I see you have no experience with the Prius. Mine is the second one in the
family; we bought my wife's 2002 new nearly 5 years ago and it has been by
far the most trouble free car I've ever owned. It has needed only routine
maintenance, tires and a replacement windshield (Arizona should be called
"the land of rocks") in all that time. The 2002 I bought with 103K miles
last year has almost exactly the same service history.

I got excited about hybrid technology when I first heard about it around 20
years ago. It's the answer to an engineer's prayer: The flexibility and
responsiveness of an electric car and the range of a fuel powered car.
Better yet, although car engines very rarely get into double-digit
efficiency range, a serial hybrid (not available commercially yet due to the
state of development of the higher power electrics) can manage 15-20%
efficiency.

In the meantime, the series-parallel hybrid power train in the Prius is only
one of its features and was not even in the original design. It was designed
from the ground up as a 21st century vehicle (the project was known as G21 -
see http://www.vfaq.net/docs/Prius_that_shook_world.pdf ). They did a great
job with the interior volume; we've taken long trips with 5 people in my
daughter's '93 Accord and in my wife's 2002 Prius... the Prius is definitely
roomier in back. The current models are even roomier, fitting the midsize
mold.

With the severe weather gone, I'm getting mid-40s mpg again. Much of that is
3 mile commutes, but I got 44 measured mpg on a 340 mile round trip to
Phoenix, complete with 75 mph freeways and a 6000 ft elevation change. And
we haven't seen anything yet.

(And you do reboot your car several times on an average day... that's the
rrr...rrr noise you hear when you turn the ignition key all the way to the
"start" position.)

Mike

On Mar 21, 5:51 pm, "Michael Pardee"

Exacltly. Prius will be remembered at the vacuum tubes of the
early 21st century. I don't like rebooting my cars a few times
a day, but that might just be me silly. I wonder if the same
problems are delaying the production of the bastardized Elise
or Tesla has a simpler system. Someone is going to buy that fat pig
anyhow. There is Exige for half the price with 500 pounds
or so shaved for the rest of the population.

That's how it's life began before Toyoda knitting corporation weighted
it down with the nickel anchor.

Wow - that screwy story is being quoted all over the place. It's hard to
know where to start with what's wrong with it, but a bit of checking into
the history and current status of that nickle plant in Ontario should
clarify just how bogus the story is. After that, consider how miniscule the
fraction of nickle output that goes into Prius batteries is and the
ludicrous assertion that the expected life of a hybrid is 100K miles (mine
had more than that when I bought it, and it drives like new)....

Don't worry, though. You probably won't be forced into buying a hybrid
anytime soon. When conventional power trains can't compete in either power
or efficiency, your choices may be limited, but I bet you could still buy a
20th century car even 30 years from now. Maybe even one with 4-wheel drum
brakes and recirculating ball steering and a Kettering ignition.

When I was a kid fascinated by electronics, the limitations and cost and
complexity of transistors spawned pronouncements that transistors would
never replace tubes. I knew tubes were finally doomed when transistors
became cheaper than tube sockets. Funny what technology does to our world.

Mike

http://omidr.typepad.com/torque/2007/03/toyotas_prius_i.html

maybe fewer hybrid crap will be forced on our shoulders after
all and Ed Markey would finally shut up?
Did Canada sign Kyoto protocol?