"modest benefit"??? gotta tell you dude, my injected civics are /way/ more reliable than any carburetted car i ever owned. that's no "modest benefit". much easier to fix too. different, but definitely easier.
it's quite possible that the amount of emissions produced by the power plant to produce the electricity to charge a Telsa car could be more than the emissions than a gasoline car.
ok, but you cannot choose your power source when you use electricity. The power sources all mixed in the electrical grid. And about 80% of U.S. power comes from coal, oil, and natural gas.
the goddamn creation of the google braniacs lost my rant about the shittiness of the Echo platform later stretched into the modern day Prius here. Who wrote that composer widget??? Same guy who designed Echo?
We are talking about a car versus a transportation implement among other things. The Prius being the latter and Tesla/BMW being the former.
Where people in Elise/Exige would smoke you, get into an accident, fix the front end, crash again and buy another Elise for the amount of money you spent on the 500lbs heavier car. Tesla is a no contender. It's too heavy.
??? If I compared it to G35/Z350 you would've discounted my comparison less?
It's a pity but you might be right. I leave in the ubercompetitive part of california and forget that there are places with the pace of life of the mide west. Maybe I should relocate to cure my authomotive enthusiasm.
Behold, finally there is a car where a driver MUST study the manual before driving. Isn't that an achievement.
You've probably noticed there is a strong current of RTFM here. People who don't RTFM too often come here because they didn't know they were supposed to change their timing belts or use only Honda fluids in their AT or PS.
I guess you are a baby-boomer like me, and remember when an owner's manual was only to tell you where the switches and fuses were, or how to place the jack. Now every owner who ignores the manual will suffer, and a lot worse than not knowing how to start the car!
Mike
Which I believe is a step backwards. Stepping away from standardization in the end will hurt rather than help a manufacturer. It effects everything from costs, selection and is a time consumer when life is getting ever more complicated.
Since retiring, I've spent more time performing tasks which should be "rolled in" regarding services, bill paying etc.
Maybe I should just sell everything and move to a tropical island and just live off the land and take life one day at a time while ignoring the useless squabbling going on in the world...
JT
(So long as the coconuts don't run out that is!)
For maintenance, yes it makes sense.
Not really. mid 30s. If I were older I might have appreciated the softly sprung suspension and intermittently noiseless operation while in the city. On the highway it's useless naturally since the wind noise drowns the engine noise unless you have a fart can for exhaust I guess. Very unlikely on Prius :-]
to place the
Evasive maneuvers, eh? Anyhow, that was just a one off car purpose built i don't suppose you have to do the same in yours.
What you are talking about is a performance car versus a family car. The BMW is a reasonable substitute for a Prius if you have the money and want to spend it on a car. The Tesla is a toy, and a pretty expensive one at that. For the price, there are a lot of other toys that I would rather own.
Face it, some people either can't afford a BMW or simply don't care about performance and luxury enough to fork over the extra cash. But even if you enjoy sneering at such people, why pick on Prius owners. Why not sneer at Corolla owners or Civic DX owners or owners of whatever shit boxes GM, Ford and Chrysler are selling now.
Oh, don't get me wrong. There are a hell of a lot of cars that would be more fun for less money, but the Tesla would still be fun (when it is running.)
Uh, no. You are still comparing cars that cost $10K more. In the case of the Z car you are comparing a $33K sports car to a $23K green family car. Does that sound like a reasonable comparison to you?
That explains a lot. Automotive enthusiasm is not your problem. Superficiality may be. It is fine to enjoy high performance and/or luxury in an automobile. It is more than a bit tacky to look down on people because they can't afford an expensive car or simply value different things in a car than you do.
I don't sneer at Civic DX owners. Aside from the lack of A/C that people in some climates don't need there is nothing to sneer at. Stick a hybrid powertrain in it and it's still a decent car. Yep, corolla is a different story though. At about 85+ mph the steering calibration and testing just was not performed. Nothing is wrong with PT cruiser. I just prefer BARs over Tommy submachine guns.
I'm sure it will be a fun city car for people who don't keep a habit of running out of gas, er, charge.
Yes. Bottom line z350 cost $27k and wrx cost about $23. To me both are fine family cars if you keep inlaws in shape. Nevermind the 08 wrx. prius looks prettier than that :-[
I don't look down on people who can't afford expensive cars. I look down on people who are buying cars that, as a whole, are a piece of junk even though there are much better choices for thousands less. But I guess you are partially right. No contest.
(Disclaimer - I have the sedan, not the hatchback.) The suspension is typical of family cars of the same dimensions. The wind noise is not bad at all; rather, road noise is mostly what the passengers hear. I had some Pirellis on it that made a weird "flying saucer" noise on smooth pavement. In town it is very hard to tell when the engine starts and stops, except for the odd occasion when the engine lurches when it shuts down.
I'm not sure I follow you there, but the sedan version of the Prius is more conventional in starting. Like any other auto tranny car, the "shifter" (more properly, "mode selector") is left in Park and the driver puts his foot on the brake while starting and while shifting into gear. IIRC the new model, the hatchback, requires the car to be started with the brake depressed. The version I have doesn't.
Mike
There is something to be said for standardization. I have trouble changing from my Ford work truck to my Toyota. Twisting the left stalk controls the wipers on the Ford and the headlights on the Toyota. My mother had a Renault
10, circa 1970. I was driving it one night and signaled for a right turn by flipping the left stalk upward... which turned off the headlights! Guess I should have been happy the steering wheel was on the left.Mike
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