I love my Hybrid vehicle more and more each day. :)

I love my Prius.

How much is gas now? I can't remember. It's been three weeks since I filled up.

I love my Prius too.

I think gas price ranges between US$3-4 depending on where you live. Crude oil is US$75 a barrel and still climbing.

Tuesday or Wednesday...I think it was Wednesday...gas prices in Phoenix finally broke the $3.00/gallon barrier.

And we're not talking "tiptoed past"...we're talking "left twitching in the dirt."

A score of places went to $3.19, a few were at $3.29 by mid-afternoon, and first prize goes to the place up in North Phoenix that pegged theirs at $3.40 by day's end.

*fondles employer-subsidized mass transit pass*

-- ddg

I was impressed by a hybrid I saw on the PA Turnpike. It was in front of us, and a big truck in front of it. We're all speeding along at a nice 80 MPH. The truck moves over & the lil' hybrid took off (almost) like a rocket. Not bad. Not bad at all.

If I had the $$ to spare I'd prolly have one too.

As it is right now, my lil' Cavalier goes about 360 miles before I need gas. And since I'm only 2-3 miles from work, living in the middle of nowhere, I dont use too much gas. So it's about every week & a half for me.

The gas prices are cutting into my fun- driving around with the laptop running, finding people's unsecured wireless connections, hopping into their lil' network & sending them pics with messages like "You're network is NOT secure!"

You can always move where i live, cheap gas

1 gallon ~ 6,8$/gallon

oh wait...

3 weeks without refueling? Do you even drive that car, or do you just park it and stare admiringly at it?

I drive it almost everyday.

There's ones sprouting up all over here, I can't tell if they are hybrids or not, they look liike extra-mini-minivans. In fact, the way they look on the outside makes them look like cute lil' vehicles out of some anime. I think they were called Muganos or something? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

IU'm not specifically thinking of Muranos... but I'm sure it was LIKE them. Murano's are SUVs, and I know they're not those.

While we are in the subject of fuel efficiency, would any of you drive one of these? Its tiny, but they could be fun if you get rid of the governor.

Yeah and get into a would be a fender bender with an average size car and end up getting smashed to bits.

Wow! Way TOO small for me! Smaller than the mini-cooper.

Guess you couldn't "break-in" the back seat, if ya know what I mean.

Hell yes. I love those things.

Contrary to what you might think, they are very, very safe cars - see this crash test video if you don't believe me. The engineering was done by Mercedes-Benz and utulizes a sort-of 'exoskeleton' called the Tridion safety cell.

I'd prefer the Braubus tuned version, though.

Here's a different link for the video: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/60538/smart_car_crash/

btw - it was a head-on crash into a concrete barrier @ 70mph.

I wanted to buy one of those. The ex said there'd be noone to work on it up here, so, we got a truck instead (I think the ex won that one). Then, I sold my truck and now I just walk. gas costs = $0 when you walk. woot!

Walking is very cool.

I am sure some of the excitement over my Prius is also because it is the first new car I have ever owned. I lived in DC for 12 years before moving to NC a year ago. I never had a car before and walked everywhere.

I had one of those on my keychain

Who here has seen the episode of South Path with all the South Park residents buying hybrids?

It's a must see.

Here is a link to it:

Smug Alert
http://www3.youtube.com/watch?v=18MEesIbmGU&search=%20south%20park%20smug

Yah, but concrete barriers aren't designed to smash cars, they're designto deflect them. show me a video of it being hit by a Ford Explorer at 60mph and then I "might" be convinced its safe.

Mmmmm Smart cars. They are EVERYWHERE in Europe. I'm waiting for them to hit the used car market so I too, can have one.
A little trivia for you - I read recently that some councils in Europe and Australia, allow 2 smart cars to occupy one parking space (parallel to the curb). This is to provide incentive for ppl to buy more environmentally friendly vehicles. Hopefully, they'll extend this for hybrid cars.

For some reason, Neehai's comments reminded me of the recent South Park episode about hybrids.

