To all you Prius, other Hybrid and solar panel owners:

[Binky]

Because it's a stupid post. The few people I know who have hybrids is to save themselves money at the pump, not some grandiose shout out for the environment.

Do they really save money though... ?

Im being truthful when I say this Maggie, every one of the folks I knew who owned one...(and I know several folks who did) sold em because they didnt "truly" save any money after all was said and done.
They were pieces of junk that were more trouble than they were worth.

I heard that too...and the battery replacement is several thousand dollars.

Well, that's a big ouchie. Thank goodness I don't have one.

 

[Missourian]

The guys with the big cube cars that are walking to work. The people with the fuel sippers can still afford to drive. Kind of obvious, isn't it?

I can't buy a car I can't work on myself.

The money I waste on fuel with my Ford 300 inline 6, I save doing my own repairs.

Plus, I love working on my vehicles. I feel sorry for all the kids that are going to miss out on the joy of fixing the family clunker with the old man under the shade tree.

 

[MaggieMae]

NOW its about saving money.

It was always about saving money on the high cost of gasoline.

History of Hybrid Vehicles | Hybrid Cars

1969
The GM 512, a very lightweight experimental hybrid car, ran entirely on electric power up to 10 miles per hour. From 10 to 13 miles per hour, it ran on a combination of batteries and its two-cylinder gas engine. Above thirteen miles per hour, the GM 512 ran on gasoline. It could only reach 40 miles per hour.

1970s
With the Arab oil embargo of 1973, the price of gasoline soared, creating new interest in electric vehicles. The U.S. Department of Energy ran tests on many electric and hybrid vehicles produced by various manufacturers, including a hybrid known as the “VW Taxi” produced by Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, West Germany. The Taxi, which used a parallel hybrid configuration allowing flexible switching between the gasoline engine and electric motor, logged over 8,000 miles on the road, and was shown at auto shows throughout Europe and the United States.

 

[MaggieMae]

A friend just purchased a Ford Fiesta because at 40MPG (6 speed auto double clutch!!??) it would take over 15 years, (he's a number cruncher), to justify the purchase price of a $32,000 Leaf or a $41K Volt, longer if you had to replace the batteries in that 15 years I'm sure.

By The Numbers: Chevy Volt vs Nissan Leaf

2011 Ford Fiesta gets best in-class EPA rating of 40 mpg highway - egmCarTech

That much is true, that they're still too expensive to purchase to make it worthwhile. But that could change as technology improves.

 

[MaggieMae]

Is it still? I thought they had come down with competition and all...

We looked at buying one in 2009 and the price we found at Toyota's website was $2,588 plus labor and tax. I still have it Bookmarked.

Toyota Announces Price Reduction On Prius Hybrid Batteries

September 24, 2008 - Portland, OR - Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., announced here today at its Sustainable Mobility Seminar that pricing for first- and second-generation NiMH Prius hybrid vehicle (HV) replacement batteries have been reduced by more than 10 percent. The price of the 2000-2003 first-generation Prius battery has been reduced to $2,299, while the 2004-2008 second-generation Prius battery is reduced to $2,588. Prior to this most recent price reduction, both batteries were priced at $2985.

Toyota Vehicles : Toyota Announces Price Reduction On Prius Hybrid Batteries / Toyota


​

I searched to see if there were any new press releases referencing HV batteries...nothing turned up.

Yep... I have a ton of inside info from Toyota techs and the things are junk.

I own several Toyotas... I am all about saving money and saving planet earth, but there comes a time when ya have to use common sense, and that is a scarce resource lately.

If you can't share your "inside" information, then why post it at all? You know no one will believe you without sources. But I digress...of course some will. Whatever was I thinking?!

 

[MaggieMae]

Do you really, I mean really think you're making a difference for the environment? Even though China and India (over two Billion people) have been going through our natural resources like water in the last ten years and pissing it away with extremely little regard on the their impact?

Well, dumb fuck, when gas hits $4 to $6 a gallon this summer, it will surely make a differance for them at the gas pump.

Lets all just ride bikes or walk


who's the dumb fuck now....

I just topped off my tank, in anticipation of another $.50 rise next week, and as soon as weather permits, I'm taking the bus. So I guess I'm just one of those dumb fucks who got along just fine at certain times in my life without a vehicle, and I can do it again if I need to.

That's the problem in general: Nobody wants to give up anything. Gotta have that car to drive a tenth of a mile from home to the nearest 7-11. And here you've got "several Toyotas." Why???

 

[MaggieMae]

Let me introduce you to my "hybrid"

AND YES IT SUX FUEL AND FARTS CO2!

I don't think we're talking about vanity cars that say LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!!

 

[MaggieMae]

Do they really save money though... ?

Im being truthful when I say this Maggie, every one of the folks I knew who owned one...(and I know several folks who did) sold em because they didnt "truly" save any money after all was said and done.
They were pieces of junk that were more trouble than they were worth.

I heard that too...and the battery replacement is several thousand dollars.

Well, that's a big ouchie. Thank goodness I don't have one.

As I recall from my cursory reading about the hybrids, both Honda and Toyota claim that the batteries will last the life of the car and they offer long warranties to support the "worst use case" scenarios. Do you believe every word you see posted on the Internet?

 

[Skull Pilot]

The silence is deafening.....

Because it's a stupid post. The few people I know who have hybrids is to save themselves money at the pump, not some grandiose shout out for the environment.

