Eco-hipsters love status of 'green' goodies

[jpak]

http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_4167164

When Henri and Jeanne Lese bought a 2005 Toyota Prius, they did it for all the right reasons: It got great gas mileage, it had low emissions ... and, as Jeanne admits, "It is a really cool car."

The comment, as well as movies like "The Da Vinci Code," featuring stars tooling around Paris in a tiny, fuel-efficient car, and developments like Emeryville's upscale, but energy-efficient, GreenCity Lofts, underlines a developing trend: green chic.

Sustainably harvested hardwood floors like those at GreenCity Lofts and 60-mile-a-gallon hybrid cars are less and less associated with the crunchy hippie movement or the need to save money, and more and more with status.

Case in point: Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the billionaire founders of Mountain View-based Google, are widely reported to drive Priuses. Even Comedy Central's "South Park" show made fun of hybrid car owners in an episode this year, blaming the do-gooders for causing smug instead of smog.

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[Drum]

1. Well, no one buys a Prius for the body-styling do they?

I think they look extremely un-graceful.

[Jed Dilligan]

2. Do any new cars, short of the highest-end luxury cars,

look good to you? I think automotive styling died in the early seventies, it's not really a consideration anymore.

[LTR]

6. Modern cars — they all look like electric shavers.

[Drum]

9. Agreed

all the lookers are beaucoups bucks...nothing I can afford.

Gone are the days....

[mod mom]

10. I disagree. As a former Saab owner and current Prius owner, I find their

quirky looks appealing. I liked the old Saabs, which looked like nothing else on the market. I feel the same way about my Prius.

btw.. I've heard RFK Jr also drives one)

[Drum]

11. I love the old Saabs

not so much the Prius though :shrug:

[mod mom]

12. I traded about 26 mpg with my Saab station wagon to 50 with my Prius,

so beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I would love to get the vanity plate FUB OIL, but there are so many worthy causes that need my $, that I keep my state issued one instead.

[Drum]

13. A Saab for a Prius, just for the mpg?

That's too bad...Saab is a great car manufacturer (or was,) more than just econ transport...but what do I know? :shrug:

[mod mom]

14. Saab WAS. Ever since GM bought them out they went downhill. We have

driven Saabs since 1985 (3 in total). The last one a 2000 Saab staation wagon was a POS. As a mom of two young children my priorities have shifted to protecting the planet for the future, so the answer is yes MPG is enough to base a decision on.

[kestrel91316]

16. Everybody I know LOVES the look of the Prius.

Beats hell out of all the bubble cars and the new American macho hulks.

The Prius is aerodynamic. LOTS of cars used to be like that.

You must be young and don't remember.

[Drum]

18. I'm 43, and remember lots and lots of shapely cars.

The element of Prius that bugs me (a little) is the big body/little wheels configuration...in this layman's opinion it does fall among the so-called "bubble cars."

I GooglePicture searched Prius, and in the photographs they are indeed sleek, but then any product is in its manufacturer's pics. My opinion is based more on seeing my friend's 1st generation Prius a few years ago: when I stood next to it, it seemed so bulbous, and the tiny tires made it look as if it was scraping the ground. Just an impression. She loves it, so who am I to argue?

Econ-wise, and environmentally it's a great step in the right direction, surely, but I just don't fall for the body. Hey, if that's the case, maybe I'm finally maturing, lol.

Nevetheless, thanks for the presumption of youth! :hi:

[LTR]

3. Have these people ever seen the cars in France?

Microscopic cars are all the rage there!

[Jed Dilligan]

5. As they would be here,

If we wised up and designed microscopic streets like they have in Europe.

[Jed Dilligan]

4. They forgot Larry David

He was driving a Prius for a few seasons of CYE, then switched to an Escape hybrid.

[paparush]

7. We just bought a Honda Fit and we LOVE it!!

[maxsolomon]

8. so fucking what? this is a good thing.

if being a gas guzzling ignorant dumb ass goes out of fashion in Murka, thank the Invisible Grampa in the Sky.

South Park lost me on the hybrid episode - "Smug" doesn't exist. Smog does.

[bloom]

15. I think we need to work on more than just the "eco-hipsters"

I was at an event with someone who was dreaming of some big gas guzzling type of car she wanted to buy next and I managed to turn the conversation around to how cool Hybrids are. "So and so got one and just loves hers, etc."

I don't think it would have occurred to that Saab driver that people would find it to be MORE cool to have a hybrid than to be the first one out of the intersection when the light turns green.

And for some of these people - they live for that sort of thing. Esp. the people with the money to spend.

[Dogmudgeon]

17. South Park and "Smug"

Re: Parker and Stone cracking wise about "smug".

It's one of those ironic hipster jokes, right?

Wasn't that the episode with the pot and the kettle doing hip-hop?

--p!
"Strickly 4 my Samovarz."