Warren Halsey

My 993s stablemate is a Volkswagon New Beetle with the Turbo Diesel. I can get as many as 800 miles on a tank (16 gallons). Biodiesel is part of its diet as well. It has great torque for a small 1.9 liter engine. With some modifications (chip, nozzles, intake mods, exhaust mods), power output is up better than 50% over stock and the torque curve is cool. It blows a little soot at WOT, but I guess that's part of the price to be able to pull a small trailer easily. The Beetle will run 130MPH as well. I tell my wife that it's my way of conserving some finite resources. The newest diesel technology will allow them to compete, if not blow away the efficiency and environmental cleanliness of the current gasoline based hybrids. VW is touting a 2 liter diesel with 205 HP and 295 ft/lb torque. That's 1.7 HP/ci. By the way, I never clog up the passing lanes in any car that I drive. Around Chicago, minivan drivers are the enemy, as they languish in the fast lane.

texas911

I just bought a Prius in March. I love it. There is a lot of negative backlash out there towrds Prius's and lots of mis-information. Like this story that a Prius is environmentally worse than a Hummer because of the way it was built. In short, its BS. Some fake rightwing "reporting" agency put out a report that claims, amoung other things, that Toyota caused an environmental disaster in Canada because it stripped mined nickel for the Prius battery. But that is BS. That strip mine has been strip mining since the 1800's. True Toyota buys nickel to make the batteries in its hybrids, but it buys not even .5% of the mine's output. Who else buys the nickle? Every car maker because nickle is used to make stainless steel amoung other things. Then the reporting agency claimed the life span of the Prius battery is only 90,000miles! Nevermind that Toyota warranty's it for 100,000 and lots of owners are well over that on their original batteries. This fake report is the main ammo for mis-information and its been debunked many times over.

pcar964

Anyone driving a Prius by choice is an idiot. There is absolutely no reason to drive one, at all. They're more expensive to run than a comparable non-hybrid. Their gas mileage is overstated anyway. It is, however, an excellent microcosm of the global warming frenzy at large: nothing but a feel-good issue based entirely on hype and myopia, with no basis in reality.

DC from Cape Cod

Not as bad as selling/buying carbon credits....what a pile of horse**** those are.

RallyJon

Now where's that photo of a Prius going down the same assembly line as a Boxster?

texas911

Typical uninformed view point as usual. There are plenty of reasons to buy one. First its emissions are near zero. The mileage may be overstated but the EPA also down graded every mpg rating this year, detractors forget that part. And how is it more expensive to run than a comprable non hybrid? Name one mid sized car that is rated at anywhere near the mpg of the Prius? Can't name one can you? As usual, making off the cuff remarks without know anything about the subject matter.

I think that people hate the Prius because its the popular thing to do. Even though they no nothing about it.

RallyJon

People don't hate the Prius. They hate the stereotypical Prius driver. Hybrids (and environmental extremism/advocacy in general) do tend to attract the most loathesome, self-centered people.

texas911

Its just an easy target. I see plenty of idiot drivers driving all makes of cars. Even Porshe drivers! Its the same thing when people post that when they drive their Porsche, that the world is out to get them, when all it is, is the typical bad drivers.

Edward

Can you say "Inconvenient Truth" ?



Environmentalism is the new fascism. You don't buy in to THEIR definition of environmentalism, you're an evil corporatist bowing at the altar of Big Business. Anyone notice that they've even coined new enviro-speak: "carbon offsets," "carbon footprint," "enviro-consensus" ... UGH!! Truth and real science has nothing to do with it. Quick, where's the Porsche content on this thread. Oh yeah, 911s rule!! --did I mention that I get about 20mpg ...that's serious SmilesPerGallon.


Edward

pcar964

lol

pcar964

When you factor in the purchase price of the car, compared to a non-hybrid car of similar performance, the "cost to run" is higher on the Prius in many cases. The zero emissions thing is a straw man, firstly because it's NOT zero emissions, and secondly because it doesn't make any real difference. If you fly an airplane once a year, breathe oxygen every day, or eat a steak once in a while, you're contributing to "greenhouse gases" more than could ever be offset by your lower emission car.

texas911

Do you even read the posts? Oh, yea, of course not, only your opinon counts! But I'll try to debate with you.

I said, NEAR zero emissions, in fact the Prius is classified as a Partial Zero emissions car. While just living contributes to greenhouse gasses, by driving a Partial Zero car still cuts the emissions compared to driving a standard car. Duh, we're talking about cars here. And for all you emissions haters, go to any large, third world city that has cars with no emissions controls and tell me it doesn't make a difference.

I'm not a greenie, but thanks for labeling me as one. I bought it because its a cool high tech car. That gets kick *** mileage ($3/gallon premiem here in Houston), very quiet, comfortable and has lots of cool gadgets. And its lighter than my 993!

ScubaJKD

I would like to buy some carbon credits and real estate in New Orleans please!

jangobox

+1
The touch screen is pretty damn cool as well as the backup camera, GPS, bluetooth, HID, digital odo etc........

Ray S

That's just not true. Here's a news flash for you, the Prius runs on gas just like a Hummer. Sure Toyota has found a unique way to recover braking energy but that doesn't change the fact that it is powered by gasoline. It's emissions are far from zero. It does qualify as a SULEV, but then so do a bunch of conventional cars like the Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Pontiac Grand Prix, BMW 325i, Buick LaCrosse, Buick Lucerne, Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Status, and many more.

Of course if you just drive a Ford Focus it's hard for you to stick your nose up in the air and pretend your are saving the planet.

You are not calculating the purchase price into the equation. It is well documented that at current fuel prices the financial justification for most hybrids just is not there yet. In other words your are really better off just buying a conventional fuel efficient car (again it is hard to stick your nose up in one of those).

Have fun when it comes time to replace those batteries. BTW, when that time comes where do you plan to dump the used ones??

I agree with Clarkson, I'd take a Golf Diesel over a Prius anyday.