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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
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You could get a job delivering mail on a rural route to make use of the misplaced steering wheel!
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Hmm, why not order one for delivering the mail in England. Then the steering wheel would be on the "proper" side. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Steve
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Yeah Gary, I got your free oil change!!! Our original request was written up including the "then" in force free lifetime oil changes so long as you got theh same shop to do all your recommended services. Now they tell us that the manager who wrote that on our paperwork doesn't work there anymore and they aren't sure what they can do for us now. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]
I get soo irritated dealing with car sales types who are so used to being slime that they think not being extra slimy equates with honesty and integrity. What ever happened to giving your word, making a deal tand then honoring it. You don't supposed the largest car dealership in the state wouild go bankrupt if they didn't rip us off just this once!
Pat
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
I get soo irritated dealing with car sales types who are so used to being slime that they think not being extra slimy equates with honesty and integrity.
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Had a similar thing happen with the propane company this year. In January, they announced new owners. In February they filled everyone's tanks-- for 30 cents a gallon more than the old company had agreed to. No notification, no advanced warning, explaination letters, nothing.
Needless to say, I will be dealing with yet ANOTHER new company next winter.
Steve
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Steve, Note that this is the dealership I chose because they seemed to have more integrity than some others that I walked out on. At this dealership a mid level manager told me he had been there for 14 years and never saw a car sold over sticker price. Two months later this dealership calls me to say they have a Prius with the options I want, AND A LITTLE MORE, and they don't want to start a bdding war but someone else bid thousands over the sticker price. I politely declined to join the feeding frenzy although what I really wanted to do was nuke the guy verbally.
I told the sales manager that called me that I hoped this latest iteration was a bonified offer to sell me a car and not an invitation to an auction. He assured me that it was and then told me they probably wouldn't honor the lifetime oil changes I had been promised since in the interim they had dropped that promotion. Dealing with car sales types is like watching a "Columbo" episode as there is always just one more thing.
Wouldn't you think that since that was writtein in our paper work along with the cash deposit they have been holding for 6 months that they would be bound, for the appearance of fairness, honesty, and integrity, to follow through with a sales inducement that they used to promote the interest in the first place. Can yoiu say bait and switch??? If I wasn't so busy I'd make these guys "a project", lead them right up to the brink then back away then make a bogus ammended offer, keep changing my offer, haggling over the smallest item on and on and see just how long I could tie up the maximum number of those BOZOs before they would decline to sell the car at which point I could tell them what I really think of them.
Reality is that I don't have the time, my wife likes the car, and I will probably just have to "take it" and pretend I like being treated this way.
Except for the "just plain folks" who have jobs at car dealerships I would be happy to see a few F-5 tornados hop on down the interstate and visit most of them.
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Note that this is the dealership I chose because they seemed to have more integrity than some others that I walked out on.
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[img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Yikes!
Steve
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
So a couple weeks ago the Toyota dealership calls to tell us our car is on its way and was due in port soon. The color we wanted with the options we wanted at sticker price with no extras AND NOT SEVERAL THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS EXTRA BECAUSE THEY ARE HARD TO GET. We picked it up today at lunch time.
We like it just fine. The dealer wanted about $500 over Toyota's suggested list price for the extended warranty but I can buy that from another dealer in New England for more than $600 dollars below Toyota's suggested price as listed on the Toyota national web site. Hey $1100 plus is worth the trouble of a phone call to New England. There is a Prius interest web site where some others have already bought the warranty with no problems. It is the same thing, a Toyota sponsored product.
Since we started waiting for a Prius (October 23 we put down a deposit) the dealer dropped the free oil changes for life incentive but it was on our initial paperwork so we still get it. There is also a prepaid maint agreement but I need to find out the cost of the maint to see if it is a good deal. My dealer doesn't sell it but the dealer in New England and many others do. Our dealer will honor it though.
So now we'll see just how the Prius proves out in actual use/ownership.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Hey Pat! Welcome to the club. I know you'll enjoy the vehicle as much as I do mine. Ready for our second oil change already.
