dogtag

Well, on a board like this, car performance is a key issue.
This car has performance of a different kind, however.....

I bought Wifey a new Toyota Hybrid last week and we've been driving the heck out of it.
We've made some short trips and have run a couple of tanks of gas through it.
It even does 100 mph if you push it.
It has room for five people and get's to sixty in about nine point five seconds with two passengers.
Pretty slow but not too bad.
The transmission is pretty weird. No shifting points at all. Just smooth acceleration up to whatever speed you want to go..
Our last tankful was 11.1 gallons and we were able to drive 684 miles before fillup.
Drove from Seattle to Spokane and back to Seattle and then to our place on the coast on one fill up.

I'm even looking at getting a second one next year for me.

I was really worried about the batteries but the darn things have an eight year warrenty.
I'll also be looking for short comings......style is one of them but the thing is pretty well made.
Very Very quiet operation....

Dogtag

rotwiler

iTrader: (1)

My wife test drove one when she was looking at a economy car and it rode pretty nice. Was kinda wierd you had to push a button to start, then start to move under electric power and the car engine starts and the tiny shifter, like something on a joystick. The display that shows everything on the dash is cool. If the price was a little cheaper she would have bought one, but she ended up getting a Mazda 3.

WAHUSKER

iTrader: (4)

Damn, that's over 61mpg....IMPRESSIVE!!!

Z ANGEL

Wow, I could handle getting that kind of gas mileage!...but I don't know if I could handle the low power

dogtag

Don't get me wrong.....I'm not advocating a trade in for anyone....I'm gonna keep my Vette till I die.
I also want to be buried in my Olds.
Wifey and I have a car for all occasions. This one saves money when she drives into work. You can park it on the street and It looks just like any other rice burner. Nobody would bother it cuz it's kinda homely.

Toyota has a concept car that looks pretty bad....
Four electric motors and a 3.5 L gas that gives a total of 405 hp and a sub
4 second 0 to 60 time.
I want one.

Dogtag

Z ANGEL

How long does it take to recharge the battery? And are there places you can charge up?

GTO_Scott

iTrader: (3)

It's great to have two cars - a high performance car you can drive when you want and a high gas mileage car that gets you from point a to point b.

HitmanLSX

It charges itself as you drive. and when braking it recharges as well using the heat from the brakes. It's called regenative braking. when using the gas motor it charges the battery. No plugs required I'd love to get one for a daily.

Z ANGEL

Thanks Josh, I didn't realize they recharge themselves...that's really cool...

So driving one of those, even though you pay a lot, you are making up for it in the high gas prices.. If I had the money I would get one for a commuter for sure...

dogtag

Well, as others have said, it charges itself as you drive.
All of the power consumption is under computer control.
It's looking at any number of variables and the computer asigns the most efficent way to apply power.
I have a little screen that shows consumption and it shows power coming from the battery or the engine or both or it shows the electric engine driving the wheels or sometimes the electric engine or both through a planetary drive or sometimes the power is just routed to the batteries from either the engine or coasting downhill which turns the electric motor into a generator.
It's pretty confusing but the computer may make two dozen adjustments a minute depending on the load, battery state power demand, etc....

All in all, the darn thing has given us a worst of 51mpg and a best of 62 mpg.
Some guys are experimenting with a methode of driving called "pulse and surge" which increases the efficency dramaticly.
Some are getting 75 to 80 miles to the gallon by playing around with their driving habbits.

I don't worry about it. I just get in the thing and go and let the computer figure it out.

I'm pretty impressed with this car as a daily driver and I don't have to give up my hot rods.

Dogtag

My1st Truck

iTrader: (8)

There are more important things in life than gas mileage...However the wife has a TDI Jetta, which gets about 40 mpg.

Z ANGEL

You can say that because you have money and don't commute 60+ miles per day...

I would be in line to buy one if I had the money right now..

slowpokez28

I drive just a silly 15 miles a day...I get pissy when i have to fill up 1 1/2 times a week
I get 16 on highway in durango 10 in town
camaro gets 23 highway about 6 in town it don't like low speeds.and i want more mods i'm so silly

cruisinxx7

dogtag: What year is your Prius? I remember hearing that it only managed 45 mpg when it first came out. I read the 2003's and newer are supposed to have this new "Synergy Drive" or something; maybe it betters the mileage.

My family's thinking of getting one, so I want to make a recommendation, and the Prius seems to be far more efficient than the Civic Hybrids. They'd already have one if not for the price..

Racehead

Yeah, but we're not talking about sex right now

dogtag

Well, to answer the milage question, If you drive over 65 the mileage will be lower. When I drove on a recent trip, I got 51 mpg overall.
When Wifey drove, she got 62.
I'm alot more agressive when I drive. That's just the way it is.
I would say driving conditions along with your style of driving willl dictate what you get.

Those that drive 15 miles to work shouldn't bother.

Wifey puts on 24K per year as she has a long commute.

24K divided by 17 mpg (what she got with her former car) is 1411 gallons and at 3.00 a gallon, thats 4,233.00 a year for fuel.

With the new car lets say 24K divided by 51 which is the worst milage I've gotten is 470 gallons per year times 3.00 per gallon is 1,410.00 a year for fuel and a difference of 2,823.00 a year.

Over the 5 years you're paying for the car, let's say you save 14,115 bucks.
The base price of the car is 21,000 bucks.

Let's say the cost of the car over five years ends up to be 35,000 including finance charges and interest.
That means the car really only cost you 20,885.

Then figure driving the car another five years after you've paid it off and the total cost of the car ends up at just over 6000 bucks.
(that's assuming the cost of gas won't go over 3.00 a gallon over the next
10 years.....LOL)

Couple that with the tax credit the gubment is giving for driving a Hybrid and the time you save being allowed to drive in the HOV with one person in some states, there is quite a savings to be had.

With the warrenty they have you also won't be spending very much on maintenance so the cost of operation should be pretty low.

Like I said, this car isn't for everyone. Many are so well off that saving this kind of money is really not much of an issue.
Don't by the car......

Dogtag

My1st Truck

iTrader: (8)

Your right I commute 70 miles each way (140 miles a day) from Bremerton to south hill (puyallup) I get about 27 mpg in the LS1 on the highway. Gas is hurting me, but like I said, there are more important things in this world than gas mileage...

Plus ask Ellis who has all the money, he knows it ain't me...

howierd42

My commute is about 8 miles each way but it is all stop and go EVERY SINGLE BLOCK. That makes me think it is worth the purchase. I have very seriously thought about buying one as a daily and putting the T/A on blocks until the summer.

Hmmm, maybe I could trade in a brand new 2005 Acura TL for one.