I think the Instaneous MPG meter really drives home the point in a very beneficial way. Also, I do agree on the less friction/drag as the car decels. It was a very noticable difference when I drove a rental last week in California.

 

I agree that any assitance made to the effort of moving the car apart from ICE is an Hybrid..

 

It was the black car in the end. Little did we know the boys from Delta House were such forward thinking environmental activists and scientists. What we didn't see was at the end of the movie when "Bluto" was driving off, he was hypermiling.

 

From what I've seen on the net, only a small group of Prius elitists seem to not want to believe the HCH is a true hybrid. If people have to attack someone else's car to make their car look better, well that pretty much tells me everything I need to know.

 

I posted this topic to incite a meaningful discussion between the different hybrid technologies, not to bash the HCH. It seems that some people here are a bit touchy on this subject Also, not everything on this board have to serve a purpose, does it?

 

It's really simple.

Two power systems, regardless of whether they act independently or in concert, constitutes a hybrid system. The HCH is a hybrid of two power systems: Gasoline, Electric.

END OF DISCUSSION.

 

This is the best explanation of why we should buy a hybrid I have heard since I got here.

 

Actually, I think the black car was fueled by a form of alcohol (beer, not ethanol), plus some illegal substances and thus was the first green hybrid on record.

Aneil

 

full... mild... wild... blah... whatever...

I don't really care about the differences between HSD and IMA. As long as they're getting the job done. Besides, a little competition is a good thing! But, I'm more interested in the end result: less fuel consumption while making less of an impact on the environment. I'm definitely not an environment junkie, but I do my part when I can.

Which leads me to my next thought. For all those people that say they bought a hybrid for the sole reason of helping the environment: do you realize you would have made an even bigger impact if you just bought a fuel efficient and low emissions USED car? I mean, why add to the problem with just another new car on the road.

On a totally unrelated topic, last night as I was driving the family back from an event about four hours away, I stopped at a gas station to fuel up and get a drink. I chose Vault (Coca Cola) because it was by the register. As I got back into my hybrid and continued on my way, I noticed on the bottom of the label it says "sugar free hybrid." I pointed out to my wife that I had bought a hybrid soda. She was not amused.

 

Have you looked for a 40mpg used car in good condition lately? There is a reason they are hard to find - not many of them have been built the past fifteen years. With the success of the Mini-Cooper, the mini-car demand is finally going up with offering such as the Yaris and Fit, but for a number of reasons, they will not do as well as their 1980's counterparts:

• Better safety - I won't knock better bumpers and manditory airbags, but it does add weight
• Fewer 5-speeds - Automatics have come a long way in thirty years, but manuals are still better
• More emphasis on performance - in 1980, zero to sixty mpg was typically fifteen seconds. Now the demand is ten or less. The Mini-Cooper only gets about 35mpg - about half of the 5-speed Insight.

If you check out www.fueleconomy.gov, the CO2 emisssion of the 1988 CRX HF is nearly as low as the 2000 5-speed Insight. For the other emissions, the difference is considerably more. I'm guessing the CRX HF was rated LEV, while the 5-speed Insight is SLEV, the CVT Insight SULEV. I hate to knock diesels, but unless they are running on the cleaner diesel fuel comming out or bio-diesel, they are not going to look good on emissions...

By all means take a look at the used car market, but be aware the selection of 40mpg vehicles is limited, not even considering many of these vehicles have over 100,000 miles on them. I remember krousdb making a trip to get an Insight, but passed because the condition was suspect, so he got a Del Sol.