the whole time.
I enjoy telling people about my Prius, and the dealer has been good to me so I don't mind giving them a plug, Plus i like the dealer stickers because when your on a trip and see another car from the same state you can tell where there from, or when you see an out of state Prius in our home territory you can tell where there from.
At the risk of sounding like a Toyota salesperson, I try to share my enthusiasm for the car. Since it is part of the Zhang Heng's 5 year mission, it is my DUTY to educate people at every opportunity. I go to car shows more to educate people than to win prizes (good thing too). I get all kinds of questions. One person last weekend thought this type of vehicle was not available to the general public. Fortunately I had some dealer stuff to actually give her, with the slick pictures and all that. I try to keep the conversation going as long as possible. And I don't just push the Prius and hybrids. If people ask if all cars will be like this in the future, I say probably not. Electric vehicles are probably the future. In the meantime, hybrids, alternative fuels, limited capability electrics, will all be part of the solution.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Doc Willie @ Oct 22 2007, 09:22 AM) [snapback]528803[/snapback]</div> Yup, you're, "That Guy," Doc...
I tell them the truth. 1. It's a gasoline powered car. 2. It gets very good mileage, in the range of 4.5 l/100 km or 63 MPG Imperial or 52 MPG US. 3. The "electric portion" of the hybrid system allows the gasoline engine to be operated very efficiently, which is why the mileage is so high. 4. You drive it just like any other car. If you "take steps", you can extend the mileage more than you can if you take those steps with other cars. 5. The high voltage is very well isolated from anyone who works on the car. If you try hard enough, I'm sure you could figure out some way to electrocute yourself, but it would be much easier to do so at a duplex receptacle in your home. 6. It accelerates better than many cars when passing etc. It's got a slight delay when taking off at lights etc. It's not a problem for me. 7. It is only "slow" if I drive it that way, and sometimes I do so because the car has taught me how wasteful I can be if I drive like so many others do. 8. It is a car. It's hard on the environment. It's just less hard on the environment than most other cars.
Well, I was cornered while filling (sic) my Prius with gasoline yesterday afternoon, and this young woman with a child sort of loitered around the front of the car before finally (apparently) getting up the courage to ask, "So, can you tell me how it works?" I believe I'm going to be answering the question a lot, so I had thought about it: "It's like when you brush your teeth. If you shut off the water as you're brushing, you can save ALOT of water and lower the price on the water bill. Now that's a little simplified, but that's kind of the principle." She seemed to accept it. She DID watch as I put the nozzle back, too. $27 + cents. I told her how far I'd gone on those 9+ gallons, too. Of course, she had to say that her husband said, "It only goes on electric under 30, then it can't get out of its way." I didn't argue, but I did tell her that wasn't true. I did tell her that her little girl was going to have more choices when she was ready to drive and it's an exciting time. The future's here. Baby steps....
I tend to both try to answer people's questions as directly as possible, while at the same time trying to share my enthusiasm for the car. Sometimes I'm in a hurry leaving a parking lot and someone will ask a question or two... I still try to answer graciously before making a stealthy escape Honestly some of us should get a commission from Toyota because we do love to talk about our cars! Just last weekend I had the chance to give someone their "first ride" in a Prius, and that's always fun because they're a captive audience to my pitch. On a drive, I first go through the cool stuff, tech, displays, etc. By the time I get through that it's usually warmed up enough to demo things like glide and stealth. And a red light is usually helpful because then I can demonstrate that the car is by no means under-powered. After all that I'll mention the emissions rating, and almost as an after thought, mention my average MPG numbers... "oh yeah, it's pretty nice to go 400 miles on 8.5 gallons." The guy I took for a drive is a Tacoma driver, construction worker, and said he'd love a pickup with some of the same. When we got back to my place his wife and mine were talking... he interrupted them to tell his wife that she wasn't allowed to ride in our car because it's too cool and she'd buy one immediately.
I tell them that it is my least efficient, most polluting vehicle. The response to that is what determines where the conversation goes.
I thought kind of the same thing--and hated to get rid of my F-150 but it really IS an awfully big and expensive thing to be hauling my penis around with. Care and feeding alone was running upwards of $800/quarter, and that didn't include payments or insurance. Just maintenance and gas. I'm guessing I'll end up @ about 25% of that this quarter--if it's that much! And fuel's not going to come down any time soon. I live out in the country and needed a truck around my property. So I bought a trailer for my tractor (which gets worse gas mileage than my car OR my Spousal Unit's car, btw). About 98% of the driving needs can be satisfied by the Prius, so if I ever NEED 4WD or to haul something, I'll manage. Thanks!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(skguh @ Oct 22 2007, 08:41 AM) [snapback]528788[/snapback]</div> There are so many Prius around here nowadays, I don't get asked questions anymore. Hybrids obviously work and owners obviously like them. But I s'pose in those less popular regions, the good old "toss a card their way and so you don't leave them hanging" techinque could still be helpful. It provides a source of next-step info without having to involve you directly...
Well, GM is coming out with a hybrid full size PU (same system they just put in the Tahoe and the other equivalent to the Tahoe). Not that good though, 20 MPG overall average.
As we Prius owners know, there are varying levels of "Hybrid," of which the Toyota Synergy Drive seems to be the standard that others are trying to imitate. The ability to 'separate' the two power sources to run independently is something I was most interested, because just adding another alternator doesn't make it 'hybrid.' I know, I know, it's more complex. To MOST folks, just getting them to think beyond gasoline for the first time is a break through! Thanks, btw.
I think the Prius is kind of a unique case. If I was driving a Camry or Accord I probably wouldn't care that much. I'd answer a question or two (if anyone bothered to ask) but wouldn't put any special effort into "selling" it. With the Prius, its different. For the same reasons I felt it was important to buy one, I would like other people to buy one. As popular as they are, I think there is still a lot of mis-information out there that discourages people from considering one. If someone is curious enough to come up and ask about it, I try and be friendly and tell them how much I enjoy driving it. My standard answer is that I thought I would be making a big sacrifice by driving a Prius, and have been very pleasantly surprised how much I enjoy it! If they have technical questions or concerns I do my best to give them the real answer, and if they're really interested I point them towards PC. I don't have any loyalty to promote a dealer (though would enthusiastically recommend Steve Woodruff to anyone looking for a salvaged one) but I do feel that Toyota has earned my free advertising. They stuck to their guns and tried to do the right thing (at least partially) when all the other auto manufacturers bailed on HEVs and BEVs back at the turn of the century. That took some long term vision and guts that I respect, and could have been a financial disaster. If Chrysler for example had had the fortitude to push their late 90s 70-80mpg ESX prototype http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Intrepid_ESX through to production maybe they wouldn't be in their current desperate struggle to climb out of the toilet. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071101/bs_nm/...sler_layoffs_dc Of course if the Bush admin hadn't pulled the plug on the research funding and redirected it all to hydrogen, that probably would have helped too. Buts thats a whole 'nother topic Rob
Thanks Miscrms! They dont let me out much, but I found my name on this post! You are too kind. Steve Woodruff
