... Recently, a fan (yes, we're starting to have some of those too) reported us a somewhat hilarious situation. Because of the impending global warming, the guy thought about lending a helping hand in saving the planet. What else can a normal person do than to buy himself a Prius?
I'll just refuse to think about the tonnes of rare metals the Prius contains and the fact that its batteries are polluting the planet more than five "normal" sports cars do, so I'll try to understand him.
The truth is that you get a low fuel consumption, a cool-looking car and some pretty good features, a near-silent engine taken from a lawnmower and an electric one taken from a vacuum cleaner, plus some battery packs (yes, you can use them to recharge your iPod... if you hate it that much). So, why not? It seems to be quite a funny and exciting vehicle.
The Prius' price give start to a lunatic journey though. If you're buying it from the United States, the most expensive Prius will set you back about USD 32,000, which is approximately 22,000 euros on the old continent.
You see, 22 thousand euros would be a fair price for a Prius, or saving the planet and the last three pink whales in the Antarctic Ocean. Except those 22,000 euros are magically transforming in no less than 30,000 when you're asking a quote from an European Toyota dealer. That's almost USD 44,000 for the best-equipped Prius!
So, from 32,000 to 44,000 US dollars! Just by crossing a continent!
Where is this gigantic difference coming from? What for? Taxes? What taxes? Transport? Let's get real, this is the twenty first century... galleons have long been abandoned and transporting a car over the ocean can't possibly cost 10,000 euros. It's not like they're parachuting it from a spaceship. If this isn't enough, if you order it today your beloved Prius will arrive in three or four months. Yes, months!
But it's OK. Our fan still wants to go for it and, after reading everything about the Prius on the toyota.com website (What European has ever typed toyota-europe.com from memory? Who gives a rat's a** on website names that include a minus in their name, for that matter?), he counts to ten to catch his breath and starts swearing about the crappy life he has to endure as a member of the EU, then he verbally molests the system, the politicians, the people who voted for the EU adhesion while drunk, etcetera, etcetera. Then he goes to the Toyota dealer firmly convinced by the latest documentary about our dying planet.
There, he stupidly makes an impertinent request of the car's full list of features, albeit he already had everything memorized from toyota.com. Surprise! The EU list of features isn't the same as the one for the US. Among a bunch of stuff missing from the European Prius there is also a feature which is very much appreciated by our fan. No, it's not the ashtray, nor the steering wheel. It's the heated seats option. Yes. Although it's probably hard to believe, if you're an European customer in the search for a Prius, there's a pretty good chance you won't find heated seats on the options list, depending on the country you live in.
What on Earth did Toyota think when making this European "upgrade"? Thing is, our fan then began to notice more than "a few things" missing. Can we have a "no" for 17-inch wheels if you dare to equip your Prius with a sunroof that includes photovoltaic cells for charging the air conditioning system? Apparently some European countries have too many bad roads, which might make the aforementioned feature, which is mainly made from glass, to fall off. So 15-inch wheels have higher tire side-walls, meaning more comfort so that the photovoltaic thingamajig won't disintegrate at the first speed bump.
How about a "no" for Dynamic Radar Cruise Control? Or the highly-touted Pre-Collision System (PCS)? Or the Automatic/emergency Locking Retractor (ALR/ELR) for the seat-belts? In some European countries the best-equipped Prius doesn't even have a tire-pressure monitoring system or a leather-trimmed interior. Do you want the Lane Change Assist system? Forget it.
Our guy curses the government again, the EU, the politicians and a few relatives for "beeping" him when roaming costs as much as surgery. Then he quietly sits down on the curb. Yes, it was a quality curb, 150 millimeters (5.9 inches) high, which allows you to often change the whole front nose of your 90-100 millimeters (3.5-3.9 inches) high German car every time you park over it. But let's get back to topic.
Then he thinks about the car manufacturers who get free money to keep themselves out of bankruptcy, about the damn economy crisis which has brought nothing but trouble to him while the aforementioned companies got nonreturnable loans from the generous governments. While carefully cleaning his nose he remembered that the planet is suffocating, the pink whales are going to kick the bucket, the Chinese will make less money from selling rare metals and this might even contribute to a new major market downfall. All these dooming news just because he doesn't want to buy a Prius anymore. Plus, he's also getting tired of his own planet corner. Dying or not.
Now, what should I tell him? What could I possibly say? How to get him out of his depressive state? What is the reason for Toyota taking some European countries as stupid? Why is our fan living in the European Union instead of the United States? Why is Toyota discriminating certain UE citizens but fails to go through the same ordeal as Microsoft, with their tonnes of lawsuits with the famous EU commissions?
Do you guys have a message for him? Please help him get out of this situation, he promised he'll read all of your comments. At the moment, he's thinking that if he can live without all those "luxury" amenities for much more money than he would in the US, he could also live without a damn Prius. Is he right or not?
