I hope you bypassed the $1.50 12oz bottle of water in Tom Thumb's cooler that people seem all too happy to buy while concurrently bemoaning gas prices! I hear ya though.
I typically do pass the bottled water, unless I'm without my filter.
6thGen, you are looking for me to provide evidence, via news stories, that Prius owners are not buying for the status symbol. Find me some stories about the zebra-striped elephant. ... It is difficult to find information regarding something that doesn't exist.
Regarding the reasons why the Accord Hybrid didn't sell, I have my guess. I test drove the Accord Hybrid. Being a previous Accord owner and someone who likes Honda products, I wanted to check it out. What I found was a car that felt a little funny when switching from the electric to gas. I also found the car to have way too much horsepower compared to the previous Accord which I owned. My old Accord had something like 160 HP and the new hybrid had about 255 HP. The gas mileage difference between the two was nominal, yet the Hybrid had expensive batteries to replace, and the cost of the Hybrid had skyrocketed over the older model Accords. Also, the cost of repairing the hybrid is more expensive than the gas only model.
Honda needs to go back to making less powerful or multi-powered engines, in order to appeal to the loyal Honda base. Just my opinion.
On a similar rant, Toyota's Tundra is now larger than the 2006 models. The engines are stronger and the actual truck is larger. I have no idea what they were thinking when they made that decision. They already screwed up the best small-sized pickup, the Tacoma, by making it bigger, and now they are screwing up the Tundra.
These companies need to be making smarter engines and have more options for horsepower. The Tundra comes with options of engine size, but it is kind of like the menu at McCONald's, Large or Super-Sized.
That may not sound like much, but not long ago, I could fill it for $8. It's been a while since I calculated my gas mileage on it, but I'm keeping the mileage now, to see. I used to get around 40mpg, even if I was heavy on the throttle.
), the Accord Hybrid is a powerful 6 cylinder whose gas engine never turns off when driving. So you never get the silent feel of an electric vehicle. Maybe this is another reason.
