PBS takes the Hummer v Prius bait

[ebacherville]

They made it sound like when the next "better" hybrid comes along that all prius's are going to be scrapped, and not sold into the car food chain where more drivers are going to covet them... hell I drive a 22 year old crx for it's high MPG's.. and its getting better mpg's than that prius I might add.. pint made people are going to drive the pissout of these for years ..

Also i be they will last even longer as there motors arnt always running , think of the hours saved running the motor while idling etc in a normal car.. those hours wont be on any prius..

[fshagan]

Most of these stories are stupid. I own a Prius (64,000 miles since Feb, 2006) and my lifetime average is 49 MPG. I can drive carefully and get up around 58 MPG, but its not worth it to risk your life at 55 MPH on a Southern California freeway!

Gas mileage wasn't the only reason I chose the Prius over the Toyota Matrix, Chevy HHR and Toyota Camry; I liked the car better, especially the "low end" needed to go up freeway on-ramps. The stats on the car don't show that it has the quick acceleration because the 0 - 60 time is not impressive, but in practice I can get up and onto the freeway much easier than in a Matrix or the 4 cylinder Camry.

I traded in a vehicle that was getting 22 MPG, and now I'm driving one that gets me 49 MPG (and can get me much more.) More than doubling your gas mileage is a good thing.

[Z man]

This guy's findings are ridiculous. For one, I really would love to have a Prius considering how much I drive, and I would P&G the crap out of it to get 700+ miles out of the tank. People want to be "green", but it's also much more convenient to go to the gas station less often, and pay less each time compared to the god awful, slow, terrible thing they call the H3.

The Prius is very similar to the Yaris, Corolla, or xA at highway speeds (same 1.5L), and those cars get great MPG.

[azraelswrd]

Originally Posted by Z man

This guy's findings are ridiculous. For one, I really would love to have a Prius considering how much I drive, and I would P&G the crap out of it to get 700+ miles out of the tank. People want to be "green", but it's also much more convenient to go to the gas station less often, and pay less each time compared to the god awful, slow, terrible thing they call the H3.

The Prius is very similar to the Yaris, Corolla, or xA at highway speeds (same 1.5L), and those cars get great MPG.

I love my xA.

But from what I gathered in that clip, does it really matter to the average consumer the amount of "energy" it took to develop the hybrid technology over ICEs? I really don't see anyone in my neighborhood caring other than the immediate returns of more miles per gallon of gas used erego less money used for gas they would get from driving a Prius over a Hummer.

Hey, I wish I could get 500 miles out my car.

[fshagan]

Originally Posted by Z man

The Prius is very similar to the Yaris, Corolla, or xA at highway speeds (same 1.5L), and those cars get great MPG.

Those cars do get great highway mileage, and anyone trading up from a 18 mpg car is doing a good thing. But the Prius is better. The Prius gets better mileage on the highway because it uses an Atkinson cycle engine rather than an Otto cycle engine. The reason the Prius can use an Atkinson cycle engine is that the electric motors are, contrary to myth, able to be used at any speed to boost horsepower. If you are cruising along at 65 MPH, and punch it, the Prius engages the electric motor as well as feeds the ICE more fuel. Without the electric motor assist, it would be a lesson in lethargy.

There's a good article about the difference between the Prius and Toyota Echo engine which appear to be exactly the same (except for the Atkinson vs. Otto cycle) at http://www.cleangreencar.co.nz/page/prius-petrol-engine.

[fshagan]

Originally Posted by azraelswrd

I love my xA.

But from what I gathered in that clip, does it really matter to the average consumer the amount of "energy" it took to develop the hybrid technology over ICEs? I really don't see anyone in my neighborhood caring other than the immediate returns of more miles per gallon of gas used erego less money used for gas they would get from driving a Prius over a Hummer.

Hey, I wish I could get 500 miles out my car.

Using fancy accounting tricks, anyone can make the case for anything. James Garner commented once that the long running "Rockford Files" TV show never produced a profit by the Hollywood accountants; every time they dented his Firebird they "totaled it" on the books and the body repair was "buying a new one", for instance.

The fact is that buying any small car that costs $10,000 less than a H3 is going to save you money. If you're going to include development costs, then perhaps you should include environmental impact costs (what is the future cost of carbon offsets?), extra wear on the roads due to the extra weight of the H3, space utilization of large vs. small parking spaces, etc. But what they do is simply cherry pick the factors they want to include that supports their pre-ordained view. Its certainly not the scientific method!

[ttoyoda]

It gives me the impression that she has a low budget (can't fly the guy) or that she didn't want to spent time doing a quality job. However, in modern times, that (interview over the Web) is acceptable, imho. Besides, it saved fuel.
Looks like she's doing the interview with the lights off in the house. Not your typical American.

Well the house has windows absolutely everywhere so she would look (even more) like an idiot with the lights on in the daytime. I expect she is lit for the camera, those lights are just off screen. I don't know ANY people who turn lights on in the daytime.

I don't object that the inverview is done remotely, I just meant that in post production they could have taken that web video and shown it split screen or full screen rather than using Final Cut Pro to superimpose it over her laptop screen to give that cheezy "real time video conferencing" effect.

[ttoyoda]

electric motors are, contrary to myth, able to be used at any speed to boost horsepower. If you are cruising along at 65 MPH, and punch it, the Prius engages the electric motor as well as feeds the ICE more fuel. Without the electric motor assist, it would be a lesson in lethargy.

Fine until the battery runs down. Then the little turtle icon lights up, right?

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by fshagan

I can drive carefully and get up around 58 MPG, but its not worth it to risk your life at 55 MPH on a Southern California freeway!

Err... Where can you find a Southern California freeway on which you can actually do 55 mph? (Other than maybe around 3 AM.) From what I recall, reality is more like 10-20 mph average in stop & go - for which the Prius should be well suited :-)

[elhigh]

They're assuming a 100K life on a Prius? Why? Or is that just for the batteries? Good news, they're easy to replace.

That's why I love driving older used cars. They're already obsolete, so no worries there. And as it turns out, they hypermile just fine.