I did find a major fault with the drive train earlier today. The Prius is very weakly powered in reverse. I pulled in to my somewhat freshly graveled drive and attempted to back up onto the concrete pad. No go! I found that the front wheels had sunk approx. 3-4 inches into the soft gravel and I didn't have enough power to get out or even spin the wheels. Forward wasn't a problem except that there was nowhere to go. I either had to back up or drive acroos and down a muddy slope. And I didn't want to do that.
Ended up with me pushing on the front and the wife steering and attempting to back up.
So don't drive forward into any location where you may have to back up a slope!
Post a picture of your new Prius.
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Gary, Yeah, over at the Prius forum there has been lots of talk about the reverse in Prii. They don't engage the ICE in reverse so it is electric only backing up. On regular pavement with good traction and a decent state of charge on the BIG battery, they will back up some pretty steep slopes. Unfortunately when yor front wheels sank down in the gravel it probably made a slope for them to climb that was too steep.
I have been "STUCK" in my 4wd dual rear wheel pickup when the wheels sank into mud less than an inch. There was a slight slope and all wheels would slip rather than go up the slope no matter how genty I added power. Of course, downhill was nearer to a pond and deeper mud. I got out and started to pull out the winch cable to attach to a tree to pull me out when I noticed how shallow the tires were in the mud. I got out my shovel and skimmed off the little ridge of mud in front of the tires so I could drive forward without having to try to temporarily go up a steep slope. NO sweat, just light application of throttle and drove right out.
I suggest you could have smoothed the gravel a bit and drove it out unless the gravel was too deep and loose. I add gravel a bit at a time but I have the luxuryof a CUT with a FEL.
We will be off to visit some friends today in the new toy, about 80 miles or so one way. We picked it up with 2 miles on it and now have 60. Today we'll get more. Waiting to see how our fuel bars are calibrated against reality. Also curious to see how close the computer is to reality in fuel consumption estimation.
Where do you stand in the tire pressure debate. Do o run a little extra or factory stock?
Have you installed a rig in yours yet or scoped it out for same? The warnings about RF fields and the smart start/keyless entry sound ominous. One guy reported installing a dual bander 2M and 450 and said the radio hadn't deployed his air bags yet so he was happy!
73, [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
No rig yet. I plan to try my FT-90 plugged into the power port under the dash. Just not done it yet. Where did you see the warning about RF? I don't remember hearing or seeing that one.
Enjoy your trip. Don't get lost! (I know you have the nav. system)
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Gary, We have 202 miles and the average mileage was creeping up on the way home this evening. It is now 45.2 but there were some 5 minute time slices where it registered between 75 and 100. Mostly it hovered around 50. On cruise control on roller coaster roads (up and down undulations not so much side to side) it was very aggressive with the throttle to the ICE. Eventually I'll experiment around and decide who is better in the hills me or the cruise control. I think with luck and with the patience to drive the speed limit it might do over 50 when broken in nicely.
This AM before setting out I programmed in the destination (it has a surprising number of itsy bitsy Oklahoma towns in memory) I let the female voice tell me when to turn etc. the voice even warns you when there is a sharp bend in the highway with no intersection. It says, "right turn in 1/2 mile" or "left turn in 1/2 mile), pretty neat.
This nav system could be addicting on trips. It gave me three optional paths: shortest mileage, shortest estimated time, and an alternate quick route. Interestingly, the shortest miles was supposed to be 2 hrs and the fast route was labeled 2 1/2 hours. It tries to use interstates for some of its choices and in this case that was NOT a good idea. The trip was about 1 1/2 hours at the speed limit. There was fireworks to watch almost the whole way. The rural folk like their 4th of July.
Oh yeah, when I detoured of the route for lunch the voice said, " make a U-turn 1/4 mile ahead" but I didn't so it then picked another legal U-turn location and announced it. It also offered me turns that would route me back to the planned path. Pretty smart.
The RF warning was in the owners manual where it talks about how the smart/keyless system may not functon near strong fields.
Yes!!! we do like this car!!
