Thinking of a Hybrid? Think again!

Maybe some people are willing to pay the extra money to use less fossil fuels.



I can see myself having a Civic hybrid sedan as a DD sometime in the future. I'll have a powerful car for a weekend cruiser.
 
I think folks that buy a hybrid either buy it as a style statement or to truly conserve the environment.
 
Actually, I've seen/read @ $5/gallon range as a break even point. But regardless, I agree with the points made by White95Max and Andriver people are likely to choose to drive a hybrid for reasons other than fuel cost alone.
 
White95Max said:
I can see myself having a Civic hybrid sedan as a DD sometime in the future. I'll have a powerful car for a weekend cruiser.
Click to expand...



If you go for the Accord Hybrid it's actually quicker than the standard Accord.
 
Yeah, you get a fair shake on taxes for buying hybrid. It wouldn't take that long to recoup your dough. One of the TV car shows did that math and it came out to about 90k miles of driving which is a more accurate way of measuring than the cost of a gallon of gas.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
If you go for the Accord Hybrid it's actually quicker than the standard Accord.
Click to expand...



Yeah I forgot about the Accord Hybrid. That's probably what I would get. I'm referring to a time when I have a family, and need a car to haul kids around (no more than two!)
 
Maybe it is slight off topic but.....



Our local paper did an article about a comparison between petrol (gas to North Americans :) ) and diesel Audi A4. The purchase price difference was about $2,500 and they calculated it would take about 140,000 klm (87,500 miles) to recoup your extra purchase costs.



Econoboxes are not for me, thank you very much.
 
andriver said:
I think folks that buy a hybrid either buy it as a style statement or to truly conserve the environment.
Click to expand...



Yeah, conservation of the environment. Right.... If you take into account the pollution generated creating the batteries and their components, and add to that the waste at the end of the car's life, you're not conserving much.



Really, the best thing I can say about buying a hybrid is that it sends a message to the automakers that there is a market for a car that uses less or even no gasoline. And that spending money on R&D to better produce clean, efficient cars that run on a renewable resource is worthwhile.



Then again, if battery and solar power forge on at the rate they're going, we won't need the gasoline component at all soon:



http://www.physorg.com/news4081.html



http://www.hindu.com/seta/2005/02/03/stories/2005020300431600.htm



For now, I think these would find some homes quickly:

http://www.theaircar.com/
 
Yeah, you could build a carb that'd get 30mpg. A 302cu V8 would last a couple minutes, max, running that lean. Lets be honest, we all love to tell conspiracy stories, but don't you think if the technology existed, SOMEONE would sell it? It'd give the company that held/patented it a huge competitive advantage, and no one really cares how much that'd piss off the Saudis.



IMO, hybrids give up too much in the name of mileage. They're light, slow, and overly complex. Give me a pushrod V8 in a 4000lb car, I like to have physics on my side when I eventually get plowed. I do not see myself owning a hybrid car, for a number of reasons. Personally, I love the sound of a big block at idle too much to want one that shuts off at stoplights. Plus, even if I did change my mind, I'd have to debadge it, so my buddies in the Republican party don't disown me :).



P.S. the other reason I hate hybrids is the people that own them, for the most part. If you own one for practical reasons, great. If you own one because you're a tree hugging hippie and you want to rub it in my face, screw you. I don't have a "kick their ***, take their gas" sticker on my car, because I've got enough class not to display my outlook on life via the car I drive. Plus, I don't want the Black Attack getting keyed :).



Also, most of the people that own/suggest buying hybrid cars are complete morons, engineering wise. I've had a number of people tell me that we should require all pickup trucks to get 40 MPG "cause the Insight does". Don't these morons know that horsepower/towing capacity/"truckability" (for lack of a better word) are directly proportional to fuel consumption? Yes, you can build a fairly efficient V8 (or a turbo/SC 6 or 8, in which you keep power on tap but don't run more displacement than you need), but at some point, you've gotta pay to play.



Sorry about the rant, but as a car guy, GRRRR I HATE HIPPIES. Thanks to those little SOB's, we saw the death of the 400+ cube V8 (although its coming back, thank you GM), Meg's #16, decent paintjobs, and all other sort of things. As a chemical engineering major (I almost took up environmental engineering), I fail to see how the VOCs in waxes, paints, etc, make a huge difference, when we burn millions of tons of coal a year. We're putting all this time and money into catalytic converters, waterbased paints, god only knows what, when investing half that into clean coal technology would see a much bigger improvement in air quality, plus cheaper energy for us (we've got 400 years of American coal left). When you get down to it, most of their antics are feel-good BS, rather than being grounded in real science.
 
themightytimmah said:
... we saw the death of ... Meg's #16, decent paintjobs, and all other sort of things. As a chemical engineering major (I almost took up environmental engineering), I fail to see how the VOCs in waxes, paints, etc, make a huge difference, when we burn millions of tons of coal a year.
Click to expand...



You missed the threads some time ago when they dumped #16; I think I said something like "either the EPA has done a really good job cleaning up everything else (so that a few thousand cans of #16 opened up every other weekend for an hour could make a difference) or they have their heads completely up their #!@#$%^'s!".



The major concept in the hybrid is the recovery of braking energy, which is an idea that has been around forever, especially after the '73 oil embargo (flywheels). There's a lot good to be said for saving the 10-20-30% that might come from that, if the systems can be made cheaply/reliably. The other attractive thing about hybrids, which they have over hydrogen/fuel cell/electric, is that they require no new infrastructure to fuel them.



Look at it this way...if I'm shopping for a new air conditioner for my house, if I pick one with a really high SEER, I'm going to save in energy costs. If it's a reasonable payback period, I can afford the higher price, and the unit is just as quiet/small/reliable, what's not to like? If the costs of hybrid vehicles can come down, and the complexity is shown not to affect the reliability, and the performance is equal, what's not to like?
 
Yeah, you're right about the braking. I guess I don't really mind hybrids in general, just the way they're built now. If you could build me a hybrid GTO, with the same or more power, and better fuel economy, I would take it in a heartbeat. I just don't want to be stuffed into a car with a 30,000 dollar pricetag and the performance/size/ interior materials quality (saves weight) of a 10,000 dollar car, you know what I mean.
 
I know what you mean...and I think Honda does too...as mentioned earlier in this thread, the Accord Hybrid actually has more HP than the non-hybrid--makes it pretty win-win if an Accord is your cup of tea and it works as well as the regular.
 
: Maybe they should'nt place air quality improvement as the ultmate goal. How about national security ? Everything takes time to implement. How many of you remember how long it took Detroit to retool for "fuel Efficient " Cars..... I thoroughly enjoyed the the previous posts, however one thing preys on my mind; that is how we are playing into the hands of the very countries that supplied Al Qaida with the MOST Murderous radical Jihadist's imaginable... This is no coincidence ! Lets be not so quick to place labels on forward thinking people who just might be working for th greater good of the country in seeking to lessen the flow of our very finite money into hands that wish us as a nation grievous ill ! If they make an acceptable vehicle, I will drive it..... :2thumbs:
 
If you're trying to save $$$ on fuel buy a diesel VW, TOL golf GLS is only about $20k out the door, I paid $19,300 for mine last year. I average about 43mpg, best of 48.5mpg worse 37.5mpg, 70/30 highway/city. I just got my ecu reprogrammed and should be putting out about 150whp/275wtq, performance and economy.



Yea I know this is an old thread but what the hey!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top