VB's Comparo: Hybrid wars

The first production hybrid in the world is the Toyota Prius, but the Honda Insight came in the US first. And this year the first 'real-car' hybrid the Honda Civic Hybrid. In Japan, Toyota released the Estima Hybrid minivan (believed to be the next minivan in the US and the regular Estima is on sale in Europe named as the Previa); Ford is comming out with the Escape Hybrid and GM with thier pickups next year. So which of these Hybrids has the best overoll score?

None of them! Hybrid cars are a waste of...generally everything (except, of course, gas). The Insight is probably the best due purely to its fuel economy (that's why people by them, right?), but its sheer impractibility and bad looks are a sure sign of poor taste.

As far as the Prius, that doesn't get good enough mileage to qualify it for its admittedly hefty $19,995 base. And, a replacement battery (though the first one is covered by warranty) will cost $9000! Ick.

So, want an alternative? Volkswagen Jetta TDi Wagon. More mileage than a Prius (generally, not when the Prius is driven correctly), better looks, and more room. And, no replacement batteries!

By the way, the Escape and other SUV hybrids don't get much better mileage, and they don't cost much more, either. What I'm really waiting for is the Toyota Estima hybrid van.

Well, out of the list I'd go with the Insight....but Mazda made a Hydrogen Miata...that's what I want...

Found out today that the Chevy Silverado "hybrid," which I believe is due in '04, will get only five percent of its power from electricity! The Prius, which has a gasoline motor of 70 horsepower and an electric motor of 44 horsepower, gets one-third of its power from electricity. How can you consider the Silverado to even be a hybrid vehicle?! If it has 205 horsepower, that means that 10 horsepower would come from electricity. Heh.

CIVIC all the way

The Honda Dualnote. God I'd love to see that produced; it would really get people interested in hybrids!

Yeah, IF its going to be produced.

Crap!

Hybrid aren't the way to go. They need to find some other way to make the enviroment better. Don't mess woth our cars!!! Tell all the factorys to clean up. Cars dont cause all the problems.

The last thing i want is to drive a little underpowered car with bad lighting.

Give me a good old gas hog any day.

No wonder Blazers only talent is to roll over.

As I thought it through more, hydrogen won't work.

Even if you could get it anywhere...

You'd have to live in a place where the temp stays above freezing...since the reaction taking place is something like H2 + 02, you get H20, water. So you're driving down the road in your 1st gen Miata hydrogen, or RX-8 hydrogen, but it's, lets say, 25 degrees F outside. You've got freggin water as exhaust, it's gonna freeze in the exhaust and kill the engine(most likely, flood, hehe). So you buy an exhaust heater, takes care of the problem. But wait, you're putting water on the road, and it's turning to ice. So while you're humming down the road, people driving behind you are hitting patches of ice. Doh!
Forgetting the fact that hydrogen is the most active element known to man, lets say you're filling the tank at your local Amoco(Sorry, BP), and you accidently pull the nozzle out before you stop fueling. You're toasted.

There was this electric car on TV a while back, it made its power by replicating the sunlight in these 3 things in the trunk of the car. It looked like a Delorian, but it wasn't. Anyhoo, it did 0-60 in like 6 secs, and had a top speed of around 160. Pretty neat, but it wasn't for sale(I don't think), and it would cost a fortune.

Quote:

Originally posted by BlazinXtreme
The last thing i want is to drive a little underpowered car with bad lighting.

Bad lighting? What's that supposed to mean? The HIDs on my Prius seem pretty damn good to me.

And the car isn't at all underpowered. While the stats arent impressive on paper, the electric motor allows great torque at any RPM. The accelleration feels as good as that on my E36 328i, especially off the line, and it handles very well, too, again, comparable, maybe even better, than the 328i.

Well I've seen a lot of eletric cars have bad lighting. And a Blazers talent isn't to roll over. I'd say the Xtreme has one of the lower SUV roll over rates. Hell my moms PT Crusier sits about as high as my truck.

cuz you tweaked the ride height, but when it is stock, a little roll will be crap.

I haven't even messed with the suspension. It's still stock the way I bought it, but a Xtreme is 2 inchs lower then a stock Blazer I believe.

yeah ur right, but a SUV is a SUV. u kno? hate to say this but i think that the extreme blazer wont tip over like X5 or the fx35 or 45. but i dono bout the blazer... u tink it can flip over easier blaza?

I know my truck won't tip over to easy, believe me I;ve take turns rated 25 at 45. The truck didn't even roll much. A normal Blazer might roll easier since it sits higher. But I'm not a expert in the roll feild.

If I like the SUVs I'll get the the new Lexus RX330 Hybrid which is coming next summer.

Well I was reading Truckin today and I stubled upon the Gm hybrid S-10. That thing is kinda cool, spanked a Camaro. The wheel hub electric motors are nifty. So I guess if I had to go hybrid I'd pop for a electric s-dime.

But the S-10 is not going to be around for long thou.

2005 model year is it, unless they think they should keep it around again. 03 was supposed to be the last. But the same tech. that they used could be carried over to another model...Colorado perhaps?