Ideal Bite

Hi, Biters Having been the proud owner of a Prius for almost a year (after 5 months on the waiting list!), my vote for coolest goes to the PRIUS. Also worth mentioning is the new Mercury Mariner (http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releases/pr2005-07-11.asp).

Hybrids can get even more bang for the *bite* if you cash in on state and federal tax rebates! For more info on federal rebates, check out: http://www.aceee.org/transportation/hybtaxcred.htm http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax_hybrid.shtml And for rebate info by state, see: http://www.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/vbg/progs/laws.cgi

I had the original Prius (2001) for 3 years. Loved it. Put my name on the list for the new Prius, the Highlander and the Lexus RX400h a little over a year ago. I decided to go for the Lexus when it came up (got one of the first) in May 2005 after thinking that the Prius was a bit too small for my only car. And assumed that it would get at least 27mpg or so since I got a consistant 38mpg on the Prius (and I drove it hard, non of this babying acceleration) Well, you can't beat the laws of Physics. The RX400h is a BIG car campared to the Prius. The Prius (2005) was designed from the bottom up to be a hybrid. The RX400h is an RX330 SUV converted to Hybrid. So its very sub-optimal In reality I never get worse than about 21.5mpg, usually 22mpg and the best ever on a trip from SF to Seattle was about 24.5mpg. I don't drive the Lexus hard as I did the Prius but the Lexus is INCREDIBLY powerful and its very heavy compared to the Prius. So it uses the 6 cylinder engine a lot more than the Prius used its 4 cyliinder engine for low speed movement. And if you were to use it to actually pull a trailer, it would end up being much worse as it would always be using the internal combustion engine. Hybrids are a good first step towards real efficient vehicles, but they are not magic. They do improve noxious emissions (not carbon though) more dramatically than pure internal combustion. But we still need to go much further to really solve the problems of transporation energy consumption.

(Ideal Bite-"Hybrids are Hot") Great to promote Hybrids but it's counterproductive to talk about about how fast and quickly they can go. Its one thing to say in an emergency situation they are as responsive as conventional cars and quite another to boast how quickly you can be moving in 8 seconds. Driving fast (100mph?) totally negates that 50--60 mpg fuel usage.

I totally agree, it's ridiculous for a vehicle to go 100mph, where in this country are the speed limits that high? In reality, if people would drive a little slower, maybe even obey speed limits once in a while *gasp!* even conventional vehicles would get dramatically better gas mileage. Fuel efficiency peaks at 60mph. After that, you lose 10% of your efficiency for every 5mph over that you drive. That means if your car typically gets 30mpg, at 65mph you're actually only getting 27mpg, at 75mph that number drops to 24mpg. That's a radical difference. Hybrids are a step in the right direction, but they are not the ultimate answer. People need to learn how to get the most efficiency out of whatever vehicle they are driving--Ideal Bites should really have a blog about that.

Love, love, love my Prius. I average 47 miles per gallon with metro Boston driving, but I do drive it lightly. The Prius is supposed to get better mileage in the city than on the highway, but we haven't found that to be the case. We averaged 55 MPG on a recent NYC trip, and my husband pulled off a 60 MPG trip to Deer Isle, Maine. We will be ordering a 2nd Prius for my husband. Lastly, I haven't found the Prius to be too small. We had to carefully optimize our luggage for a 10-day California trip where we rented a Prius, but in terms of passenger space (for my husband, 2 kids, and myself), we were quite comfortable. As for anyone driving a vehicle that gets 8 or 9 mpg, they should be very ashamed! If they aren't ashamed, then they haven't done their homework. Our economy's dependence on cheap foreign oil puts us in a very vulnerable place!!!

There was a great article in the WSJ about Ford's decision to invest more in hybrid technology and to develop lines of hybrids for their top sellers. I think a lot eco conscious consumers now are willing to pay the extra for the technology but the market really needs to be stimulated to get the boost it needs to be competitive. The Hummers got big because of big flashy names in Hollywood started busting out in the car. I think the same thing needs to happen with hybrids, but not with shy modest stars like Cameron Diaz. My idea is for some big rap star like Kayne West to give some hype to the hybrid. Kayne West is ideal because he projects a more sophisticated, intelligent image of a rap artist. He has flair but respect. Who knows with hte right publicist hybrid technology could become the next in thing, with hybrid limos becoming the new big prom accessory.

March 13, 2007 Hummers More Eco-Friendly Than Prius Moonbatmobiles Toyota's Prius, aka Pious, is a favorite among the sort of gullible moonbats who proudly believe their choice of vehicle contributes to a healthier planet. As always, the moonbats are wrong. Improved EPA tests show that the Prius only gets an average of 45 mpg, which isn't much higher than the Chevy Aveo, a car that costs less than half as much. But the real problem with the overhyped Prius is how much environmental damage it causes to make one. The nickel used in the Prius battery is mined and smelted at a site so ecologically ruined that NASA has used the dead zone around it to test moon rovers. Nicknamed the Superstack, the plant spreads sulfur dioxide all across northern Ontario, causing acid rain. There is no life around it for miles. The nickel is then shipped to Europe, then China, then Japan, then the USA during the long process of becoming the battery in a moonbat's Prius, racking up more transportation miles than Al Gore on a transcontinental eco-campaign. The total energy required to produce and drive a Prius is almost 50% more than that required for a Hummer, an eco-dupe's idea of the ultimate affront to Gaia. Hummers are cheaper to drive, too. Over the 100,000-mile expected lifespan of a Prius, it will cost an average $3.25 per mile. A Hummer lasts three times as long, and only costs $1.95 per mile. Plus Hummers are cool, whereas a Prius looks like something Ed Begley Jr. would drive.

i do not understand how people decide if they like a certain vehicle based on fuel economy like does the gas milage feel as good heated leather seats? does gas milage do you any good when a large suv T-Bones you in your economy tin can? or how about when you travell does having good gas miladge feel good when you have to compromise what you can bring on the trip? have you ever gone shopping and found something you really liked and decided to not get it because it did not fit in your economy tin can. alsoif you get what you want and compromise on other things like eating out getting a 50 inch plazma instead of the 60 ect. the gas for your dream vehicle is not a problem man i love my hummer :)

You Prius owners are a bunch of band-wagon jumping, sniveling Liberal hypocrites...Y'all need to get a life and stop worring about HUMMERS. Compare your gas guzzling gripes of the HUMMER, to the likes of Toyota's Land Cruise or the Lexus equivilant, or the Tahoe, or the Ford Excursion, or the Lincoln Navigator or the Escalade or all the Dodge monstrosities...But still You focus on the HUMMER because you like it and are jealous and secretly wish you could too get away with owning one..but you dug your self into this It's fashionable to be a limp wrist Tree hugging hole and you can't get out..so you become the hypocrite liberal pain in the ass like all the rest of the ill informed morons that attack a US Icon vehicle like the Hummer, because some fool back whenever decided that the Prestigous image of the HUMMER meant confident successful status and we Hummer owners don't follow the left wing Hollywood Liberal croud and you can't can't stand that...Just don't get in my way with that sort of attitude or I'll just fulfill your narrow minded prophecy and run your Prius ass over.