Is the Hybrid really the solution?

[Tom keedle]

Originally Posted by Hagen Gary

Clearly you made your mind up before you even did one shred of research. Please explain to me how I'm "stuck" with it for 8 years? Please tell me you don't think you would get a better rate of return on selling an XA after 3 years vs a Prius. I don't have to go 100,000 miles to make my money back.

can you read!?!?
i don't NEED to do any more "research", i actually work on them.

don't care for the way they drive,or for some of the B.S. issues they have, or the fact that they have all the styling of a bar of soap.

you like the car?
fine.
i don't have to.

[Ed Fernandez]

Billy Nees for our new leader.He drives a Geo and that thing got 50+ mpg going to Florida a few years ago.grannted it didn't have a CD player and the cheap ($*$%& wouldn't let me put the a/c on but it was a pretty comfortable ride,except for the tire that was going square on us.Viva la Geo.






92 more to go

[Hagen Gary]

Originally Posted by Tom keedle

can you read!?!?
i don't NEED to do any more "research", i actually work on them.

don't care for the way they drive,or for some of the B.S. issues they have, or the fact that they have all the styling of a bar of soap.

you like the car?
fine.
i don't have to.

I didn't say you had to like it. I just think you shouldn't be spreading rumors just to bash it.
How can you work on them and not know how much it cost to change the battery? You must do it alot cuz you also implied that my battery will go out when you said, "when that 7-10K battery takes a hike, you may want to scrap it". You didn't say "if it goes out" , even though less than 1% fail before 180 K. Just how many Prius' have you seen with 180 k on them? Now, if you don't work at a Toyota dealer, I understand why you don't like them. To complicated for your avg mechanic.

[Tom keedle]

Originally Posted by Hagen Gary

I didn't say you had to like it. I just think you shouldn't be spreading rumors just to bash it.
How can you work on them and not know how much it cost to change the battery? You must do it alot cuz you also implied that my battery will go out when you said, "when that 7-10K battery takes a hike, you may want to scrap it". You didn't say "if it goes out" , even though less than 1% fail before 180 K. Just how many Prius' have you seen with 180 k on them? Now, if you don't work at a Toyota dealer, I understand why you don't like them. To complicated for your avg mechanic.

you're right, i DON'T work for a dealer.
i have to fix the stuff they can't....

btw, i ALSO don't have to make out the bills.

[Eddies66]

I bought my wife a little around town car back in the 80s, the Chevy Sprint. The car got 54 mpg but was dangerous on the open hiway. I would compare it to the Fiat 500 in size and if an 18 wheeler went by you had to hold on.

[chris ok]

In early 08 I had a customer at the Toyota dealer w a hybrid Camry. It had a very smally dash rattle, but I have to tell you it sounds different than any other car. He explains to me the car is the only place he can talk to his fatheras he is legallydeaf over 20 years and has nothad a real conversation till he bought the Camry. He and his dad would drive around or just park so they may talk. I fixed the rattle. Thecar drove so quietit was unnerving to me. NO road noise at all. Best quiet cabin I've ever seen, and for that alone I hope I never need one. The customer was so happy it was fixed. I was happy for him as they had not sploken in so long till this car.
On another note, you disconnect the rear diff on the hybrid highlander and the torque of the front whell drive wil leave posi marks as long as you stand on it. No you can't do it at home, only thru the scan tool.
They are excellent vehicles. along w the rest of the fleet they build. America can learn, Ford did by purchasing rights to hybrid technology 1 from toyodel. Toyota is on like 4th or 5th gen now.
I look forward to Tacomas and full size. But there is a weightpenalty, and I'd still not want to be in a badd accident in one.
Too each his own. I still like standard vehicles and all are so improved in every brand available.
But the hybrids are good for techies. Some get up to 100mpg w double batterys in those ugly priuses. Not my cup of tea, I buy cheap and fix my own to drive cars.

[Michael Beard]

Economics: More electric cars means more demand on electricity, which means higher prices for electricity. More electric cars means less gas used, which means less gas taxes paid. Will the lost revenue be made up in higher taxes on electricity, gasoline, or the implementation of a new tax?

[Tony Curcio]

There is a benefit to having a strong* hybrid, a benefit that Toyota has only just started advertising for the 2012 model year Camry- it's like having a power adder.

My 2008 Camry hybrid has a 120 HP gas engine and an electric motor that adds the equivalent of 60 more HP, for a total of 180 in a 2600 lb car.The 2012 now has a total of 200 hp. The torque is instantaneous when rolling, but the traction control won't allow it to launch hard.

I took it down to the Maxton Mile and entered in the E/Production class. The record was a tad over 125 mph, set by a 1960 Ford Ranchero (a Falcon pick up truck) with a full-race Pinto 2300 cc OHC engine. Headers, ported heads, race cam, no rules that limit compression.

My box-stock Camry was classified by displacement, no penalty for the extra motor. I hit the chip about 200 feet from the line, and coasted through with the engine still shut off, clocked at 118.7+. The chip was set for 120, and it's clear it would have picked up a few more mph with the speedometer recalibrated or taller tires on the drive wheels.

It also ran back to back 15.90's at Cecil County on a sweltering hot July afternoon. The ECM won't let the tires spin, so the 60 foot times were atrocious, and the only way to cut a light is to use a technique Michael Beard once described when he raced his mother's car- which is to put down the visor to block the top bulb, then react to the SECOND yellow.

Not quite the slug I expected when I bought it. I got it when gasoline was over $4.00 at the end of 2007 and early 2008, thinking I'd hate it, but the V-8 pick up truck I was using had cost me $9600 for fuel that year (I drive a lot), so I was gonna suck it up. Instead, it saved almost $400/mo, and I really piss off the Mustang 5.0 drivers on I-95, when I pull away from them in high gear.

BTW- hybrids do not need to be recharged, and Toyota offers an extended warranty that covers the inevitable battery replacement. Mine is at 145,000 miles and in its fifth year.
*none of the domestics are strong hybrids- except the new Ford Focus.

[Harry 6674]

Driving a prius is the closest thing to casteration a man could deal with without feeling the knife. Totally silly. I have to pass two of those POSs every morning climbing the hills on 101. It's fun to spool up the turbo in the big Dodge when I blow by them. Quit embarresing yourself and buy american labels.

[Tom keedle]

about the 5 min mark about covers it














j/k...