My dad just bought home a 04 Prius....

[Eli]

Originally posted by: goblue420
its a a POS, get a ford

:Q

 

[Ryan]

Originally posted by: goblue420
its a a POS, get a ford

Bwhahaha - thanks for the laugh

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Thegonagle

Originally posted by: Rakkis
i recommend YOU read up on the prius. the electric system is actually used for propulsion.

It burns gasoline. You never plug it in. 100% of the energy that moves it down the road is derived from gasoline, in its internal combustion engine. I stand by my original statement.

You are incorrect. You cannot say it uses it's internal combustion engine for propulsion when it clearly does not.

Further, some energy is regained during braking, so not all of it comes from the ICE.

I suggest you do some research.

 

[Eli]

DP...

 

[Zebo]

Echo is a better deal $7000 less. Takes a lot of miles to make up the price difference. Well over 100,000 miles.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: SammyBoy

GREAT! Then when I'm driving behind a granny and am ready to crash into the back of her car out of sheer frustration, I can't cuz I realize my car doesn't have enough pickup to close the gap between us. Then I pull the car over, pull my 9 outta the glove compartment and shoot myself in the head!

While I realize that the prius is a very cool car, and if I had a decent job and a long commute I'd most likely get one, but hybrid is not ready to replace combustion engines just yet. I need my speed, especially with douchebag massachusetts drivers, I'd die if I didn't have some zip to get me away from people that bother/scare/infuriate me.

Yeah that's the thing, even the new prius is a slow ass car, slower than automatic corollas. I just bought a 2003 accord, I4 auto LX. MT has an 8.5 0-60 for this car. It's pretty powerful for a daily driver, it probably has among the highest torque for a production NA 4 cylinder motor. I used to drive a 2000 auto corolla and the extra power over my old car is quite useful.

Once at a stoplight, this bitch in an SUV tried creating an extra lane to my right when I was already in the rightmost lane. I had no intention of letting her cut me off so when the light went green I mashed the gas and pulled away.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: Eli
. . . some energy is regained during braking, so not all of it comes from the ICE.

I suggest you do some research.

And where did the energy regained in from braking come from? From the kinetic energy of the moving mass of the automobile, that's where. The electric motor moves the car, using electricity stored in the battery. The electricity for the electric motor is primarily generated by by an IC engine, which burns gasoline. A clutch also directly connects the IC engine to the drivetrain at times, but that is not relevant to the point I make.

I know how it works.

I absolutely stand by original statement, that the 100% of the energy that makes the car go is derived from gasoline, which is burned in an internal combustion engine.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Eli

You are incorrect. You cannot say it uses it's internal combustion engine for propulsion when it clearly does not.

Further, some energy is regained during braking, so not all of it comes from the ICE.

I suggest you do some research.

If you read his original statement, it's pretty airtight. He says the energy for hybrids still comes from gasoline. Which is true.

Also that braking argument doesn't work. Unless you had the hybrid parked on a hill, and got it rolling down that hill with no gas in it, the energy that braking is recovering still originally came from gas.

 

[Nebor]

All of the features listed in that car have been done by Mercedes and BMW at some point... Heck, you can even start their cars w/ those sweet BMW\Mercedes Rings. And BMW and Mercedes do it for THREE TIMES LESS! Wait... I mean more, three times more.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: OS
If you read his original statement, it's pretty airtight. He says the energy for hybrids still comes from gasoline. Which is true.

Also that braking argument doesn't work. Unless you had the hybrid parked on a hill, and got it rolling down that hill with no gas in it, the energy that braking is recovering still originally came from gas.

Thank you. I'm happy to see that there is still enough, pardon me, nerdiness left here at AT that someone else understands the energy cycle in a hybrid automobile.

I was thinking about that theoretical hill situation, but I didn't really know how to bring it up with enough concision to stay on point, so I didn't bother.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: Eli

You are incorrect. You cannot say it uses it's internal combustion engine for propulsion when it clearly does not.

Further, some energy is regained during braking, so not all of it comes from the ICE.

I suggest you do some research.

If you read his original statement, it's pretty airtight. He says the energy for hybrids still comes from gasoline. Which is true.

Also that braking argument doesn't work. Unless you had the hybrid parked on a hill, and got it rolling down that hill with no gas in it, the energy that braking is recovering still originally came from gas.

Yep, you're right. I wasn't thinking about it right.. lol.

Not sure why I responded like that, perhaps I took his comments as derrogatory, but they're clearly not now that I re-read them.

I actually agree with him. The little comment about 100% of energy being produced by the ICE just threw me off for some reason.

 

[Thegonagle]

Eli - Thanks for seeing the entire puzzle.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Thegonagle

Thank you. I'm happy to see that there is still enough, pardon me, nerdiness left here at AT that someone else understands the energy cycle in a hybrid automobile.

I was thinking about that theoretical hill situation, but I didn't really know how to bring it up with enough concision to stay on point, so I didn't bother.

Garfang is never wrong!!! No pressure at all bro.

But seriously, no nerd insight required, just a fist full of working brain cells. That and ATOT is full of worthless post whores these days. :Q I mean, if gas doesn't power a hybrid, if I put a hybrid on flat land, weld the gas cap shut and say no mods, how far is that thing gonna go?

 

[Mill]

I'll buy a Prius the day gas is 20 dollars a gallon AFTER accounting for inflation. Otherwise, I will prefer to keep my balls firmly attached. I don't care if the damn thing got 800mpg it still looks like a rubbermaid tub that has spares for wheels.

 

[woodie1]

Originally posted by: Thegonagle

Originally posted by: Mani
Prius is a great car. Toyota knowingly sells it at a loss, probably to lower fleet fuel economy for the EPA.

