Letters to the Editor
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Gas milage & Tyoytos
I'm amazed at how much gas milage has actually gone up since the 80s, not down. I once owned a 1986 Toyoto Celica. I got 34-36 in town. We took it on a trip to teh midwest up the rockey mountians and got 50 miles per gallon. Besides it was heaveier and larger than today's models had acelleration power. That is the key to a good hybred now. Besides saving gas, does it acellerate when you get in the freeway. In addtion Toyotos have a reputation for lasting a long time. That why they are getting the atention. My husband had a 1988 Toyoto Camrey. He drove it for 300,000 miles.
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Why all the heat (and so little light)?
I really do get tired of people assuming they know that I bought my car for bragging rights.
Ideally, I would have bought a hybrid Saturn, but there wasn't one. Every ding on my lovely 06 Prius reminds me that I cannot have my dingless side panels.
I saw nothing in this article that addressed emissions, despite the claim in the preview that small, regular engine cars have lower emissions. I would love to see the science behind that claim (since the full hybrids are certified pzev -- practically zero emissions vehicles and the gas engines aren't).
My Prius is not a Fit. It Fits my 6'3" son and has sufficient passenger room to provide rides to friends and coworkers -- that way, we only take one car. I can do my weekly shopping, pack all my son needed for college, and so on. And I feel safe on the freeway and in parking lots. My Prius has many safety features that are matched on higher end cars.
Since I bought my Prius, I have learned how to milk a regular 45-50 mpg with my bad driving habits and constant need to accellerate up steep hills. On the freeway, I sneak up on the 60 mpg. I would get closer, but, well, bad driving habits. Which I can watch affect my mileage and learn to change.
In addition, in the two years I have had my Prius, the only maintenance it has required is oil changes. Oh, and the cabin air filter. And it tells me when the oil change is needed.
No brake work (the brakes are primarily electromagnetic, so vastly less asbestos goes into the air). No $300-400 dollar repairs or parts replacements every six months.
I am not smug, but I am very, very happy. If that makes other people miserable, that is just not my problem.
djunia
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simple mpg increases
I'll admit upfront that I'm a Prius owner, and happy to be. The size of the car (the 2003 model) fits my needs well (see note below), gets good gas mileage both in town and on the occasional highway trips, and has been pretty trouble free. I'll recommend the car to anyone who asks me, and be honest about the mileage it gets (generally 45 mpg spring and fall, a bit less in winter or during A/C season).
However, the one thing I think could decrease our overall fuel consumption in the nation is onboard MPG monitors. Part of getting good mileage is the car you drive, and part is how you drive it. One of the best features of the Prius, which isn't limited to hybrid cars, is the monitor which tells me my instant mpg amount, as well as the mileage I've gotten over a period of time (similar to a trip odometer). Having that has helped me determine how my driving style affects my gas usage, and made me more conscious of driving in a way that increases my MPG. It has also encouraged my own little personal competition to beat my high score (53 mpg over ~500 miles) and to increase the current MPG number. Put these things on any car, and I'd be doing the same thing.
* Note: On the size, I sometimes wish I had more cargo space (my wife likes to landscape), so if someone would make a small hybrid pickup, I'd be really interested.
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Go Versa!
I bought a brand new Versa last spring, and it was a great choice for me. I seriously thought about getting a Prius, but realistically, it was out of my price range. however, I paid just over $16K - including tax, title, and license - for my Versa SL (the up-graded model). My little Versa gets about 36 mpg, is fun to drive with the manual transmission, and is really practical. My fiance and I can get all our sports and camping equipment in there, plus our (very large)dog.
It makes me happy to see all the new small cars on the road. Even if they're not quite as fuel efficient as a Prius, they get good gas mileage, and are MUCH better than most sedans, trucks, and SUV's. They're easier to park and scoot in and out of city traffic, and they're not expensive. I think that a big key to convincing people to drive fuel-effience vehicles is to make them affordable to more people. I hope the trend continues.
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Fuel efficient nonhybrids
What planet is the author living on? In her article on efficient nonhybrids, Clarren claims that " While the Honda hybrid gets around 40 mpg, the Fit, for $6,000 less, gets 37 mpg." It so happens that I own a Honda Fit and I keep monitoring the gas mileage of this car. Well, I only get 22 miles/gallon in urban traffic, while the Honda Hybrid truly gets 42-44 miles/gallon in the city. The Fit gets about 35 miles/gallon on the freeway. True, it is a cute, very spacious car, which is extremely easy to park almost anywhere, but the gas mileage is atrocious. And it is grossly overpriced at $16,700 (that's how much I paid for mine). Bottom line: hybrids are by far the most economical cars on the market.
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Why the shock?
First of all, let me say that I'm on my second Prius, and I agree with the LW who wrote about the fact that one of the important things the popularity of the Prius has done is to light a fire under the development of new, more efficient and environmentally friendly automotive technologies... which were nowhere until the original Prius started flying off the lot.
Secondly, however, I'm just stunned at the number of people, (and media reporters), who are shocked... shocked!... to find that EPA fuel efficiency ratings for hybrids are markedly overstated. Hasn't it been common knowledge for at least 20 years that EPA fuel efficiency ratings are wildly overstated for EVERY car? Did people think one of the advantages of hybrid technology was that it would suddenly make EPA ratings accurate?
That would be magic indeed!