TOYOTA PRIUS [merged threads]

[niky]

And if you really wanted to save on gas, you wouldn't get the SUV in the first place... :lol:

[number001]

Speaking of hybrid SUVS...

A four-wheel-drive version of the Lexus RX400h goes about13 Km/li in the city and 11 km/li on the highway, according to Toyota.

[nugundam93]

Speaking of hybrid SUVS...

A four-wheel-drive version of the Lexus RX400h goes about13 Km/li in the city and 11 km/li on the highway, according to Toyota.

why a lower figure in the highway?

[niky]

Because the hybrid system does most of its savings in traffic, when the engine is off. Those figures are likely for US conditions, though... I'd expect it to dip to 8-9 km/l highway for the Philippines and maybe 10 km/l in traffic, due to both the heat and congestion.

[eggman]

I think mga rich guys lang ang bibili ng Prius.Sorry bibili nalang ako ng RAV 4!

[ale828]

I think the reason for the lower fuel economy of the hybrid in the highway is due to the gas engine it has. usual gas engines in hybrid cars are really low displacment models that has a hard time pulling the heavier weight of the hybrid car plus the batteries. This equates to a lower fuel economy on highway roads were the gas engine does most of its work.

[eljo3025]

IMO if I were to buy between a Jazz or a Prius given that I have the enough income to do so, I will choose DEFINITELY THE PRIUS... Even if you say the economical benefits doesn't match the economical cost, THE PRIUS is still worth it because it can mean a HIGH STATUS SYMBOL compared to other economic car counterparts... And if I have 1.5 million to buy a car I won't get a Toyota Fortuner or AN ALTIS plus 700K of another car... BUYING A PRIUS ONLY MEANS THAT I HAVE THE MONEY TO SPEND TO FEEL GOOD KNOWING I SPEND LESS GAS THAN A FORTUNER (THAT PRACTICALLY EVERYONE HAS...) BUT YOU CAN STILL GET THE SAME RESPECT FOR HAVING SPENT 1.5 MILLION IN A SEDAN...

[niky]

The Prius is the current favorite poseur's choice... thus, Hollywood actors are going ga-ga over it. But it's merely a conceit... as soon as the first hybrid SUVs hit the market, they're going to be trading in their Priuses for those.

That's the problem with the Prius. It only sells to rich people who want to feel like they're doing something for the environment. If they really wanted to do that, though, they should just bike.

A Prius will use nearly the same amount of gas and emit the same amount of pollutants as a 1.0 to 1.3 liter supermini, with the added problem of battery disposal every eight years or so (and those batteries are toxic). Thus, I'd rather buy a Jazz or City.

The true solution to the fuel crisis is either more efficient engines, alternative fuels, or full-electric engines. The Prius, while a remarkable engineering feat, should serve merely as a springboard for technologies that should be integrated into ALL cars. Not just toys for the rich.

The Prius is merely Toyota's way of advertising its eco-friendliness... which is a lie. Toyota's corporate average fuel economy has gone way down in the last few years, as they sell more big engined cars and trucks than anyone else in the world. If Toyota were really eco-friendly, they would stop selling V8 cars and SUVs.

That's why I'm all for Honda. Even when they do make trucks and SUVs, they try to make them fuel efficient by using technologies like cylinder shut-off (standard on many US Honda V6s at the moment) and by not equipping them with high displacement V8s. Even Honda's new pickup uses a V6. Of course, their 2.0s are guzzlers at the moment, but the new Civic is getting an ultra fuel-efficient 1.8, and I'm hoping they will be getting CVTs for their CRVs and Civics soon, which should help fuel efficiency. Honda's CVTs are proving to be the most fuel efficient automatic transmissions ever.

Honda also has hybrids, but it doesn't proclaim them as world savers... they make the badging discreet, and they try to see if people will buy them on their own merits, not just because they're hybrid. And Honda has already put fuel-cell cars into production (ahead of Toyota) and natural gas powered cars (again, ahead of Toyota). They're looking at fuel-efficiency for all their cars... not just one of them.

[newbie_123]

Finally the PRIUS is available in the Philippines! I would like to know if you are willing to buy such a pricey car to save your fuel consumption for the long run... Let me know boys and girls!

[OTEP]

Sabi nila its a car that pretends to love the earth. Hybrid power and all. But the resources needed to produce one car is astounding also (owing to the use of exotic materials). Usually gumagamit nito sa U.S. ay mga celebrities na gusto gumawa ng 'statement'.

I won't consider getting one.

[newbie_123]

gee, I wasn't aware of that...what kind of exotic materials are they using anyway? indulge me

[OTEP]

I don't really have much interest in the Prius so I didn't really pay much attention.

Mostly materials used in the batteries and other lightweight materials used to keep weight down. I think I saw it in Car and Driver or another U.S. mag. Sorry not much help there. I'm not really a fan of green cars that shout 'hey I'm green!'.

[newbie_123]

I don't really have much interest in the Prius so I didn't really pay much attention.

Mostly materials used in the batteries and other lightweight materials used to keep weight down. I think I saw it in Car and Driver or another U.S. mag. Sorry not much help there. I'm not really a fan of green cars that shout 'hey I'm green!'.

Well we can't please everybody but I wish they would build green cars that would look a bit more sporty and more style as well.

