The REAL reason people love hybrids
While saving gas and having clean air is great, I think there is something even more human at work which causes hybrid addiction. After owning two hybrids, and wondering why nothing else would satisfy me now, I realized that there is a phenomenon at work that I've never seen discussed...
I believe people get hooked on hybrids for the same reason they go to Las Vegas to gamble... there is the opportunity to WIN or LOSE. In a hybrid, you're playing a mileage game, and it's primarily about winning and losing that causes us to crave these machines.
The INSTANTANEOUS MILEAGE GAUGE is like a slot machine. Some days you get lousy mileage due to headwinds, winter weather, a hill, traffic, etc. Your job is... to beat the odds. And it's the instantaneous mileage gauge that turns your hybrid into a rolling arcade game.
If my 300-hp gas-loving Lexus had an instantaneous mileage gauge, I would find new reasons to drive it. It's not enough that it goes fast... that's a thrill that comes and goes quickly. However, if all NON-hybrid cars had an instantaneous mileage gauge... BING... every car would be as fun to drive as a hybrid. Knowing when you're WINNING and LOSING is the source of ongoing fun.
Try and take your mind OFF the instantaneous mileage gauge in your hybrid, and you'll find that it can't be done for very long. That demon gauge is the pleasure zone... it's where we hybrid drivers get our "fix."
Too bad every car manufactured doesn't have a built-in game screen to tell drivers of ALL types of cars and trucks whether they're winning or losing the mileage game, moment-by-moment. The great by-product would be gas savings for everyone, not just for hybrid owners, and something else entertaining to do in the car OTHER THAN talking on the mobile phone.
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