I don’t know what it is about the Prius that I like so much, but it’s pretty much the only vehicle that has half a chance of getting me on stage, dancing around, screaming I… LOVE… THIS… COMPANY CAR!!!!!111one. But I’m not a car nut (I’d be hard-pressed to identify most cars I see around town, and am actually quite happy with the Corolla I currently drive), nor am I a much of an environmentalist. (That said, I’m more than happy to make use of curbside recycling programs and the like; I’m not one to pour battery acid down storm drains, either.)
Maybe it’s the combination of nifty technology—you can’t look at the Prius’ speedometer without envisioning Back to the Future, and the car has a bloody Start button—and the idea of getting more (miles) for less (gas). Most of my driving tends to be of the “poke around town” variety, which plays to the Prius’ strengths especially well.
In reality, though, I’m just a kid staring at a shiny new bike in the department store’s window display. [I’ve been that way since the Prius was first introduced.] The gut feeling is the same: this… this was made for me. And, someday, maybe, it will be mine.
When my dad worked at G-P they had a company car, a Chevy Lumina. I know of people who’ve had lightly lemony Luminas (Luminae?) or at least didn’t express full confidence in the model, but apparently the G-P one was solid gold, giving zillions of miles of trouble-free service. Therefore, when I see “I love this company car!” in the above, struckthrough or not, I can’t help but think of my dad and how he praised the aforementioned hoopty as often as he used it.
My dad, however, did not “Get on [his] feet” and say “WOOOOOO!!! WOOOOOOoooooOOOOOO!!!” before saying he liked the car, nor did he chant “developers, developers, developers, developers, developers” with giant sweat stains. A shame about that.
Dude, if you buy the bike in the window instead of the Prius, you’ll get even better mileage. And poking around town on a bike instead of in a car could result in a net time savings overall.
As for Back-to-the-Future cool, your best bet would be to go straight for the DeLorean.