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Hi All:

___A “dolt” without a clue… When he starts paying for his college tuition, books, room and board, maybe he will get it?

“The hybrid facade: the truth behind fuel efficiency and costs” (http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2008/10/27/Feature/The-Hybrid.Facade.The.Truth.Behind.Fuel.Efficiency.And.Costs-3507520.shtml)
Prius

The car that started all this malarkey was, of course, the Toyota Prius. Despite its dreadfully appalling looks (honestly, I'd rather look at a wildebeest), the Prius has been one of the best-selling cars in America. This is because it has been marketed as one of the greenest and most affordable cars on the road.

First things first: performance. Well, you get two engines, but combined, they only produce 109 bhp, which to be honest is about the same as a motorized pencil sharpener. As a result, the Prius isn't exactly going to win any races. But then again, you might think a cutback in performance is a small price to pay for a well-suited and environmentally friendly car. Or is it?

One would assume, since it's a partially electric car, it would cause little damage to the environment. B you may be surprised.

The nickel used to make the batteries comes from a mine in Canada. Nickel mining is a filthy business, because it produces a lot of sulfur and acid rain. The nickel is then shipped off on an enormous gas-guzzling cargo ship to Europe, where it's refined.
After Europe, it's shipped to China, where it's turned into a type of foam and then finally shipped to Japan, where Toyota puts it into the battery and into the car.

This all seems a bit complicated, and because it's so complicated to make a Prius, a recent study found that in the long term, it does more environmental damage than a Land Rover Discovery. But is it at least economical?

Toyota claims the Prius does 46 mpg. That's not too shabby, but remember, it costs nearly $22,000. That is nearly a grand more expensive than VW's promising new Jetta TDI diesel, which should do a lot better than 46mpg.

Better buys

If you are looking for a sensible, comfortable and environmentally friendly car, forget the Prius. There are plenty of other great cars from which to choose, such as Volkswagen's Jetta in a 2.5L petrol or 2.0L diesel, or Jetta's new Rabbit model.
___Good Luck

___Wayne

Let's see....he drinks the kool-aid of Dust to Dust, the Sudbury Nickel myth.

He's perfectly entitiled to invest in GM stock instead of Toyota's, but he might consider which is doing better and why? ;)

Never mind - I'd have better chances reasoning with a brick wall.

I never quite understood people bashing hybrids and pure battery electric cars. They'll say that the hybrid creates more soot than making a hummer does, and they'll say with ev's that all the power for the batteries comes from dirty, dirty coal plants.

What the hell kind of car needs to exist to please these people?

And furthermore, even if both of those things are true then great, whatever, it's not happening in my city so why should I even care anyway. It takes the pollution out of the city and that's the important thing.

One day I'm going to get a nasty neck pain from all the time I spend shaking my head in disbelief.

Let's cut the kid some slack. He's an 18 year old freshman at Syracuse. By all accounts it appears he just landed his first university paper column, and so he writes one based upon some "google research".

College is a wonderful time when the world opens up, and one's certitude about the world begins to outpace the complexity of that world. In 5 years he'll be back down to earth. Responses to this column will be a part of that.

Hi Marc:

___I was tempted to take this to the home page but I thought it would lower the IQ of the entire membership just looking at it! I lost a few points reading it myself :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne

We should really blame whoever started the nickel myth for that part.
I blame the EPA for this kid not actually understanding the truth behind the MPG ratings he's seeing.
As far as his complaints about Prius speed and 109 BHP, it's certainly a poor vehicle choice if you want to drive like you're in a stolen Must GT, but once he's 30 years old and paying for his own living expenses and gasoline he'll understand why the Prius made sense.
The unsexy truth of the matter is that you can maintain 55 or better in a 3200 pound vehicle with a 55 HP ICE motor in almost all circumstances.
109 horsepower will push even a 2-ton land boat like a Ford Crown Vic to in excess of our highest speed limit.

Well this is awful!

Also, going back to the electric car comment, electric cars are still cleaner compared to regular conventionally powered gasoline vehicles, even if their electricity comes from coal.

We should really blame whoever started the nickel myth for that part.
I blame the EPA for this kid not actually understanding the truth behind the MPG ratings he's seeing.
As far as his complaints about Prius speed and 109 BHP, it's certainly a poor vehicle choice if you want to drive like you're in a stolen Must GT, but once he's 30 years old and paying for his own living expenses and gasoline he'll understand why the Prius made sense.
The unsexy truth of the matter is that you can maintain 55 or better in a 3200 pound vehicle with a 55 HP ICE motor in almost all circumstances.
109 horsepower will push even a 2-ton land boat like a Ford Crown Vic to in excess of our highest speed limit.


Good idea! What would the 0 to 60 times be?

What would the mpg rating, be too?

Well, now I'm angry. Not because of the article, but because I can't post a comment due to their security image showing up in IE as nothing but a broken "red X."

I like the credit at the end where it says:

James Shomar, a freshman biomedical engineering major, says don't by a Hyundai. His column appears monthly. He can be reached at jashomar@syr.edu.

