Are You Excited On Upcoming Hybrid Cars? Civic Vs. Prius

**pixelparadigm** · January 25th, 2006 12:02 PM

Hybrids and sporty driving doesn't come together always. Top Gear rated the Prius one of the worst understeerers of its class (is it a subcompact? is it a proper sedan?).

**niky** · January 25th, 2006 12:39 PM

The Prius is a compact, just like the Corolla.

It understeers badly because it has low-rolling resistance tires, and an electronic stability program that has to work overtime to keep it on the road. Thin tires=poor grip, but terrific fuel economy. If the Prius had the same tires as other, regular road cars, it would probablylose about 2-5 km/l off its claimed highway economy.

**eljo3025** · January 25th, 2006 08:12 PM

Well, for me I don't really care about performance especially living here in Metro Manila. Heck, I can't even make decent 120 km/h both in NLEX and SLEX... So the point of having a HYBRID is consuming less gas and flaunting your money. PERIOD...

**ale828** · January 26th, 2006 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by raine_s

im in orange county now
the honda hybrid is here na, as usual all the new cars are here
bulok talaga sa manila...

Actually i was surprised that honda didn't release the civic the same time as they did in other parts of the world. Previous gen civic's release were only a few months apart.

i beg to differ in your opinoion thou. i think the US has one of the worst car markets in the world. Try living in Japan and Europe and you will see one of the most beautiful and best preforming cars that you will never see in the US.

**niky** · January 27th, 2006 04:03 PM

Depends naman. The US gets some good cars, and they're relatively cheaper there than elsewhere.

For sport compacts, the US got the Honda Civic Si (not quite like the Type R, but there are tons of aftermarket power adders), the Mazda MP3 and MSP (Lynx RS and RS Turbo) as well as the MP5 (Lynx 2.0 wagon!!!), the classic Sentra SE-R (Integra GSR competitor, despite having less power), the new Sentra SE-R (175 hp, lots of torque, only in the US), the Dodge SRT4 (arguably the fastest accelerating factory FF ever), the Cobalt SS (US Only), the Altima SE-R (US Only, almost as fast as the SRT4) as well as the usual suspects, the Eclipse, Evo, WRX, Silvia (albeit with a poor engine), Miata, Mazdaspeed (turbo) Miata, all generations of MR2, etc...

For muscle, they get the Dodge Magnum (US Only), Corvette, Viper, 300C, etc...

For luxury, they get BMW (except the M3 CSl, which sold very poorly anyway), Audi, Mercedes, Maserati, etc...

What they don't get is Alfa Romeo (which we don't get either... beautiful cars, but only recently has their build quality become acceptable), a couple of small production European sports cars like TVRs and Marcoses (which we don't get)... but they still get the Noble, the Saleen, the Ultima... Caterhams... Ferraris, Porsches...

Oh, and they didn't get the old Skyline and VR4 Galants... but almost nobody got those except Japan and the UK and Australia (through the gray market).

There are a whole bunch of cars I wish we could get that are only available in the US.

**ale828** · January 28th, 2006 02:01 PM

Well yes it depends. If your a muscle car lover then the US is a hot bed and the best in the world, but other cars sold in the US have better counterparts in other parts of the world plus here in the phil you can always import any car you want as long as you have the money. You can't say that in the US, their emissions requirment are so strict.

**empy** · January 28th, 2006 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by ale828

i think the US has one of the worst car markets in the world. Try living in Japan and Europe and you will see one of the most beautiful and best preforming cars that you will never see in the US.

really? why do you say that?

it's true that some great cars are not available here, but it's getting better. still no TVR or Holden, but the Evo, WRX STi, Lotus Elise, euro-spec BMW M3, Audi RS4/RS6, Porsche GT2 are all here now. even the R34 skyline is now available in limited (converted) quantities.

i guess there is a price we have to pay for having stringent safety and clean air standards.

speaking of the car market, thanks to good financial markets a new college graduate can own a new BMW M3. thanks to (still) cheap gas prices owning an Expedition or Excursion is still relatively affordable. thanks to safety and consumer laws i'm far less likely to buy a lemon or a deathtrap. thanks to competition i have 10 dealers within 50 miles fighting to sell me a car at a cheaper price. i haven't even talked about the huge, well-maintained highways that you can blast down (bring your radar detector)

yes, it's a shitty market :bwahaha:

ever owned a car in Europe or Japan?

**niky** · January 28th, 2006 08:48 PM

And pay 100 pesos per liter of gas (in Europe...)? No thanks! :lol:

**ale828** · January 29th, 2006 03:42 PM

I mean the choices in the US car market are not as good as compared to those in Europe and Japan. And that includes the second hand car market. The choices for car nuts in places like Japan and Europe are almost endless. with cars from manufacturers plus those modified by tuner being offered is inumerable. But the US market is vastly improving as compared to a decade ago. Cars like the US only subaru sti with a 2.5liter turbo engine plus The US has the most number of Hybrid cars for sale which include cars like the Escape Hybrid and Lexus RX hybrid. The US has the largest hybrid market around.