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
I'll have to take another look at the manual for that warning. I can see where a strong RF field might overload the Smart Entry/Smart Start receiver and desense it. But if I'm already in the car that might not be an issue. If you have the car in Ready mode and leave with the fob in your pocket it beeps a few times, but continues to run OK. So it might not be an issue other thaty perhaps not being able to use the Smart Entry if the transmitter was keydown.
Sounds like quite a smart nav. system. I probobly would have liked having that feature. But didn't want to upgrade from package 7 to 9. If I could have gotten 7 plus the nav. that wpold have been different.
My overall milage runs 46-49. My wife does a little better getting just about 50. She's better looking too!
How about a photo of you and the new Prius?
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Gary, I haven't spent that much time in the manual, just long enough to program the HomeLink and set a destination in the nav system. If you don't find a couple entries related to the potential problem with fields, I think I can find a couple pretty quick and report the page numbers.
Did yo see much change in mileage when averaged over a tank from when the car was new vz broken in for a thousand miles or more? If yes, do you feel confident it was the car breaking in or you learning to drive it economically?
My wife complains that the car is grey not light green pearlescent. It does "change color" in diferent lighting.
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
I've not really seen too much of a change in milage. We picked the car up on a Wednesday and left for Florida on Saturday morning, so we started off driving it hard. As I mentioned, my wife gets slightly better milage, by about 2-3 mpg overall. She's not got a light foot either so I don't know how she does it.
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
OK, Here is the progress. I got over 500 miles on less than 10 gal of gas (52.x MPG) mixed city and highway. I have an air conditioner and roll up windows. I have GPS (voice directions) Automatic routing, points of interest loaded in from places to eat to every Government location of interest, all police stations, fire houses, posts offices and on and on and on. Car has computer enhanced stability, anti lock brakes, several front AND rear air bags. Carries 4 BIG adults in comfort(3 in rear if not tooooo big), has fold down rear seats to accept cargo through lift back, 6 disk CD great sound system and is quiet enough to let me hear it. Has Blue Tooth interface so you can seamlessly integrate cell phone. Miocrophone built into dash and the receive audio cames out the car speakers. Hands off operation with voice controlled dialing etc. Again car is quiet enough to use these features.
This car wil run in excess of 100 MPH with no harm. Plenty of folks cruise them at 85 for great distances. Its lights are probably better than your add-on driving ights if you had any. It polutes a lot less than your car did.
You might not want all (or any) of the advanced features but plenty of folks do. Toyota has added another entire factory to produce these cars and still can't keep up with demand. I am familiar with your MG although I never had that model. I had several Austin Healy Sprites (same car different trim.) Has a '59 MG-A with side curtains and rag top.
I think the Prius would out drag a stock Midget but more importantly it will deliver 4 adults in comfort over greater distances. It is quicker, faster, quieter, safer, and more comfortable while getting better mileage and pluting less.
Now if you want to consider fun/gal figures... the Midget is definitely in the running. By the way My Bug Eyed Sprite could do about 48 MPG at the speed limit in stock configuration... then came headers, cam, carb mods...
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Gary, Here is a picture of the Splash Guards (AKA MudFlaps). I didn't have a yard stick handy so I included one foot for size comparison (13-E)
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Here is one of the two pages of instructions (one for front and one for rear) Made in Canada. A lot to pay for a dollars worth of plastic and a dollars worth of hardware. Were going on Ebay for $70 plus shipping+ handling+ insurance + yada yada yada so I contacted the seller and offered him $50 via pay pall with him covering shipping etc. He's happy, I'm happy. They'll look better than a couple cut out of gallon milk bottles.
PNuclo@aol.com Name is Paul. No reason to think he won't hold up his end.
P.S. The best mileage averaged over a tank of gas was 506 miles on less than 10 gal (52.x MPG) Worst fillup was 48MPG but computer shows wife getting only 43 average on this tank so far (couplel hundred miles) She always gets less mileage than I do but the real culprit is colder weather. I suspect we may dip to about 40MPG in the worst cold weather and short trips. Still, we love the car whether or not gas prices soar. It is a very nice ride.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Hi Guys, a brand new member of the Prius club here.