Well, a hybrid is nice and a $25,000 go cart is good on gas but when you start talking reality a $5000 used car that gets 25 mpg will never cost as much as a hybrid even if you replaced the engine every year and gas was $6 a gallon. Some hybrids get LESS gas milage than their simple gas powered bretheren. (I think the Lexus SUV thing a ma bob hybrid plus a couple others) The thing about these small cars like the smart car is they cannot handle driving cross country or long commutes at hiway speeds and that is what most Americans end up doing. Ever tried driving 2000 miles across the Rocky Mountains in Dodge Colt and you wil quickly realize tiny cars aren't practical for a lot of Americans. I had a Chevy Sprint that blew a head gasket the first time I took it out on the highway to 65 mph. I drove a Mini Cooper and that poor engine was screaming at 70 mph yet I was being a traffic hazard for being too slow.

Then there is the problem of fixing and getting parts for these exotic vehicles. You break down in Bumphuk Arkansas, good luck in getting Goober to fix it. Like the Delorean for instance, garages won't even change a broken parking light lens cover for less than $1500 if they will even touch it. ( I know this for a fact, a buddy and I charged $300 to fix a parking light lens that we got for free from a junked Buick since they were identicle and the guy was doing back flips and promising to dance at our weddings because the cheapest he could find elsewhere was $1500) Unless you can fix cars yourself you are at the mercy of the garage or dealer and the wierder it is the higher the price.

Your post doesn't make sense to me.

1. My car handles 70mph pretty easily. After all, I have two engines under my hood. If anything, I find that I have to watch the speedometer because it is such a quiet car that I don't realize how fast I am going. When I drive to work I regularly travel at 80-85mph and never blink an eye.

2. I suppose I could have bought a $5000 used car but I don't know what kind you can get for that price. It is not an "exotic" car. It is a Toyota. Last time I checked, there is no shortage of Toyota dealers or mechanics in the United States. Finding parts for a used car that is no longer manufactured would be harder that finding parts for a brand new Toyota.

3. I am not a mechanic. So the option of fixing any car I purchased it not realistic.

4. My Hybrid gets an average of 48mpg. I would love to know which $5000 used car can beat that mileage.

At the end of the day I hate pumping and paying for gas. I still love my hybrid.

I love my bicycle... never had to refuel it, not even once!
In fact, the reason I started biking was that I had amassed more "fuel" than I could burn

Sigh, glad you could afford your Prius and you get 48 mpg which is double the average mileage of a regular midsized car. I was just pointing out that unless you are wealthy enough to afford to assuage your conscience, the average working person can pay significantly less over the lifetime of a car buying it used and even if gas reaches $6 a gallon will pay significantly less even then. It will take 15 years to pay for the difference in initial cost with the fuel savings an that doesn't include the $7000 you are going to spend to replace the battery in 8-10 years (or less depending on how hot the weather is where you live). Toyota expects you to junk the vehicle rather than replace the battery and keeps very few replacement batteries in stock nationwide. My 1995 Mustang gets 28 mpg, has been paid for over 5 years and has had less than $2,000 worth of maintenance at 130,000 miles, including recovering the seats, tires and replacing all the o2 sensors and is still going strong.

As far as a Toyota dealership on every corner, you are right but very few have invested in the specialized tools, diagnostic machines and training to service the Prius Hybrid. Much like the dodge Viper and Prowler, only a very few dealerships could work on these cars because they simply couldn't justify the huge investment required to service them. My main focus was on the Smart Car, you pull that thing into a garage and they may call for Sculley and Moulder to investigate the UFO. There are no dealerships in the US and likely not going to be many so you break down in the hills of North Carolina or Arkansas and you might find someone willing to try to fix it but then you may end up buying another car to pull it home with cheaper than fixing it.

The Volkswagen beetle and Gulf diesel get 37/44 and the mini cooper gets 28/36 so, yeah. I'm not dissing the hybrid specifically, just a reality check for those interested in oddball cars because I know from experience.

My battery is under warranty.