They do it for experience, and to gain market share. They already have a second generation Hybrid out. That puts them well ahead of the competition, and that's important, because the market is clearly headed in this direction. Everyone else except Honda, is still in the design and engineering phase.

According to press releases the 2004 model is not sold at a loss.

 

[geno]

but damn everyone should go buy one now.

no, we shouldn't.

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Echo is a better deal $7000 less. Takes a lot of miles to make up the price difference. Well over 100,000 miles.

But the 04 Prius is MUCH larger than the Echo. Its the size of a Camry (almost).

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

but kept the milage up. 60 miles in the city! Thats just nuts ... but damn everyone should go buy one now.

Sure, the mileage is quite impressive, but it's still one person driving around in *one* car -- which tends to clog up the roads. People need to rely more on public transportation.

What the hell ever.......

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: SammyBoy

GREAT! Then when I'm driving behind a granny and am ready to crash into the back of her car out of sheer frustration, I can't cuz I realize my car doesn't have enough pickup to close the gap between us. Then I pull the car over, pull my 9 outta the glove compartment and shoot myself in the head!

While I realize that the prius is a very cool car, and if I had a decent job and a long commute I'd most likely get one, but hybrid is not ready to replace combustion engines just yet. I need my speed, especially with douchebag massachusetts drivers, I'd die if I didn't have some zip to get me away from people that bother/scare/infuriate me.

Yeah that's the thing, even the new prius is a slow ass car, slower than automatic corollas. I just bought a 2003 accord, I4 auto LX. MT has an 8.5 0-60 for this car. It's pretty powerful for a daily driver, it probably has among the highest torque for a production NA 4 cylinder motor. I used to drive a 2000 auto corolla and the extra power over my old car is quite useful.

Once at a stoplight, this bitch in an SUV tried creating an extra lane to my right when I was already in the rightmost lane. I had no intention of letting her cut me off so when the light went green I mashed the gas and pulled away.

Honda torque?? I don't think so.
1997-2001 Altimas have a ton of torque and should be able to beat a newer 4cylinder accord.

 

[geno]

edit, misread the year

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: bubbadu
So my dad works at Toyota here in VT, and was the first person on the east coast to be certified to sell them. He was one of the first people in north america to drive one when he took home the japenesse verison several years ago, and he brought the new 04 model home tonight.

This car is AMAZING. It is the ulimate geek car in every way. All you have to have is the remote in your pocket and just touch the handle and the car unlocks. It even has push button start. The navigation is AWESOME, and it guided me to Mcdonalds no problem I even floored it around a turn and handled suprisingly well. It even has freaking bluetooth and a microphone built into the dash The HID display was really neat and they have really increased the size of the car, but kept the milage up. 60 miles in the city! Thats just nuts. Overall I would definlty by one, but my car is 21 years old and I cant afford 25K. I will have to take some pics before he takes it to one of the local colleges tomorow, but damn everyone should go buy one now.

I hated the first gen prius. Hope the 2004 looks better. Aztek had a lot of nice features, but ugly is ugly. That said, I love our Camry. Great car.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

but kept the milage up. 60 miles in the city! Thats just nuts ... but damn everyone should go buy one now.

Sure, the mileage is quite impressive, but it's still one person driving around in *one* car -- which tends to clog up the roads. People need to rely more on public transportation.

As soon as public transportation runs on time (to the minute), come by the stop every 5 minutes so I don't have to get somewhere a half-hour early if I don't want to be late, drops me off at the door of my destination, doesn't necessitate my having to get packed in like a sardine next to a guy who hasn't showered aince 1973, and offers a realistic amount of storage space so that I don't have to pile everything in my lap I'll think about considering it.

Public transportation just plain sucks. So do cities in general, but that's another rant.

ZV

 

[ReiAyanami]

I'll buy a Prius the day gas is 20 dollars a gallon AFTER accounting for inflation. Otherwise, I will prefer to keep my balls firmly attached. I don't care if the damn thing got 800mpg it still looks like a rubbermaid tub that has spares for wheels.


think of it this way, if everybody here drove a hybrid, our foreign independence on oil would be cut ENTIRELY. no more foreign wars for oil. could save $87 billion a year...

which we can use on useful things like $250 billion JSF's and $300 billion missile shields, you know the type of technology that will help us survive WW3 that we will not be involved in...

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech

but kept the milage up. 60 miles in the city! Thats just nuts ... but damn everyone should go buy one now.

Sure, the mileage is quite impressive, but it's still one person driving around in *one* car -- which tends to clog up the roads. People need to rely more on public transportation.

As soon as public transportation runs on time (to the minute), come by the stop every 5 minutes so I don't have to get somewhere a half-hour early if I don't want to be late, drops me off at the door of my destination, doesn't necessitate my having to get packed in like a sardine next to a guy who hasn't showered aince 1973, and offers a realistic amount of storage space so that I don't have to pile everything in my lap I'll think about considering it.

Public transportation just plain sucks. So do cities in general, but that's another rant.

ZV

I rely on public transportation. If I didn't have that, I couldn't get to school and back.
And its usually on time and the trains come every 5 minutes (buses are another story though).

It is packed during rush hour though.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: Aimster

Honda torque?? I don't think so.
1997-2001 Altimas have a ton of torque and should be able to beat a newer 4cylinder accord.

People like you need to be quiet when you don't know wtf you're talking about.

K24 accord makes 150 wheel TQ, more WTQ than WHP.

In fact, accords make as much torque at the wheels as the 97-01 altima makes at the crank.