437: SUV

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SUV

Title text: Electric skateboards, by cost, get the equivalent of about 300 miles per gallon. Lithium batteries just need to get cheaper.

Explanation

This is another comic in the My Hobby series. Here, Randall describes a "hobby" of confusing self-righteous hybrid car drivers by creating situational irony. There are many anecdotal instances of drivers of "green" vehicles both criticizing owners of less fuel-efficient vehicles (such as SUVs) and for taunting them about how much more they are paying for fuel. Randall is reversing this by taunting/criticizing the owner of a Prius hybrid vehicle as though their roles were reversed. The owner of the hybrid car is irritated and does not understand what is being said.

Alternatively, in the second sentence, Randall could be talking about the fact that the other person has a hybrid vehicle instead of a full electric vehicle, although Randall's SUV wouldn't be any better in that case. Another possibility is that "go green" refers to using public transportation or walking (or biking, skateboarding, and so on) in which case there is an argument to be made that the Cueball with the SUV might be better due to taking mass transit more. Or, as the title text alludes to, electric skateboards.

The title text, rather than being a joke or additional punchline, seems to be a serious opinion about how much more efficient electric vehicles are compared to gas-powered vehicles; they would be a far superior form of transportation if only they weren't so expensive. But an electric skateboard can only move a fraction of mass comparing to an SUV.

Transcript

My Hobby:

Renting an SUV and confusing the hell out of hybrid owners

[A Prius Driver is pumping gas into his car at a gas station. The prices can be seen in the background, and read:]

$4.08

M: $4.38

P: $4.51

D: $4.85

[Cueball drives up alongside in an SUV and leans out the window.]

Cueball: Check out those prices! Your Prius ain't looking so smart now, huh?

Prius Driver: It's ... wait, what?

Cueball: Maybe you'll go green next time, asshole!

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Discussion

Im not sure this strip even needs an explanation Spongebog (talk) 21:46, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Hey what's M, P and D stand for? 108.162.250.187 17:43, 1 July 2015 (UTC)

God question. The first price without a letter should be petrol/gasoline. M should be Methanol fuel used in some racing cars. P could be Propane. D must be Diesel fuel which is more expensive than petrol.--Dgbrt (talk) 20:24, 1 July 2015 (UTC)

M and P mean 89 and 91 or 92 octane. Officially, each chain has their own brand names for each grade, but they all settled on M names (Medium, Midrange, etc.) pretty quickly, and P names (Premium, Pro-Tech, etc.) beat out H names (Hi-Test) by the early 90s. So, now they can all advertise their prices with signs with M and P.

The D is always for diesel (and in America, there's only one kind of diesel at non-truck pumps instead of the two found in some parts of the world).

By the way, mid-range gas is almost entirely a scam. It sort of made sense in the 70s, when cars that needed more than 88 octane were allowed to use leader gas for a few years after cars using 87 octane. But once that exception expired, its only purpose has been idiots who think "my $50000 BMW can't possibly use the same gas as my crappy old VW, so I'd better spend a bit more". 162.158.255.69 04:34, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

Actually, higher octane gasses are less susceptible to knocking. I have an older 2004 Subaru Baja manual, and 89 octane gas actually helps the car make more efficient starts. Knocking isn't good for the engine, and it occurrs more at 87. 173.245.54.24

P is probably Premium gasoline. 141.101.98.164 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Not sure about the last bit regarding SUV and skateboard carrying capacity. That would be like saying a scooter or bicycle is a poor choice because they can't carry mattresses. I believe the point of an electric skateboard is to transport the person, not cargo. You could feasibly rent a truck for cargo. flewk (talk) 17:43, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

$4 gas... that's strangely nostalgic seeing that... Not that I'd want it back, of course!--108.162.237.243 15:19, 16 August 2016 (UTC)