I love it when folks can laugh at themselves… apparently, this is a bit of a meme with Prii drivers*.
Reminded me a little of the window decal I had in my old ’69 F-100. So what’s the best self-deprecating message you’ve seen on a vehicle lately?
*Gentle reminder: “Every car has a story,” and that includes the Prius. They’re not my cup of tea, but they do have a use case, like pretty much every car out there. Save the Prius Invective for another forum, please!
My nephew had a big old dirty Ford F-250 diesel pickup that belched smoke. He got ahold of some Prius hybrid signs and mounted then under the Ford badges. When people complained about his truck he told them it was a hybrid.
Heh, I just posted a Prius pic to the Cohort. https://www.flickr.com/photos/chriscieslak/33116417760/in/pool-1648121@N23/
This one is one of the best.
If taxis use them and keep buying them, then they must be good. The Toyota Prius is on the top of my list of realistic future car purchases. I would absolutely say “Nice Prius!” .. I’m not out to impress people I don’t know with money I would more likely have driving the Prius. And and, just as they say in self-conscious rehabilitation school: no one really cares about you anyway… Soo….. Prius makes a sound choice to me and the public can be damned with my car choice and preference!
What about Prius power? Being a passenger of a Prius as well as renting one through ZipCar, myself, I can attest that they do have some pep. I remember the taxi driver doing 90 km/h from rest, up a hill, in a diamond lane quite rapidly on Burrard St. in Vancouver a few years back and I was impressed by that performance (not so much the wanton recklessness during rush hour traffic mind you, however he did cheapen my fare — so thank you taxi man). Also, the car is pleasant to drive. I did find the rectangular steering wheel a little odd however. I hope they fixed that design for the newer models I haven’t driven yet.
That’s it for that. As for the pickup truck. Well, the faster we burn the fuel, the faster we’re forced to go hybrid, hydrogen, electric, or alternative. So keep driving the Hummers, people!
As for the self deprecating meme. Umm, Ford Fusion badge on my Mazda 626?
I have no interest in them, but have no doubt they make economic sense in some situations. They used to be a fashion accessory for some persons of a particular political leaning but at this point the Prius is just another mainstream vehicle really. I would not buy one but I would not buy a Corolla either, it has nothing to do with the type of drivetrain.
Fortunately we won’t be running out of fossil fuels any time soon regardless of how many Hummers and Escalades people keep driving. Drive what you like.
I do have a “Hydrocarbon Powered Eco-Vehicle” sticker on one of my hungrier vehicles. 🙂
Found an image of it. 🙂
That’s pretty good…though when I looked it up I found out it was popularized by Glenn Beck.
I agree Priuses have their uses. Just don’t put a Prius taxi on the airport run – there wasn’t enough space for the two of us and our luggage, so we had to carry some on our laps. Should be great as a round-town taxi though.
Funny thing is around here the airport run was the first place they put the Prius while in downtown they kept running the Crown Vics.
ALL regular sedan cabs at LAX are of the Prius variety. You can request a mini van if you need more space. I think the Crown Vic was outlawed as a taxi in Los Angeles several years ago.
Many larger cities have a age limit on taxis the last of the panthers rolled off the line in 2011. Last time I traveled thrrough a major airport was Chicago in 2012 before Uber & Lift really got big. Cabs were a mix of Crown Vic, Minivans and Hybrid Camrys with a few Prii thrown in.
I had a “One less car” sticker on my Minivan for a bit though the target market is Bicyclists.
I also had “This is not an abandoned vehicle” sticker on the hood of my other Minivan since I totalled it, but still had it parked at my living quarters for months with current insurance and registration.
I also had the Not an Abandoned Vehicle sticker on my very beloved 60 Valiant, but it was probably need to prevent vehicle abatement from towing it away (not everyone appreciates a good “patina” on a LSD influence body design!)
Self-conscious about their car when in reality it’s their grammar that’s cringe-worthy.
Thank you! It’s “no one”! I’ll still support the use of “no-one” even though it is non-standard, if only because it prevents people from using “noone,” which is not a word.
Every time I see “noone” written that way my head reads it as “noon”…
Referring to Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone?
I suppose he drives an Olds Silhouette …. on the shade ….
Mrs. Brown, you’ve got a lovely Prius.
Agree, I’m a hyphen man, myself.
Yet you failed to use one. It would be “I’m a hyphen-man”.
🙂
Oh, dash it all!
A couple I remember laughing at circa 1979:
On a beat up Dodge A100: “Don’t laugh, Your sister might be inside.”
On a Chevette: “When I grow up I wanna be a Cadillac.”
My first visit to the US was 1980 at the age of 19.
The colorfull bumper sticker culture was new to me.
I really got a kick out of them.
I know too many of them doesn’t look pretty, but if you are selective
and know how to limit yourself, they can bring a smile to the person
stuck in traffic behind you.
Kind of miss them.
My all time favourite, though, is too political to be posted here.
I have a friend who has a decal in the rear window of his pickup.
“Keep honking, I am reloading”
An Escalade owner with a sense of humor… vanity plate as follows.
FKESUV.
It’s not that I’m old. Your music really does suck.
If you have a Ford Fairmont and people come up to you at the WalMart parking lot and tell you you have a nice car, you might be a redneck.
–Jeff Foxworthy
In the summer of 1964, I was 11 yrs. old, and the US presidential campaign was getting started.
