Poor Toyota

"Cathy F." ...

So the cockroach is more of a palmetto bug?

:-)

Natalie

I disagree. They will be easy to sell. A lot easier than a pickup that gets 12 mpg. While the technology will no longer be state of the art, the amount of fuel consumed per mile will be less than other vehicles that are being made now.

Jeff

I am not your friend Mike.

Jeff

The Corolla

Both the Camry and the Prius are considered midsize cars by the EPA.

Jeff

Maybe the should make the Camry into a hybrid. ;-)

JEff

Once in a while I think to snip... not always. As the thought strikes me...

It's a *cute* palmetto bug. ;-P

Cathy

I'm all for a windfall profit tax on Al Gore's carbon credits brokering corporations. I mean - here's a guy and companies that get paid for doing absolutely nothing, they produce nothing, they add no value to the entire universe by what they do, and invented a non-problem in order to create the demand.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Natalie

"Cathy F."...

Well, it's annoying, but I love you, so I'll let you live.

Yeah - cute like an Aztek

Natalie

GM's trouble with hybrid Tahoes is that they had to recall their battery packs and the batteries that were slated to be used in new hybrid production ended up being used to replace the recalled batteries.

That sounds like a victim mentality. I know that you drive an Echo, so telling you to get a car that uses less gas is not going to help. However, you could try to drive a little less. I have been doing my very best to drive 10% less. I believe if everyone would cut their driving by 10%, gas prices would go down. Still, the most significant thing we could do to lower gas prices is boost the value of the dollar. Reducing irrational spending on a stupid war might help there. Our current government is on the worst drunken spending spree in history. We are borrowing money from one group of foreigners (mostly China) to spend fighting another group of foreigners (Arabs), while the people that would seem to have the most interest in the goals of the war (the Europeans and Saudis) mostly set on the sidelines and tell us what a bad thing we are doing.

Ed

"C. E. White" ...

I'm not saying we're screwed because we have to pay more for gas. I'm saying that since *everyone* has to pay so much more for gas, it's killing our economy.

Ed, I drive maybe once a week, for about an hour, on the average. I work from home now (editing doctor's notes), so my car hardly leaves the garage.

I think by default, people will be driving less; sometimes because they simply cannot afford it, and also just on principle.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to easily afford high gas prices, but that doesn't mean I don't care about those who can't.

Natalie

While this is true, I think it is somewhat misleading. There is sufficent room in the Prius for a large guy, but it does not feel nearly as roomy as a Camry. In particualr it seems very narrow. No matter what the EPA says, it is much closer in feel to a Corolla than a Camry. Camry Prius Corolla Passenger Volume 101 ft3 96 ft3 89 ft3 Luggage Volume 15 ft3 16 ft3 14 ft3

The reported numbers for the Prius passenger volume are in the middle between the Camry and the Corolla. In my opinion, the Prius luggage capacity is misleading. The CR rating show the Camry and Corolla has having more luggage room than the Prius.

The Consumer Reports numbers for passenger room are: Camry Prius Corolla Front shoulder room, in 57.0 55.0 54.0 Front leg room, in 42.0 40.5 41.0 Front head room, in 5.0 5.0 4.0 Rear shoulder room, in 56.0 52.5 52.0 Rear fore-aft room, in 29.0 30.0 28.0 Rear head room, in 2.0 5.0 2.0

There is not really a lot of difference in the CR measurements among the three cars, but it seems to me that the Prius is closer to the Corolla than the Camry.

Ed

I dunno, I ride in the back of my Prius and am rather comfortable. I was in the back of a Camry last week and felt like I had to hunch and was not as comfortable. I suppose it was the head room. Both seem wide enough for 2 folks.

I do not think that the luggage capacity is misleading at all. We can fit a _lot_ of stuff in the Prius. Tomes

With the rear up for passengers and without blocking the already restrictive rear view?

Ed

"Ed White" ...

Of course the view out the rear is blocked. This is the same as filling up a station wagon or any hatchback. I do not see this as a problem; I see it as a benefit. It is a different style, different utility.

I also do not see the everyday rear viewing as a problem as one gets used to it when one uses it regularly. I see plenty enough. It has an actual advantage in that it blocks a lot of headlights that would otherwise make rear viewing painful [especially those damn and illegal high beam DRLs]. Tomes