The Prius is taking over Country Day. Thirteen high-school families and one teacher are now zipping around in these hybrid cars, commuting to school from as far as Davis or as close as around the corner on Latham Drive.

Why so many Priuses?

“I think that there are a lot of liberal, green, Democratic people at Country Day,” Pam Pier, mother of sophomore Aisha, said.

Self-proclaimed “screamin’ liberals,” the Piers bought their Prius a year ago, when Aisha started commuting from Acampo, 37 miles away. Tired of filling up their 16-gallon tank three times a week with premium gas—the only fuel that her five-speed manual transmission 2000 Volkswagen Passat would take—Pam Pier got rid of the Passat and bought a Prius.

“We chose the Prius because it has the best gas mileage for the price. We could have gotten something cheaper and gas efficient like the Honda Civic, but that was too small,” she said.

(In reality this is not the case. The only dimension where the Prius is larger than the Civic is height; it’s 13 inches taller.)

Though they live a mere stone’s throw away and walk to school, the Shaw-Connellys have also purchased a Prius.

“I am horrified at the lack of concern and unawareness for climate change,” Jeanie Shaw, mother of junior Keele Shaw-Connelly, said. “Each day, Sacramentans drive a combined mileage of 21 trips to the moon.”

The Shaw-Connellys have changed their lives to lower their carbon emissions. They deliberately chose a house close to where Keele went to school to lessen their commute and then got rid of their Toyota Camry for the Prius.

“As soon as we can afford another car, we will buy another Prius,” Shaw said.

Shaw, like Pier, is liberal. “I am incredibly concerned about global climate change. Driving the Prius is our family’s effort to lower our carbon emissions.”

Before deciding to buy a Prius, Shaw explored converting an old Mercedes Benz to biodiesel, but the ease of buying a Prius versus converting a car to biodiesel won her over, she said.

Art teacher Patricia Kelly and her husband bought their Prius for the high-tech aspect. Kelly, also a liberal, said the Prius is the first new vehicle she has ever bought.

“Both my husband and I like new technology, and we wanted to take a leap in that direction,” she said. “I like exploring new possibilities. It’s like going to space for the first time. I am one of those people who is willing to try something new.”

To prove this, Kelly pointed out that she purchased her Prius in 2001, “when the car was very very new. Whenever we saw someone else with a Prius, we would wave and flash the peace sign.”

Kelly noted that another incentive is that she gets to drive in the HOV [high occupancy vehicle] lane on the highway. However, because of the Prius’s small size, Kelly dislikes switching lanes all the way to the left in commuter traffic.

Unlike Shaw, Kelly does not think that she will buy another Prius.

“We have a couple of other cars and we are thinking of replacing them with hybrid vehicles, but we won’t necessarily replace them with a Prius. We want something with four-wheel drive,” she said.

Kelly frequently travels to the mountains and often needs four-wheel drive because of the rugged terrain and the variable conditions.

The Tung family bought their Prius for a reason that none of the other families even mentioned: to save time.

“I used to have to go to the gas station every three days. Now I only have to go once a week, and I only have to fill up eight gallons or so,” said Judy Chang-Tung, mother of sophomore Alecia Tung.

Tung described herself as neither liberal nor conservative.

“I am very conservative about some things, but in general I am for what is good for the overall,” she said.

Tung bought her Prius in 2005 after seeing another Country Day family with one. She travels 80-100 miles a day and gets 49 miles to the gallon, a significant change from her Toyota Sienna, which she still owns but doesn’t drive as much anymore.

“I would buy [the Prius] again,” Tung said. “I am thinking that Alecia’s first car might be a Prius.”

Car aficionado Daniel Neukom, history teacher, thinks that the new Prius craze is “great” but said he wouldn’t buy one.

“It’s an involving car because of its small carbon footprint; however, it’s not a particularly fun car to drive,” he said.

The reason why Neukom said he wouldn’t purchase a Prius is because it doesn’t handle as well as he would like. “It’s got skinny tires and soft suspension. It’s a cruiser,” he said.

“PZEVs [partial zero-emissions vehicles] are as clean as a Prius in terms of smog, but don’t have quite the same fuel economy,” he said.

Neukom owns a Honda Accord and a BMW 325i.

What kind of fuel-efficient car would he buy?

“I don’t really know,” he said. “If I were to buy a fuel-efficient car, it would have to run on regular gas, have a manual transmission and have good performance.”

Clearly stumped, he said, “You’ve got me wondering now,” and walked off, possibly to do a little research of his own.