My wife will be the main driver of this one. Her 50 mile commute into the DC suburbs currently takes her 75 minutes, and as a public schools teacher, she has to arrive at 7:30 AM. Therefore, she hits the first bit of rush hour full bore.
The worst of her commute is on the Dulles Toll Road. There is an HOV lane there which is not nearly as crowded, and they allow specially licensed Clean Fuel vehicles (including hybrids) to qualify. We're hoping this will reduce the commute significantly.
Pat, I am particularly interested in the deal you obtained on the Extended Warranty. They are asking $1295 at our dealer to extend to 100,000 mi, 6 yrs (which will only last us 4 years in daily use).
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
I got my extended warrentee for about $950. They wanted more than $1200 and I told them I could get it for "around $920". We settled on $950.
You'll love the Prius. I've had mine since February and have 25K on it already.
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
You don't have to buy the warranty from the same dealer as the car. You have something like 6 mo to do it but I wouldn't wait that long (and didn't.)
Check on the Priusonline.com site for the contact info of a dealer who sells them over the phone. I can't lay my hands on the info right now. I was very pleased with the conduct and service of the dealer where we phone ordered our warranty. As promised Toyota quickly mailed us our warranty papers and we saved serious cash. OUr dealer said their wholesale cost was more than our retail cost from that guy so they declined to bid.
DONG DONG DONG.... Late breaking news... searched a different way...
Toyota of Greenfield [mailto:info@ToyotaofGreenfield.com]
Guy's name is Troy He wasn't out to just sell us as much as he could. He wanted us to only buy the best fitting package. He advised us to not buy too much time or miles depending on our driving history so we wouldn't have the time expire with lots of unused miles left or vice versa.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Late breaking Prius announcement...
I used to wonder what you would have to do to get less than 40MPG with a Prius. Now I know. Let your wife drive it exclusively for a week in cold weather with no single trip in excess of 3 miles and many less than a mile. As soon as I drove the car on a short trip 25 miles one way, I brought the tank average mileage up to almost 40 (by averaging nearly 50). I was told to expect poorer winter mileage but mid 30's was a shock till I realized what had happened. Still, I suppose a regular car would be doing similar, just worse. Sure illustrated the short trip in cold weatheer performance hit.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
My winter milage has been in the middle 40's. Getting ready to get better milage week after next. Heading to Florida! got to get that milage up any way I can.
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Gary, Since I drove the car a while before we ran that tank out I got the mileage up to 40 by thte time we were down to one bar. I'm seeing a lot more green in the battery condition indicator in cold weather. It was very rare earlier but frequent now. It must be from the engine running more to stay warm in the cold weather.
Check your tower thread...
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
While I'm in Florida I guess I'll get to see if the valet parkers know anything about the Prius.
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Prius Update: I hear that the '08 prius will have new better battery technology, higher capacity battery, AND a plug in recharge port.
It won't make you gas free, Gary, but for folks who frequently only drive a very few miles a day normally and then longer runs less frequently, it sounds wonderful. A fillup is pluging in overnight. For those typically only driving a few miles at moderate speeds you wouldn't be buying much gasoline.
If you realy want to hit the road in all electric style there is the Tesla convertable all electric plug in recharge car. Couple bucks for a charge and it gets up to a 250 mile range. Has fair power as it will jump from 0 to 60 mph in 4.0 seconds, yeah will light up the tires. They run about $80- $100K. Lesser models may follow for the rest of us.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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I like this style much better! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Egon, If I'm not mistaken that is a 1915 Baker. The Baker was "KING" of electric cars.
Here is what someone else said about them:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The electrics were urban cars which preferred paved city streets to bumpy country roads that would shake them to pieces. The major problem was the power, however. Batteries were heavy, took up too much room and deteriorated rapidly.
And even though motoring range on a single charge was extended to about 80 miles by 1910, charging facilities cost quite a bit and were not rapidly available outside metropolitan areas.