The money saved in gasoline is negligible when compared to the higher costs of hybrid vehicles.

It takes years to recoup the additional cost of hybrids via savings on gas.

 

[Trakar]

The silence is deafening.....

Because it's a stupid post. The few people I know who have hybrids is to save themselves money at the pump, not some grandiose shout out for the environment.

The money saved in gasoline is negligible when compared to the higher costs of hybrid vehicles.

It takes years to recoup the additional cost of hybrids via savings on gas.

got reference?

Many of the studies I read aren't complete value comparisons, tending to only look at the price of gasoline used or saved. There are more complete assessments available,...a few more posts and I'll put up a few links.

 

[Rogo]

I'm surprised the term "Global Warming" hasn't been brought up yet.

 

[Old Rocks]

Do you really, I mean really think you're making a difference for the environment? Even though China and India (over two Billion people) have been going through our natural resources like water in the last ten years and pissing it away with extremely little regard on the their impact?

Who cares? Making a differance in their pocket books. 50 mpg starting to look real good. Free electricity after the initial investment, particularty as the price of electricity goes up by as much as 10% year, even looks better.

I wasn't aware that China or India had any pumping stations here pumping our water over there? Could you link a site about this?

 

[Old Rocks]

A friend just purchased a Ford Fiesta because at 40MPG (6 speed auto double clutch!!??) it would take over 15 years, (he's a number cruncher), to justify the purchase price of a $32,000 Leaf or a $41K Volt, longer if you had to replace the batteries in that 15 years I'm sure.

By The Numbers: Chevy Volt vs Nissan Leaf

2011 Ford Fiesta gets best in-class EPA rating of 40 mpg highway - egmCarTech

But if they would import the 63 mpg Golf tdi here, he could save even more. And, as some posters here do, use vegitable oil for much of his driving, see a really big savings compared to the rest of us.

 

[whitehall]

Do you really, I mean really think you're making a difference for the environment? Even though China and India (over two Billion people) have been going through our natural resources like water in the last ten years and pissing it away with extremely little regard on the their impact?

Think you are making a difference by driving an expensive electric car? Consider the trips the former House Speaker made to visit her grandkids flying in a taxpayer owned and fueled 747 that uses 3,200 gallons of fuel per hour. How about the Obama chartered fleet of planes that ferried the Chicago fools to Norway to campaign for the olympics or the worldwide apology tour in Obama's first year? The bottom line is that elitist politicians sip the best champaigne in their heavy gas guzzling taxpayer funded limos on the way to the airport to take useless trips at taxpayer expense and they thumb their noses at fools who believe the revolutionary green jargon that oil is evil and American success is the cause of misery countries like Obama's Indonesia home. Look up in the sky on one of those days when the air is still and there is no jet stream and realize that the haze isn't cloud cover. It's the dirty exhaust from hundreds of planes powered by something like the stuff they burn in smoky kerosene lamps.

 

[skookerasbil]

A friend just purchased a Ford Fiesta because at 40MPG (6 speed auto double clutch!!??) it would take over 15 years, (he's a number cruncher), to justify the purchase price of a $32,000 Leaf or a $41K Volt, longer if you had to replace the batteries in that 15 years I'm sure.

By The Numbers: Chevy Volt vs Nissan Leaf

2011 Ford Fiesta gets best in-class EPA rating of 40 mpg highway - egmCarTech

But if they would import the 63 mpg Golf tdi here, he could save even more. And, as some posters here do, use vegitable oil for much of his driving, see a really big savings compared to the rest of us.

Was laughing my ass off the other night listening to The John Bachelor Show on the radio........had an expert on and was talking about electric cars. Who buys them? Only the affluent buy these things...........thought about Old Rocks and the irony of that as he despises peope who are successful and wealthy. He's pushing the greatness of electric cars and who's buying them? ONLY people with lots of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[wirebender]

Each and every hybrid is an ecological disaster.

 

[Si modo]

So, those who buy hybrids are only interested in saving money at the pump, not the environment? Or, maybe more accurately, those who buy hybrids are primarily interested in saving money at the pump and any environmental benefits are gravy? Is that pretty much the gist of known green lefties in this thread?

That's pretty much what I am seeing.

So, if that is the case, then how do the green lefties reconcile this new (to me) rhetoric with their past and vociferous claims about SUV drivers? That they don't care about the environment?

Hmmm.

 

[Old Rocks]

Hmmm..... Care to point out any place where I have taken the drivers of SUVs to task? However, I surely would like to see the electric vehicles become economically feasable. The idea of being able to produce ones own power for not only their home, but also their vehicle is a very attractive goal. Of course, since this is only a help to us lumpen proles, and does not put any money into the pockets of the big corperations, I expect Si to see that as a threat.

 

[Old Rocks]

Each and every hybrid is an ecological disaster.

Each and every post by bentwire is a logical disaster

And just how is that the case, old boy?

 

[Mr. H.]

Hmmm..... Care to point out any place where I have taken the drivers of SUVs to task? However, I surely would like to see the electric vehicles become economically feasable. The idea of being able to produce ones own power for not only their home, but also their vehicle is a very attractive goal. Of course, since this is only a help to us lumpen proles, and does not put any money into the pockets of the big corperations, I expect Si to see that as a threat.

Golf tdi, as you previously posted. Diesel engines are readily available.
Gasoline engines can be converted to CNG.

Could we maybe wean to the lean before embarking on larking?