More evidence the internet caters too much to the ignorant and insane

Hi All:

___A “dolt” without a clue… When he starts paying for his college tuition, books, room and board, maybe he will get it?

“The hybrid facade: the truth behind fuel efficiency and costs” (http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2008/10/27/Feature/The-Hybrid.Facade.The.Truth.Behind.Fuel.Efficiency.And.Costs-3507520.shtml)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

This passage sounds a lot like something that was said on Top Gear a while back. In fact, if not word for word.

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKTOyiKLARk

This passage sounds a lot like something that was said on Top Gear a while back. In fact, if not word for word.

Looks like James Shomar may have commited an honor code violation.

Dude... what's wrong with a hyundai?? ;)

I like the credit at the end where it says:

James Shomar, a freshman biomedical engineering major, says don't by a Hyundai. His column appears monthly. He can be reached at jashomar@syr.edu.

I think they actually intended it to be a picture caption--

"James Shomar, a freshman biomedical engineering major, says, "don't" by Hyundai--when asked whether they should fact check his articles."

:p

Dude... what's wrong with a hyundai?? ;)

That's what I want to know!

That's what I want to know!

Likely nothing wrong with a Hyundai, which is probably why he said, "don't 'by' it" rather than "don't 'buy' it".

If I had a greater ambition to be a comedy writer, I would rewrite the article by changing the references of "hybrid cars" to "college kids whose tuition is paid by mommy and daddy" - and talk about how they are expensive, noisy, underpowered, and harmful to the environment. But that is a rather strident hypothesis, and I fear that nobody would 'by' it.

Well, now I'm angry. Not because of the article, but because I can't post a comment due to their security image showing up in IE as nothing but a broken "red X."

Gotcha covered Brick...;)

My post is finally up....an ex-TMS employee asked I not be to hard on GM: "they are in a different world than Toyota"....that seems to be the problem: Toyota is living in the real world, while Detroit suddently discovered it this year.

Good idea! What would the 0 to 60 times be?

What would the mpg rating, be too?

I used to have a late '70s Mercedes sedan with a 4-cylinder diesel. It made 62 horsepower.
It weighed in at about 3300 lbs, which put it in the mid-sized weight class. Zero to sixty was 19 seconds. So, figure on the 22-24 second range for zero to sixty.
As far as gas mileage goes, you'd get about the same mileage as any other 3300-lb car with decent gearing; horsepower output doesn't change gas mileage, although if the big engine makes your ride heavier that will hurt your mileage.
Hmm. That sentence ran on too long.
If your question related to a Crown Vic with a 110 HP powerplant... that would be a little bit faster than the Mercedes I just outlined. I'd guess on a zero-sixty in the 14 second range, and gas mileage only marginally worse than you see with a 220 HP V8. If you're really fascinated with the question, download Cartest 4.5 on costruct it as a hypothetical...

...If your question related to a Crown Vic with a 110 HP powerplant... that would be a little bit faster than the Mercedes I just outlined. I'd guess on a zero-sixty in the 14 second range, and gas mileage only marginally worse than you see with a 220 HP V8. If you're really fascinated with the question, download Cartest 4.5 on costruct it as a hypothetical...

You're not far off. The Crown Vic of today is a facelifted '79 Ford LTD, which itself was a mildly massaged Torino from the mid 70s. About the same size and weight as the current version, it was available in the early 80s with a standard 255cid V8.
Link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Windsor_engine#255
Horsepower was 115 or 120 - not far off the 110 mentioned. The car was labeled as "lethargic", as most were at that time. But max acceleration was actually faster than what hypermilers are used to. Such a car would never make it in today's market, as the auto press has convinced everyone that we all have a pressing need to hit 45mph before reaching the opposite side of an intersection each time we jackrabbit away from a traffic light.

Heh.
My first car was a '77 Ford LTD with a 460 cube under the hood.
Gobs of torque, but no top-end power...
It got 7 miles to the gallon. Even with gas at 95c/gal, I basically told my boss I refused to accept any shifts shorter than 2 hours; otherwise most of my post-tax wages would go into the gas tank.......

My version of hypermiling was driving real slow down the interstate, trying to drive and make out with my new girlfriend at the same time. I managed 10.66 MPG on that tank....... would've gotten better if we didn't idle it for half an hour behind the one Food Lion in Raleigh...

If I had a greater ambition to be a comedy writer, I would rewrite the article by changing the references of "hybrid cars" to "college kids whose tuition is paid by mommy and daddy" - and talk about how they are expensive, noisy, underpowered, and harmful to the environment. But that is a rather strident hypothesis, and I fear that nobody would 'by' it.


Good One! :)

I drive a 2008 Hyundai Accent GLS 4 door sedan, manual, and love it! I'd love it even more if it had a higher 5th gear to bring engine speed at 60 MPH below 3,000 RPM for the twice a month I drive freeways.

42.0 avg MPG city since purchase June 2008. Last bought gas 10-4-08 some 380 miles ago and have 120 miles to empty.

www.fuelly.com Syundai Driver (Red Right Lane Roller)

I hope that this (apparently quite good) Syracuse undergraduate program is not harmed by one freshman's careless attempts to gain attention. Like Penn State meteorology - what was it, a month ago?

Perhaps I should not worry. Dinesh D'Sousa was just a loose cannon in Dartmouth Journalism when I there, and he has since risen in the ranks of Major Fools. Yet Dartmouth College still stands, ivy still clings to her bricks and serious students still work very hard to get in.

DAs