Also, electrics were slow movers, with the exception of one of Baker's experimental racers, the "Torpedo," which boasted it could do 120 mph.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now that you are in the city with convenient electricity maybe a Baker would serve you but an electric golf cart with a "weather" cover would out perform it and be way less maint prone as well as cheaper. Restored and functional Bakers are $$$. (that's $$$$ Canadian)
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Now that you are in the city with convenient electricity maybe a Baker would serve you but an electric golf cart with a "weather" cover would out perform it and be way less maint prone as well as cheaper.
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The electric golf cart seems to me to be a great idea, except for the fact that in many places it would not be legal (or safe) to drive on the streets. But in some of the "retirement" communities, such as Sun City at Phoenix, they are quite common on the streets, as are the gasoline powered golf carts. And while we're accustomed to the specially marked "Handicapped" parking spaces, out there, they have lots of "Golf Car" parking spaces. They also have some pretty fancy golf cars, too.
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Bird, I have always had my concerns about golf carts mixing in regular traffic. Where practical, in areas of high concentration, it might be prudent to offer a special vehicle lane in speed zones above say 30mph. At speeds of 25-30mph a golf cart might not be a complete death trap but doing 30 in a 45 zone might get you hit and what would be a minor fender bender with two cars can be a fatality in a cart. Carts are as vulnerable as motorcycles but less able to evade.
Back in the nasty oil crunch decades ago there was a rumbling about taxing cars based on weight with a rapidly escolating fee structure to promote lighter cars. I personally think there should be weight standards set for manufacturers just like the CAFE standards for fuel economy. Manufacturers won't control what isn't monitored and or incentivised.
Now about the '08 Prius... I personally think it is going to be a good incremental improvement over the one I have that I realy like. It has been decades since a car got my attention like the Prius has and the '08 is going to be even better.
If there weren't so much unreasonable unthinking resistance to diesel cars then maybe Toyota or someone would do a diesel-electric hybrid. Diesel-electric hybrids have even more potential than the gas-electric for economy. The electric capability complements the diesel's shortcomings quite well and together would make a great little car or light truck.
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Don't people get that we are still using fossil fules when we "plug in"? its not in the form of gas! mybe is coal, or oil...but dang there is no point in plugging in if you want to be green.
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Not everything is perfectly black or white. There are shades of grey and ALSO SHADES OF GREEN. Plugging in offsets the fuel consumption to a less poluting source which may in fact be wind, water, or solar.
Check it out. Does a car generate less polution burning gasoline than a power plant does in charging the car's battery?
If you are alive, you contrtibute to polution. How motivated are you to seriously reduce your personal contribution of the green house gas, CO2? So long as you eat carbon based food (it is nearly all carbon based) and breathe then you are exhaling CO2.
Ultimately people are poluters, directly personally and in all their manipulation of the physical world. Population reduction is the fastest way to reduce polution there is. Until or unless you are willilng to embrace population reduction you are not facing up to the single most effective polution reduction strategy there is. Every child born, especially in a developed or developing nation is a little superconsumer. Consumption invariably produces polution. Even the message of yours to which I am responding, created polution.
Pat
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Very True Pat! If you want to be totally green, walk. I can't walk to work, so I have to drive something, no public transportation from my home in the country to downtown KC.
So...I drive a diesel VW, 45 mpg. So it;s greener than my diesel truck, not as green as walking would be...haha.
It is far more cost effective and feasible to put a 99.9 % effective scrubber on the output of a coal fired power plant than to attain that level of clean air output on the huge number of hybrid autos that same plant could charge up at night when those autos are plugged in....
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
twstanley, Right agin. Walking is greener. Staying home is greener still if you could telecomute or live near where you work. Many people living closer to where they work, reducing their commute could make a decent impact on polution and dependence on foreign oil.
The "PLUG IN" Prius will not have the energy storage capacity to give enough range to support many of the commuters' required range. Of course it wil help but bailing the Titanic with a thimble would have helped too, just not very much.
Your diesel vehicle is a good one. Unfortunately there is a huge anti-diesel bias here in the US (mostly ignorance and hearsay unsupported by "modern" fact,) hence the small number of sales for family and commuter vehicles where in contrast in Europe diesels are a huge segment of the market. If it wasn't for this bias the Prius might have been a diesel electric.
