I forget where I saw it, but remember reading an article about Hybrid owners that get involved in severe traffic accidents. The article stated that Fire and Rescue were less likely to deploy the jaws of life and other such rescue equipment in hybrid cars due the risk from the electrical systems and battery concerns.

 

BIODIESEL! HELLO PEOPLE WELCOME TO YEARS AGO WHEN NO ONE BOUGHT ANY TDI's!

if i had a prius, i wouldnt be saving money OR polluting less becasue i would do waaaaaay more road trips. im sure 1/2 the prius think this way too

Fcking dumbass freeway designers...all our traffic problems would be solved if our merging lanes were 1000-2000 feet longer...is it really that hard to do?...because all i see is 10 feet of dirt on the shoulder when there could be $20K dollars in asphalt to provide extra merging space.

Bottleneck Junctions= 75% of traffic i think...well, its the only time i hit it anyways

 

Mine was an '05. I put 33k or so on it in a year and then traded it in.

 

prius cost way too much for a hybrid car. i would take the civic over that just on the price it self

 

at least the civic dont look like a boot or people that stuff their shoes with extra socks lol

 

Well, technically, you'd be polluting less than using your current cars if you used a Prius.

Or you could reach a lower level of pollution with a new Legacy, like mine, which has the same emissions controls as a Prius. But goes faster. And has AWD. Moonroof. Etc.

 

Um, no.

Compare the 2006 Prius with a 2006 or 2007 Legacy.

Prius: 3.4 tons greenhouse gases. Legacy: 7.1 tons
Air Pollution Scores: 8/10 (Prius) 6/10 (Legacy).
And the achieved mileage on the Prius is nearly 2x that of the Legacy.

Sure the Legacy is a very nice car with a ton of room (though the prius is listed with more volume for passengers and luggage, I disagree - the legacy feels more spacious), great looks, good performance, AWD, moon roof etc that the Prius doesn't have. But don't claim it reaches a lower level of pollution, because its nearly twice the output.

 

i rented a prius for 3 weeks and the gas mileage definately wasnt has good as people make it sound...

 

it varies with how you drive and your usage.

If I drive the Prius like I drove my subaru or my Z, I only get about 40MPG. If I pay attention to how I drive it, and drive it like a grandma, I get more like 55. It does take some learning to figure out how to get the great mileage out of it, but it IS possible, even for lead foots like me.

 

i was seeing a little over 30mpg =X i must not know how to drive a hybrid :rotfl:

 

No matter what anyone says, it is simply not beneficial once you get near freeway speed - except for the carpool excemption. Once there, they are running solely on the fuel engine, which is a 76hp 1.5L lugging around a ~3000lb car. Do the math. For freeway duty, a Yaris or equivelent would do similar MPG and the price difference between the two would pay for the gas to travel a clean 100,000 miles @ $4.00 a gallon.

Definitely food for thought.

 

1) I REGULARLY get 50+ on the freeway. The best the Yaris can do is 40. How is that better? Many of the people I've met getting crappy mileage on the freeway are going 75+. Stick with 60 and enjoy the view and gas savings.

2) I know this is hard to believe for a lot of iclubbers, but not everyone is buying a Prius to save money. Certainly a civic would have been cheaper. We have it because its better for the evironment, regardless of a decent price premium.

3) Curb weight of the Prius is about 2800 lbs.

 

I was getting 48-50 on the hwy in the Civic, too.

 

Agreed, I can get 55 mpg easily if I'm not in a rush. 48 mpg average with regular driving lately since I put grippier tires on. I used to get about 52mpg before, though. Interestingly, I got 27 mpg on Thunderhill.

I am not familiar with the intricacies of manufacturing and recycling the batteries used in my Prius, but I am pretty sure that hybrid cars are a move in the right direction-- they certainly get better mileage, and as the market grows for them, companies will invest in cleaner and better battery technologies for the future.

Even if I'm wrong about the environmental factors, I'll continue enjoying my HOV permit until 2011... I would happily pay the $6,000 premium again to upgrade from a Corolla to a Prius just for the hours I save not sitting in gridlock, and this isn't even taking into account the Nav system, Bluetooth setup, LED taillights, and Bixenon lights that came with my car... can't get those on a Yaris!

 

I wouldn't sit at 60mph if you put a gun to my head. I would see how fast I could get to 80mph before you pulled the trigger.