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It's your call. In my tattered book, PC stands for personal choice, not politically correct – whether it's hybrids or Hummers. (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-autoshybrid_24emp.ART0.State.Edition1.4d54bc4.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2009_Honda_Civic_Hybrid.jpgTerry Box - Dallas Morning News - Aug 24, 2008

Unplug me, please.

After a week in an '08 Toyota Prius and an '08 Honda Civic Hybrid, I'm zapped. Don't get me wrong: These cars practically lumber down the road from the weight of their vast technologies. As you know, both can smoothly blend dinky 4-cylinder gas engines with electric motors for decent propulsion – no small feat.

The chiseled Prius – which I'm pretty sure is the official drive-by car for the Green Mafia – is the real California star of the two, widely loved by eco-celebrities like Big Al Gore and some of his enviro movie-star buddies.

If you don't mind, pass me the No-Doz and Red Bull. I don't want to nod off at a red light, asleep at my high-tech wheel.

Pardon the little geezer attack, but I want to drive a car I can hear, a car that doesn't turn itself off at every red light. (My '56 Chevy often did that – usually with a shudder or a loud pop or two – but it would never restart.) I also prefer a car with a real transmission and something with a little mischief in it.

But that's just me. And I fully understand that most people are mesmerized by hybrids – maybe rightly so…http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-autoshybrid_24emp.ART0.State.Edition1.4d54bc4.html

You have GOT to be kidding me! How much power did this guy expect out of a pair of 110 HP compact cars?! If he wants power like a Dodge Viper then he should got one of those, but don't expect 40-50 MPG.

What's with the CVT hate? Personally, I like a car that is smart enouogh to figure out the right operational RPM for best gas mileave.

Overweight? Compared to what?

If he wasn't getting a lot of EV operation, it's probably because he treats the gas pedal as a toggle switch (ie either fully engaged or fully disengaged).

This is one of the worst car reviews I've read in a long time. It just goes to prove that all you need to be a "journalist" is to have a word processor and an email address.

I'd have to join in his attack on Cvt's but little else. The Cvt gears for performance, not fuel economy. If they change that then I'd go for it. What people like him call "poor acceleration" and "boring" and "plain to drive" and so on is what really means great gas mileage, a regular car that doesn't need thousands upon thousands to maintain, and something that doesn't do 0-60 < 6 seconds like he wants.

His comment regarding the Prius: I even managed a subpar – but great for me – 42.6 mpg average in it.

That tells you all you need to know about that fool, especially since it was in warm Texas weather.

Harry

Yeah the prius puts me asleep too. It would be neat if you put a straight pipe exhaust on it though.

You'd pull away from a light silently off of just the battery, and then bam, car sounds like a loud buzzbomb out of nowhere.

I'd have to join in his attack on Cvt's but little else. The Cvt gears for performance, not fuel economy.

Uhh...what? A CVT gears for exactly what you need, when you need it, keeping the engine ideally loaded under all but extreme low and high power demand. It doesn't get any more FE than that unless you get rid of the ICE completely.

I have a 2007 Dodge Caliber with the CVT and I love it. Both the car and the transmission.

This article is yet another exercise in traditional mediocrity.

It is simply too hard for me to find merit with anything the author stated and while some of his statements find resonance with some, I sure hope his mentality and reasonings will soon go way of the Dinosaurs - if not for his sake at least for ours. :(

Cheers;

MSantos

Should have chimed in earlier.

This is an editorial and Terry Box is an editorialist for the Dallas Morning News.

I will thank him on the other article today he did on Dan and avoided the drafting and AAA cheapshots.

On this editorial - I obvously beg to differ with him...is James Woolsey part of the Green Mafia? Neither am I ( a "hypermiling facist" instead :p )

A clinic could do him good.

A clinic could do him good.

Terrific idea. Maybe sell it to him as a followup editorial? If one of you could Prius experts could convert him that would make a great story for him and for us.

As soon as the guy said "a maximum of 500 volts of power", I knew he was clueless. I almost needed "No-Doz and Red Bull" to finish the BS.

Not a horrible article, though it's obviously written from the perspective of someone who thinks a 5000 pound behemoth is a "normal" car. Having learned to drive in the 1980s when the Prius would have been considered a pretty good sized car, some of his observations sure seem strange to me.

How does the same guy who thinks these cars are "overweight" also think 16" wheels and a 195mm tire section width are tiny? Back when i was learning to drive, those were HUGE. Even fullsize cars didn't have 16"s, and a lot of the 70s barges only had tires marginally wider than P195 either.

And 0-60 in 10 is slow? I know I'm a geezer at over 40 here, but I remember when that was considered pretty peppy. Most production cars in the late 70s and 80s could NOT do 0-60 in 10. I still have no need for a car any faster than that. I don't deny that faster is FUN, and I have owned faster cars and had some pretty serious fun -- but I don't NEED it, and in this day and age I don't WANT it either. For what it's worth, I've had over-10-second cars that were pretty fun too.