The concept of the electric commuter is appealing but the technology just isn't here yet. A plug-in Prius type hybrid with FUTURE TECH batteries could make a big step toward a mostly electric car with ICE for backup as much as anything for shorter trips.
My best ever MPG for a tank was only 52.8 and we typically get 45-51 MPG with a mix of the two drivers. My wife gets significantly less MPG. Of course I would argue that we are more comfortable than you while we are doing it.
I'd like to have a small diesel PU like the old Isuzu but not very likely these days.
Patrick
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
I heard a couple interesting stories on NPR ( this might have been mentioned in this thread already ) about companies making 'plug-in' kits for the Prius. I guess these consist of a charger and some additional battery packs, I would guess a bit of modification to not engage the gasoline engine until the additional battery capacity is used up...
I would debate the comfort issue with you, our VW is a Passat four door and is a nice comfortable car, at least comfortable enough that my wife, me and our 18 month old daughter drove straight back from northern Michigan to KC at the end of our vacation in July (that was 900 miles and a bit, we were pretty tired after that). I guess it depends on which comfort factor you were considering, driving quality, room, etc. The most uncomfortable thing about the Passat is with an 800 mile range between fill ups, you can't just wait until you need gas to stop and get a bite to eat or visit a restroom...at least I can't. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]
Oh! (edit) I blame GM for ruining the diesel car market in the US...those GM diesels they put out that were basically reworked gas engines were terrible and I think folks still recall them. I know some were fine but most were really bad. And the Army had the wisdom to let them build the Hummer with that 6.2 liter GM diesel in it....the gutless wonder. My hummer in Iraq had such a weak injection pump in it (and maintenance couldn't get one to replace it with for a long time) that I had to open the hood and pour cold water on the injection pump to get it to seal enough to restart .... not something convenient to do on your average Baghdad street. The maintenance folks had lots of problems with the injection pumps over there, mostly because the fuel we were using was JP4, not standard diesel, so a lot of the lubricicity wasn't there. It also did a great job of cleanin g gunk out of the fuel system, which was a problem, as some of that gunk was needed to keep the injection pumps sealing. Ahh well. All's well that ends well so to speak.
I also think market forces (cheap fuel) here have kept public demand for diesel cars from developing...in europe with their $5 a gallon fuel they have long had support for diesel cars that get 50+ mpg....
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Tim, There are web sites devoted to hybrids, www.Priusonline.com for one. The computer sys of the Prius has been hacked and all sorts of goodies have been added by follks, not just extra batteries. Japanese version of Prius has a switch to lock out the ICE for electric only operation. A stock Prius isn't going far on batt only (never was intended to) but with the new batt technology and larger batts to boot, short drives at moderate speeds will certainly be possible. Apparently Toyota thinks it will do well enough to warrant a plug in. Hopefully it isn't marketing hype with no engineeering behind it.
Like guys arguing (mindlessly) that the color of a tractor makes it better than another, I was just tweaking you a bit about comfort. I have no problem with your ride. I do find that the Prius has more leg room than many cars anywhere remotely near its size. If I put the driver's seat all the way back I can't reach the wheel comfortably. If I adjust the drivers seat to my liking: a decent tilt back and back far enough for comfortable leg position to give a near straight arm "Sports car" hands on wheel position and then get out of the car and get in the back seat behind "myself" I still have ample legroom clear space between my knees and the front seat. I am 6'2" and NOW 250 lbs. I looked at Subaru Foresters and Outbacks and scads of other cars and I wouldn't want to sit behind me in most of them. Although advertised as a 5 passenger (5 sets of seatbelts) 4 adults is comfortable, 3 in the back is at best a temporary measure for adults.
I was researching the VW diesel (my wife likes diesel) but I was "scared off" by declining quality as reported by Consumers Reports.
Roger your comments on GM. What BOZOS. Milling the heads for compression and replacing the spark plugs with injectors doesn't make a very good diesel. I had a friend who sold his GM "diesel" truck right after the second engine replacement under warranty before it got sick again. What the hummer needs is a Cummins 5.9 or maybe better yet one of the Mercedes (OOPS, Daimler Chrysler) truck diesels.)