I'll just refuse to think about the tonnes of rare metals the Prius contains and the fact that its batteries are polluting the planet more than five "normal" sports cars do, so I'll try to understand him.
The truth is that you get a low fuel consumption, a cool-looking car and some pretty good features, a near-silent engine taken from a lawnmower and an electric one taken from a vacuum cleaner, plus some battery packs (yes, you can use them to recharge your iPod... if you hate it that much). So, why not? It seems to be quite a funny and exciting vehicle.
The Prius' price give start to a lunatic journey though. If you're buying it from the United States, the most expensive Prius will set you back about USD 32,000, which is approximately 22,000 euros on the old continent.
You see, 22 thousand euros would be a fair price for a Prius, or saving the planet and the last three pink whales in the Antarctic Ocean. Except those 22,000 euros are magically transforming in no less than 30,000 when you're asking a quote from an European Toyota dealer. That's almost USD 44,000 for the best-equipped Prius!
So, from 32,000 to 44,000 US dollars! Just by crossing a continent!
Where is this gigantic difference coming from? What for? Taxes? What taxes? Transport? Let's get real, this is the twenty first century... galleons have long been abandoned and transporting a car over the ocean can't possibly cost 10,000 euros. It's not like they're parachuting it from a spaceship. If this isn't enough, if you order it today your beloved Prius will arrive in three or four months. Yes, months!
But it's OK. Our fan still wants to go for it and, after reading everything about the Prius on the toyota.com website (What European has ever typed toyota-europe.com from memory? Who gives a rat's a** on website names that include a minus in their name, for that matter?), he counts to ten to catch his breath and starts swearing about the crappy life he has to endure as a member of the EU, then he verbally molests the system, the politicians, the people who voted for the EU adhesion while drunk, etcetera, etcetera. Then he goes to the Toyota dealer firmly convinced by the latest documentary about our dying planet.
There, he stupidly makes an impertinent request of the car's full list of features, albeit he already had everything memorized from toyota.com. Surprise! The EU list of features isn't the same as the one for the US. Among a bunch of stuff missing from the European Prius there is also a feature which is very much appreciated by our fan. No, it's not the ashtray, nor the steering wheel. It's the heated seats option. Yes. Although it's probably hard to believe, if you're an European customer in the search for a Prius, there's a pretty good chance you won't find heated seats on the options list, depending on the country you live in.
What on Earth did Toyota think when making this European "upgrade"? Thing is, our fan then began to notice more than "a few things" missing. Can we have a "no" for 17-inch wheels if you dare to equip your Prius with a sunroof that includes photovoltaic cells for charging the air conditioning system? Apparently some European countries have too many bad roads, which might make the aforementioned feature, which is mainly made from glass, to fall off. So 15-inch wheels have higher tire side-walls, meaning more comfort so that the photovoltaic thingamajig won't disintegrate at the first speed bump.
How about a "no" for Dynamic Radar Cruise Control? Or the highly-touted Pre-Collision System (PCS)? Or the Automatic/emergency Locking Retractor (ALR/ELR) for the seat-belts? In some European countries the best-equipped Prius doesn't even have a tire-pressure monitoring system or a leather-trimmed interior. Do you want the Lane Change Assist system? Forget it.
Our guy curses the government again, the EU, the politicians and a few relatives for "beeping" him when roaming costs as much as surgery. Then he quietly sits down on the curb. Yes, it was a quality curb, 150 millimeters (5.9 inches) high, which allows you to often change the whole front nose of your 90-100 millimeters (3.5-3.9 inches) high German car every time you park over it. But let's get back to topic.
Then he thinks about the car manufacturers who get free money to keep themselves out of bankruptcy, about the damn economy crisis which has brought nothing but trouble to him while the aforementioned companies got nonreturnable loans from the generous governments. While carefully cleaning his nose he remembered that the planet is suffocating, the pink whales are going to kick the bucket, the Chinese will make less money from selling rare metals and this might even contribute to a new major market downfall. All these dooming news just because he doesn't want to buy a Prius anymore. Plus, he's also getting tired of his own planet corner. Dying or not.
Now, what should I tell him? What could I possibly say? How to get him out of his depressive state? What is the reason for Toyota taking some European countries as stupid? Why is our fan living in the European Union instead of the United States? Why is Toyota discriminating certain UE citizens but fails to go through the same ordeal as Microsoft, with their tonnes of lawsuits with the famous EU commissions?
Do you guys have a message for him? Please help him get out of this situation, he promised he'll read all of your comments. At the moment, he's thinking that if he can live without all those "luxury" amenities for much more money than he would in the US, he could also live without a damn Prius. Is he right or not?
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