[empy]

Sabi nila its a car that pretends to love the earth. Hybrid power and all. But the resources needed to produce one car is astounding also (owing to the use of exotic materials). Usually gumagamit nito sa U.S. ay mga celebrities na gusto gumawa ng 'statement'.

the same celebrities whose other car in the garage is a Lambo or Aston Martin, and hop around the world in private jets :hihihi:

[OTEP]

the same celebrities whose other car in the garage is a Lambo or Aston Martin, and hop around the world in private jets :hihihi:

Natumbok mo! They pull up to the red carpet in a Prius for all the world to see. But the rest of the year they're in their blinged-out H2's riding ond Dubs.

[AG4]

Finally the PRIUS is available in the Philippines! !

Officially sold here? How much?
I though they were just going to bring a unit for display at the 2nd World of Toyota Mototshow(Sept.22-28).
Toyota Prius

What about a Ford Escape Hybrid? Is it a Diesel engine also?

Escape Hybrid uses a 2.3 liter Gasoline engine + electric motor.

The Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid are Full hybrids and can run on pure electric power.
The 2nd gen Prius uses an electric aircon.

The Honda Civic Hybrid's system is known as an Assist hybrid.
Assist Hybrids can't run on their electric motor alone, its either the gasoline engine only or the gasoline engine + the electric motor.

[carlocaraddict]

ang alam ko idodonate ng toyota yung PRius sa govt. Well, malalaman ko mamaya, aattend ako ng opening ceremonies.

[niky]

I can't remember who made the study, but I know it wasn't Ford.

Yes, Expeditions cost very little in terms of material and money... that's why Ford makes so many! They make megabucks off of what they sell them for.

RE: Prius, there's still no official word... same with the Honda Civic Hybrid which Honda was test marketing.

There really isn't much of a market for hybrids here in the Philippines... people who want to save money on gas will get something like a Picanto or a Jazz/City... cars which can almost match the Prius's real world efficiency, yet which cost less than half as much as a new Prius.

A Prius would likely cost 1.7 to 2 million pesos in Philippine currency. By the time you've made back your money on a Prius versus a Picanto, both cars will be around 20 years old or so... with nearly half a million kilometers on them... and the Prius would be on its second set of batteries, which may cost a couple of hundred thousand pesos more...

Hybrids make more sense as a luxury or performance item... a way to have more power while using a bit less gas. Like turbodiesels... but even more so... From an economy point of view, they're not viable.... yet.

But they may never be viable. A single-engine LPG, CNG, turbodiesel or even pure electric car makes more sense from an economy standpoint.

[number001]

Our gov't has a Gen1 Prius. Saw it being serviced at Toyota Bicutan last Jan.

[orly_andico]

i also saw a Civic Hybrid recently with a government plate and Department of Energy stickers.

as for the Prius being more environmentally-unfriendly than an Expedition.. actually it turns out it's a Hummer:

Yet according to a new research report, Dust to Dust: The Energy Cost of New Vehicles From Concept to Disposal, the lifetime energy cost of new hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius is 67% greater than the often-vilified GM Hummer.

To reach these conclusions, Art Spinella and his colleagues at CNW Marketing spent 3 years collecting data onall the energy costs — everything from the steel miner’s fuel to the recycling plant’s energy bill — for 311 vehicle models sold in the US. (Most of the models covered were manufactured between 2002 and 2005.) They then summed the lifetime energy cost and divided it by the expected useful lifespan to arrive at total energy cost/mile.

According to the study, a Hummer H3 has a lifetime energy cost $1.95/mile. The Toyota Prius costs $3.25/mile. A conventional Honda Accord cost $2.18/mile versus $3.29/mile for the hybrid version. The most fuel-efficient vehicle was the Scion xB,at a mere $0.48/mile. Most expensive? The Mercedes Benz Maybach, at $11.58/mile. The average energy cost per mile for all vehicles was $2.28/mile.

In order to prevent accusations of bias, the study was self-financed, and no one in the industry was made aware of the study until the results had been published. They assumed that gasoline would cost $3.00/gallon, and all costs were translated into 2005 U.S. dollars per mile.

Why do Hummers use so much less energy than the Prius? It’s true that a Hummer gets much lower gas mileage than a Toyota Prius: 11 mpg vs. 55 mpg. However, the Hummer uses many parts from existing product lines. Therefore, much of the design and tooling costs are amortized over GM's entire fleet of vehicles, not just a single product line.

The Hummer is also made mostly out of steel; the Prius, lightweight carbon fiber. The new carbon fiber construction required new tooling, and new, more expensive techniques for disposal and recycling. Thus, while the Prius may consume less energy on the roads of LA, it may impose higher energy costs in Japan (where it is manufactured) or the breaker yards (where it is recycled).

Critics of the study argue that Spinella did not credit hybrids with a sufficiently long lifespan. The study assumed that Prius only had an expected useful lifetime of 109,000 miles, whereas the Hummer H3 was assumed to have a useful lifespan of 207,000 miles. Spinella points out that Toyota supplied the expected lifetime miles for the Prius. However, he agrees that the Prius may prove to last much longer than Toyota predicts, in which case, the energy cost/mile would be lowered.

He also agrees that as hybrid technology improves, sales volume increases, and the cost of disposal declines, the gap between hybrids and non-hybrids will narrow. Perhaps eventually, hybrids will even best Hummers in total energy cost.

In the meantime, however, if Spinella’s report is right, current Hummer drivers should not feel ashamed to drive their vehicles on environmental grounds.

http://cnwmr.com/nss-folder/automotiveenergy/ (original article, humongous)
http://www.theatlasphere.com/columns...sch-hummer.php