The lab where I worked did lots of trick stuff on hummers so I saw a lot of them in various configurations. Used to think I wanted one but too expensive and too GMC under the hood. Ever see a hummer with a hydraulic mast that telescoped straight up in the air with a radar on it? Just one of many toys I saw at the lab. We also were involved a lot with SEAL stuff, being neighbors so to speak to the unit at Coranado.
The range on the Prius is less than your Passat. It holds only about 11 gal so 500 miles is about it. I don't usually go over about 400 without fueling and without a "Human Element Range Extender" My range does not exceed the Prius range.
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
The bad rep the VW's have is fairly justified....I have been using the resources on the internet to work out the little quirks that my VW has developed.
It came (used) with a bad main power relay that would just kill the engine at random, it happened twice in my first week of ownership, I looked it up on the web, got the $25 part at the dealer and stuck it in relay/fusebox under the dash, no further problems...I would bet that was the reason the car was traded in, if you don't know about those relays how would you diagnose an intermittent failure like that?
One of the glow plugs went out, not a big deal so I changed that. Then I got this strange ROM error code from the computer with the check engine light being on. Again, looked it up on the web, turns out there is a 2 inch piece of vacuum hose INSIDE the electronic control unit (ECU) box that measures turbo boost...and this eventually fails and gets a hole in it. Talk about a design goof, having a vacuum hose inside an aluminum box...how about just have the vacuum hose plug directly into the boost sensor from the outside of the box? Ahh well.
The door handles have a roll pin that wiggles out, you take out one phillips screw, slide the door handle forward and pull out, then take needle nose pliers and squeeze the pin back where it needs to be...little quirks like that.
I have read a number of stories where the VW dealers didn't know these common problems and spent lots of money replacing ECU's and sensors to no avail...so if you buy one of these, it's just about like starting a new hobby, you had best be prepared to diagnose these things yourself.
www.tdiclub.com is a great resource, fyi.
I agree with you completely that the best thing for a hummer would have been that 5.9 Cummins engine that oddly enough, is in our Dodge 3/4 ton truck. We have had great luck with ours.
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Tim, Ditto on the Cummins. I bought a Cummins 5.9 and it just happened to come installed in a 1 ton 4X4 Dodge truck, which I only drive when required, with the Prius being the first priority.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
I'd like to have a small diesel PU like the old Isuzu but not very likely these days
Pat, you just may be able to do this by converting a small plder PU to a diesel engine from a tractor or some other source.
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Egon, I used to have a source for retired diesels from British cabs but those days are gone.
Pat
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
web page
One location for a plethora of diesel engine choices.
Kubota sells diesel engines that should be adaptable to a vehicle.
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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Re: Toyota Prius, Fact or Fiction
Egon, I have never found adapting an engine to a non-related vehicle to be an easy or innexpensive task. It is all possible but typically expensive, even if you can find a source for adaptor plates and such they are typically only made for common-popular engine adaptations. You can put a RX-7 Mazda into an A-H Bug Eyed Sprite or a Chrysler Hemi into a Model T pickup but it wouldn't be for economy or practicality, all things considered.
It is amazing to see all the adaptor plates that have been prolduced for replacing the aircooled VW with other engines but retaining the VW transaxle. I was tempted to "UPDATE" my buggy but I understand the primitive VW engine with its total lack of sensors and mechanical simplicity and wouldn't be able to do anything to a modern engine. At least with the VW I can adjust the valves and time it and all you need is simple hand tools. I like the timing method...
Drive up a moderate hill at full throttle and if the engine doesn't ping, advance the spark and repeat. Repeat this approach till the engine pings and then slowly retard the spark till it just stops pinging plus just a hair more. This is as good as it will get. Timing lights? We don't need no stinkin' timing lights!
Oh by the way, the BugEye would hit 130 in a heartbeat but if you sprint and stop on the third sprint you will not stop because the brakes on the sprite couldn't handle the job and converting to sufficient disks was another small mint.
Thanks for the URL, I didn't know Perkins was doing diesels in China. Perkins and Westerbeke both used to make good little diesels but I have been out of touch.
Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]