I saw the most innovative bumper sticker that I’d ever seen before …. or in the 50 yrs. since:
“Au H2O”
Wish I could recall the car it was on!
Brilliant!
This would make a great question on Jeopardy.
That’s too clever for the voting public, no wonder he lost in a landslide. 🙂
Ah yes….Goldwater. My father had a few of those “AuH2O for President” buttons.
I come here to praise Prii, not to bury them. I love Prii. I admire the technology involved. I’m not exactly a tree-hugger but I believe in using as few resources as possible – whether it’s CFLs, recycling, reusing, etc. While I love the handling and acceleration nuances of my Saab Aero, the tech geek in me respects the drivetrain nuances in driving a Prius.
The new generation is hideous though….not sure what they were thinking….
…. a retrospective attempt to make people love the first model.
It actually works.
My fave
I just dropped off your mom …….
I know a few people who own Prius vehicles, one does qualify as a “greenie” does drive it to use as little fuel as possible. The other is a now retired electrical engineer who chose it in a large part because of the tech but also because of the great fuel economy in “city” driving, though he also has a V6 Tacoma.
Years ago in California I saw a Bentley T2 with a license plate frame that said “My Other Car is a Rolls-Royce”.
I saw a white Bentley very similar to a car used in an ad campaign with a bumper sticker (rare in itself) stating “of course i have grey poupon”
I saw a 70s full-size station wagon rolling around in the late 90s, with all the patina you would expect. The bumper sticker said “Urban Assualt Vehicle.”
I learned to drive on a first generation Plymouth Voyager, with the four cylinder. The bumper sticker in the window said “0 to 60 in fifteen minutes.” But I wouldn’t say that was self-deprecating. It was just honest.
This isn’t really that self-deprecating. As it turns out I actually LOVE my new Civic.
Even though the Civic’s original intent was to be ‘just a commuter car’.
But my 2007 Mustang now sports this license plate frame (pictured below) until I get the new ‘Maryland Pride’ plates in July to replace these aging ‘BAY’ plates. My “Treasure the Chesapeake” tags are now almost 20 years old, so I almost hate to give them up like our friends in Massachusetts with their infamously loved Green License Plates covered here….
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-boston-brougham-the-green-plate-green-monster/
..which links to here…
http://archive.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/01/23/owners_wont_part_gently_with_vintage_mass_plates/
But I digress as usual… Sorry. Back to the subject at hand.
My not-so-self-deprecating license plate frame: “My Other Car is a HONDA CIVIC”
If I’m not mistaken, those Treasure the Chesapeake plates with the “BAY” registration sequence were sold for a premium, with the extra cost going to a Bay Preservation agency. No wonder you’re hesitant to part with them, the “BAY” sequence is rarely seen these days!
As far as I know, drivers can retain their current plates in Maryland, and can even transfer older plates onto newly-bought cars, unless they’re illegible. Here in Virginia, drivers can renew plates dating back to the 1976 Bicentennial issue, though those are awfully uncommon now.
I like your plate frame — it is self-deprecating in a way. Does your Civic have a Mustang plate frame too?
Yeah, Eric, these were special plates. The way the “Chesapeake Bay Trust” works is this: If you have bay plates, you pay an extra $20 every two years at renewal time that goes right to that organization for bay restoration efforts. It used to be a one time $20 fee to get the plates initially, and then that was it. They changed that a few years ago, and anyone with bay plates could turn them in to avoid the additional fee, but most didn’t, as it is supposed to be going to a good cause.
My plates were originally purchased when I got my ’97 T-Bird, and have since been transferred (yes, that IS how it can be done in Maryland to answer your question) to my ’97 Grand Prix GTP, and then subsequently, the Mustang.
Oh, and that “Special Part”: Instead of the $20 fee to initially get these, the fee was $100 extra going to the Chesapeake Bay Trust to get these “BAY” plates.
As to the License Plate Frame – Generally, I don’t like them as I am a bit of a plate geek, and don’t like to cover a plate up, even partially. So to answer your question, no, I don’t have one on the Civic.
And what I call the “Not-So-Self-Deprecating” part, even though that was the intended fun here, is my Civic turned out to be a WAY cooler car than I thought it was going to be. Mine isn’t a base model though. It’s a nice one with many creature comforts and a surprisingly powerful little engine, a turbocharged 1.5L that is a lot more fun to drive than I thought it was going to be. Oh, and it’s a coupe, not a run of the mill sedan. That helps its cred a bit. ;o)
A picture of the pair together….
Nice Honda!
Black is my favorite color, but red is my second. Actually, a combination of both is what I really like best, as my avatar shows. It looks like you have that combo nailed down in your driveway.
The license plate frame I had on my TDI New Beetle said “My other VW is Air-Cooled.”
(Yes, it was hyphenated)
The old Priuses aren’t that bad, you can have like a 9 foot bed to haul things or sleep (I knew someone who used to haul huge oxygen tanks in his Prius laid down with folded seats, fit great), they aren’t that gutless particularly down low, and while the interiors are cheap sci fi they go for a long time, and they’re quiet and smooth inside. Sure you don’t feel the road in any kind of enjoyable way. Some people get them modded in a very warranty breaking way so they can be used as a massive inverter to power ones entire home, so that’s amazing.
I do admire the technology of the Prius, just not the styling. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, I still see the originals running around — one lives around the corner from me. A high school kid drives it and it’s still in pretty good shape.