17th Apr 2006, 14:02

How do you know his tires didn't wear out quickly like he said? Maybe he got a bad set of tires like he obviously got a vehicle that had serious issues. The diesel engines that you are talking about sound intriguing, can you run them on biodiesel?

18th Apr 2006, 11:03

Maybe the reason for purchasing a Toyota Prius isn't just the fantastic (OK, pretty good) gas mileage. The Department of Energy's web site (www.fueleconomy.gov) shows that the 2005 Prius has a fuel rating between 32MPG and 61MPG as reported by 88 actual users with an average of 47.5MPG. This certainly puts the Prius in the same range as the smaller gas only vehicles that cost somewhat less than the Prius.

Where the Prius stands out is that it's a very low polluter. This might be one of the things that appeals to the Prius owner. However, since the Prius runs exclusively off gasoline, it's still a consumer of petroleum products, but at least it's more efficient; the engine stops instead of idling and only starts when needed. The electric portion helps the Prius re-claim some of the energy wasted in braking, coasting and very slow moving traffic (and some cruising too). But in the end, all the energy used by the Prius comes from gasoline. I guess that's what makes the hybrid such a novelty. It's not the answer to all our energy woes, but it's a step in the right direction.

18th Apr 2006, 14:32

Thank you to the above poster regarding why people buy Priuses.

It continues to boggle my mind why people are soooo anti-hybrid when they offer a world of advantages over any car/SUV available in America as far as environmental impact.

They pollute less, get great gas mileage, are big inside, but small outside, and endless other features.

If you're cross shopping Corollas, Neons/Calibers, Scions or whatever with a Prius you are not a Prius customer. Period. There is simply no economic argument to be made. You buy it because you actually care about things like clean air, stopping terrorism, and the rest.

But, then again, I don't see all you anti-hybrid people ragging on SUVs and asking why people are wasting MORE gas, MORE lives (they are horribly unsafe), and so on versus regular cars.

20th Apr 2006, 17:56

So what you are claiming is that if you drive a Cobalt, Corolla, Neon or a Scion, as opposed to a Toyota Prius, you don't care about clean air, reducing terrorism and "the rest"??? That seems like awfully faulty logic to me, the point we have been trying to make is that you can buy an economy car for thousands less, no complicated parts that will be thousands of dollars to replace and hard to recycle. And whether you accept it or continually deny it, they DO get mileage close enough to not justify the difference in price. How SUVs got into this, I don't know, but I will address it. I think some SUV's are less efficient then smaller cars, but regardless of that fact, it is NOBODY'S place to tell someone whether or not they can have one, in America you have rights, unlike places where the governments seem to think it is their place to heavily tax people for buying a car the government deems "inefficient". I hope the push to start running SUV's off Ethanol continues to move forward, along with more hybrid SUV's.

22nd Apr 2006, 22:37

Diesels will unfortunately always smell like diesel, even without the sulfur and there will be no emulation of gasoline exhaust "aroma". But with a particle filter, they are nearly as clean as the Prius and certainly cleaner than most gas vehicles, due to the lower consumption. So there is a step in the right direction at least (unfortunately the nozzle at the pump will still be smelly and spilled full with diesel, making your hands smell lovely).

While the emissions are sure an incentive to buy a Prius, as correctly stated, the entire energy that the Prius uses is made from gasoline and as stated in another comment, the price of the car is hardly recoverable unless you are an avid city-driver.

Regarding the SUV's I think the discussion is now going towards a partisan discussion, which does not benefit anyone. Seeing the current gas prices it should be evident, that the time where it didn't matter how much gas you pumped through, are definitely over. While it is everyone's freedom to drive whatever they want I would like to advise the partisans of "freedom to drive what they want" of a few facts:

1) There is a limited amount of oil left and the number of consumers of oil/gas/diesel is rapidly increasing. Therefore gas prices will only go one way and that is up, for all of us.

2) While ethanol is a "green fuel", the soil can only grow a limited amount of raw materials. Growing any plant requires nutrients which are pulled from the soil in the process. As a result soils are depleted. Then comes the choice how to keep supply up. Either pump tons of chemicals in soils, which also first have to be produced or then grow plants for fuel rather than for food.

3) Even though some people still claim that global warming is nothing, but a lie or that it is too expensive to do something about it, it is a fact that the climate is getting warmer. Once it is warm enough, it doesn't matter anymore whether you drive a Prius or SUV.

4) Hurricane season is around the corner. I wonder how many refineries will be destroyed this year, leading of course to a...right, higher gas price.

5) The "Big Three" are all crying that they are losing market shares. Welcome to the mechanisms of the market. If you produce cars that the public does not want, then don't be surprised that you lose customers. Latest example Dodge Caliber: Available in North America with gas engines and for Europe only with a Volkswagen Diesel engine. Furthermore the vehicles churned out here do not reach any acceptable quality standard. I have a 4 year old Oldsmobile with about 50,000 mls and I look to get rid of it asap, before the big bills get worse. So far I was treated to new front suspension bushings, I still would need ball joints, brake rotors, calipers, a warning flasher switch, a way to get the spider webs out of the front lights and I haven't yet looked at the rust at all.

6) Even the US government is taxing SUV's. Not openly, but indirectly, if you compare gas prices around the world you will notice that you pump a lot of money into uncle Sam's pocket with each gallon you pump in your car.