We’re a bunch of hybrid haters! – Onehots2k opinion on hybrids
My brakes work........NOT!!
Why do we hate hybrids so much? Blame Toyota. No, really. Okay, Okay, half-way blame Toyota. My opinion has absolutely nothing to do with their current recall woes. It has more to do with the Prius and what that vehicle has accomplished. It wasn’t the first hybrid vehicle sold in the U.S. That accolade goes to Honda’s Insight.
I was not the first, but my older brother was
What that car did was fudge up our perceptions of what a hybrid is and should be. It was a car that was not engaging to drive. The car was too quiet and mushy to be fun. And what did Toyota do? They sold well over a million of these things to date. Can we really blame them though? They heard the loud sound of the cash register. They made hybrids wildly popular. Something Honda could not even do and still struggles with in comparison to ToYoMo. While Toyota takes half the blame, a lot of the buyers take up the remaining half. They’re responsible for taking the car’s image in a direction the company probably never dreamed of. It really has turned off sports car enthusiasts. Whether we like it or not, this is the direction sports cars are starting to go. If the first mass produced hybrids were fantastic/fun cars we wouldn’t be so skeptical today.
I will be the best of both worlds. Fun like the CRX and mileage like the Insight
Don’t tell me it can’t be done. Or I could just be totally wrong. Maybe most of us just hate hybrids because cool and everyone else is doing it. I hope that is unlikely. It has to be the way most of these things drive and that ridiculous perpetuated image. Anything can be made “fun.” It just takes time, patience, and excellent engineering. Just ask Lotus, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, who are stepping up to the plate. First impressions are lasting and it will take some serious car companies to change the game. Thanks for this, Prius.
– Onehots2k
Images courtesy of Onehots2k, Triple-H & aashish2
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