On the social highway, it's Hummer vs. Prius

[xcel]

And then there is the secret dream of Hummer owners: The mini-tank that gets 50 miles to the gallon -- the cross between the Hummer and the Prius.

Hart Seely - Syracuse - Aug 17, 2008

Nancy Rifkin, of DeWitt, is dwarfed by her Hummer H2. She's 5 feet tall. Her Hummer is about a foot and a half taller. "When I get out, what I usually find are guys laughing at me," she says. Photo: John Barry.

Very interesting article. Including some Prius myths by H2 owners -- Ed.

These days, it's not easy being king of the road.

Consider the Hummer H2, the four-wheel, four-star hotel. The thing goes anywhere with the quaint modesty of a Pershing tank. Of course, there is that 11 miles-per-gallon gas problem. Now and then, somebody accuses the owner of wrecking the planet.

Then comes the Prius or, as some prefer, "Dorkmobile." It fits into "green" parking spaces at the Carousel Center shopping mall and can ride in some cities' carpool lanes. But now and then, somebody accuses its owner of secretly being happy about the price of gas…

It's Hummer vs. Prius, smog vs. smug, HOG vs. POG. (FYI: that's Hummer Owners Groups v. Prius Owners Groups.)

On the nation's paved and social highways, the two cars embody starkly different views of patriotism, opulence, personal freedom, ingenuity, lifestyle and -- say both sets of owners -- misunderstandings.

Take the anti-Hummer crowd, which includes environmental groups, left-leaners and mischief-makers. Web sites such as ihatehummer.com encourage motorists to give Hummer owners the one-finger salute. Last year, vandals smashed up a Washington, D.C., owner's Hummer and scrawled an environmental message on its side. They denounced the car as a symbol of decadent wealth and waste… [Read More]

[Indigo]

Sign me up for a Hummus! Hee hee hee!

[skidmark]

Perhaps they"s make a "hybrid" hummer that gets 15/15mpg and then make a big stink about how green it is - kinda like what they did with the **cough** chevy **cough** tahoe

[Earthling]

I didn't find much amusement in the article.

Last spring, somebody in Santa Rosa, Calif., went on a Prius-bashing spree over several nights.

My Prius was vandalized a couple of months ago. Some Prius-hater kicked a huge dent in the right rear quarter panel, which cost over $900 to fix. My share of the bill was $100, the deductible for vandalism.

Like I said, not much humor in that article for me.

Harry

[civic94coupe206]

I really dont care if that gets 50 mpg or 5... just get it off my road. its making smaller cars more dangerous and making car companies making their cars bigger and bigger to "help" the crashes of the bigger vehicles.

have you seen a 82 civic and a 08 civic? the size is very different. an 08 civic is bigger than a 82 accord for that matter. heavier cars = more gas.

if honda would sell a 5 passenger car that weighs 2000 pounds qith a 1.3l gas engine, I would absolutely buy it, only if there are way less FSP's out there.

[Vooch]

In July - One single H1 was sold.


It would be amusing to see an interview with the unique person who bought a H1 last month.

[Chuck]

Guess a writer was looking for something to do.

[ALS]

Women like the SUV's because they sit up high and see over traffic ahead of them. Plus they think they can intimidate people to get out of their way.
When I saw that picture I had a flash back to a ChiP's episode where Rosey Greer got out of a Civic 1200 on the highway and started to pound on it because it had broken down. Rosey is a really big guy and seeing him squeeze out of that little car was hilarious.

[atlaw4u]

My Insight dwarfed by my co-worker's Hummer.

[Robert Lastick]

Originally Posted by Earthling

I didn't find much amusement in the article.

Last spring, somebody in Santa Rosa, Calif., went on a Prius-bashing spree over several nights.

My Prius was vandalized a couple of months ago. Some Prius-hater kicked a huge dent in the right rear quarter panel, which cost over $900 to fix. My share of the bill was $100, the deductible for vandalism.

Like I said, not much humor in that article for me.

Harry

Nor I, Harry, not much at all.

It seems to me the real problem here we simply do not want to approach. It does not seem to me to be a question of gas mileage, or how Prius or Hummer owners are viewed, or how they look. It has nothing to do with the marketing of machismo, or really any kind of marketing.

It has to do with what consumption of 28.5 million barrels of oil a day is doing to our country and the world. A Prius driver driving like a car in front is a car to be passed is as guilty as the Hummer driver. They both simply do not understand. They do not understand the gravity of the problem.

They are more interested looking at me than we.