Doing things 'weird' usually makes them cheaper and less crowded/faster as well- as a result of less demand.

As somewhat of an old timer (turning 43), I remember the techie population seemed to overlap a lot with the car enthusiast population a long time ago. Nearly everyone at my first job (small startup) was a car nerd. A lot of engineering and tech goes into cars after all.

Somewhere along the way a lot of techies became very anti-car.

There are plenty of other things to tinker with.

Having driven a lot in my youth, it's just not something I enjoy regardless. I'd rather spend the time and resources on other things. Even taking a longer bike ride to the store is preferred because it's exercise, almost everyone on the trail nods or waves back, and I know my choice is better for everyone in the community.

At a certain level of utility/space, cars just stop being that fun. Well, until you get to the vans, those are fun in their own weird way.

There are some fun weird vans. I've always loved the Toyota HiAce, Mitsubishi Delica, and other strange Japanese minvans with weird features like built in karaoke machines, beverage coolers, tiny diesel engines, and real truck 4x4 systems. Also love the old VW vanagons.

They used to run (tongue in cheek) ads for the Boxster with the slogan "The more kids you have, the more practical it becomes" and that it fits "Two child seats. Up front." There's some truth to that- if you have a large family you will likely have multiple cars, it can still make sense for one of them to just take two people for 1 on 1 activities.

When I was in Ireland for work, I saw that a huge fraction of the farmers use MKIV TDIs for their farm work vehicles- they're all over the place pulling huge trailers full of livestock and hay, and still using half the fuel of most cars that are unloaded.

Overall the Boxster is a surprisingly practical car- it was very cheap (cheaper than an old Prius of the same age) but now appreciating in value with age, can use a 3+ carpool lane with 2 people, is tiny so easy to park anywhere, and it is actually very reliable and low maintenance.

I assure you there is no bait- it’s an example of things that would make an everyday chore fun to me, and needs no justification. I would suggest you do what would make it fun to you.

So I'd rather get the prius-like ergonomics and comfort.

I use Linux, EMacs with vim keybindings and a dark color palette. Coding this way makes me feel good, I like the aesthetics. If they tried to force me to use Windows, and an IDE with a light color palette, I’d seriously consider quitting. It’s totally irrational, but it is what it is :D

Of course cars suck in cities, but they are great in rural areas.

Or, you could reengineer your too-short life so you waste less time driving.

It’s fine if you like driving and want to have a nice car - connoisseurs abound in all fields. But for 99% of people it’s not an issue worth optimizing for.

Bold claim. Sitting in traffic in manual or auto ICE is a nightmare compared to a Tesla.

That is, a series hybrid, like a diesel locomotive?

The range extender basically gives you protection from range anxiety, but isn't used at all in normal use of the vehicle. On the i3, it only starts the engine when the battery is nearly empty, but some people do software mods to be able to use the vehicle as a true series hybrid, and run the engine continuously for doing long distance freeway driving without stopping to charge.

And grants you maintenance anxiety.

Where I live charging infrastructure is good enough that a 300-400km range EV is completely sufficient. Range extenders is a niche solution.

I do agree about the Prius, though. It feels like driving a dishwasher.

For me, the hybrid is fun to drive. I've never experienced any unresponsive inputs or lack of feedback in performance. The fun comes in at trying to keep the gas engine off as much as possible -- without going becoming a hypermiler and irritating other drivers -- both in city and long distance driving.

I regularly drive both a 2011 Prius and a 2023 BMW X1 “mild hybrid”, I’ve also test driven an iX1 electric and X3 “real” hybrid recently (all practical family cars).

In order of increasing accelerator-input-to-actually-moving (at low speed) delay:

iX1 electric (best) Prius X3 hybrid X1 mild hybrid (worst, dangerously bad)

That is to say, every time I get into the 14 year old Prius I think “wow this is nippy” after having driven the 2 year old X1, which we’ve nicknamed “the lag wagon”.

Toyota really nailed the driving ergonomics of the gen2 Prius, given the constraints. Yes, it’s a slow to accelerate at high speeds, but it’s still really nice drive around town.