Quote:
|
Originally Posted by boze
Many thanks to all of you for your help - this was an invaluable resource, and I really appreciate the time you all gave to my question.
So I ended up with an Acura TSX. Same amenities as the HAH, same fuel economy but $5K less. And it comes in a 6-speed manual, which is way more fun to drive than an automatic (at least without a CVT, as the HAH has strangely done).
|
I hope you enjoy your TSX. Too bad you didn't fall in love with any of the hybrids. Try to stop thinking about how stupid it is that your engine keeps running when your stopped in rush hour traffic... what can I say your technology (6 speed and all) is about 100 years old.
Joking aside never buy a car you don't love.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by boze
Bottom line is that for now, I'm sorry to say that I'm not a hybrid owner. But I do hope that there are more options out there next time around. My dream (in case anyone from the auto industry is listening!) is a manual transmission hybrid with the amenities of the HAH and at least 40 mpg, as measured on this website. (And AWD would be nice - Audi had a test vehicle a while ago that used the electric motor to power the AWD wheels which I think Toyota copied in their Highlander.) And OK, I'm just one person, but it does seem to me like if you could meet those specs you'd get a lot more hybrid drivers on the road and therefore bigger environmental impact. After all, 1 million cars sold with 10 mpg increases in fuel economy has a much better impact than 100,000 sold with 30 mpg increases. (Not to mention that getting that kind of volume would have to help drive the costs down, so we could start to see bigger motor/engine power ratios...)
Sean
|
It's hard to make a stick **** hybrid. Keeping the battery happy and living long requires quite a bit of clever manipulation. Having a stick **** overides that. The honda insight stick shift is a sweet car and gets insane FE but their batteries seem to fail a lot sooner then their automatic counter part. I think that is beacuse people trick the car into using the battery a lot more. I'm sure this limitation can be overcome but it's not easy.
And in the end I don't think hybrid's are neccesarily for the driving enthusiasts, it's for the people that want a smooth and cheap commuter car. I used to be one that loved to drive hard and I had to overcome that to like the Prius. I still love driving as much but driving a hybrid is another sorta game. Sure I don't corner as hard, pull away as hard but the new game is to use the break as little as possible, maintain speed and coast as much as possible to coax that FE up. To me it's about as much fun as drive "spirited" and I find that you can play my new game a lot more. Spirited driving never works on my commute which in the end is the majority of what I'm driving but my new game is to predict all the red lights so that I can coast in perfectly for when the traffic starts up again. It's actually harder to do then to drive "spirited". Nowadays I think "spirited driving" is just marketing hype and that this too will pass.
Enjoy your car.
/SomervillePrius