Justin Stigall

One word, HYBRID. I just got my Prius (Latin for "Come Before") on the 20th. This car is the computer nerd's dream. LCD display in the front that shows:

• Power Information, shows if i'm using the battery, using the engine, or using the electric motor and the engine.
• Consumption, shows the current millage and the amount of energy regenerated by braking
• Radio, coolest part of all, uses the "Radio Data System" to get the Radio station name and the current song playing! (if the stations supports it, most in big cities do) and it also plays all normal stations.
• Maps, GPS maps (only availible in 2002 model)

This car rocks! Both the gas and brakes are computer controlled (i.e. not connected directly to the engine). And so far I have gotten 46.7mpg with highway driving! There are lots of other cool things about this car, and you can see those here: http://prius.toyota.com

If you wan't one you will probably have to wait till next year (due to high demand and the fact that they are only making a low amount of them this year)

I highly recomend this car, and if you have any questions, just post here or email me at jstigall@indiana.edu

pennypinch

46.7 mpg, and only 10 minutes to do that mile! Hooray!
BTW, my 1999 Expedition had RDS, and so does my father's 1999 911. It ain't that new.
But I'm glad you enjoy your car. Must be nice having to fill up only nice a month...how often do you have to fill up?
And why are you pimping this car so hard?

pennypinch

BTW, you realize Toyota was mandated to produce a car like this by the government? They have to sell cars like this or corollas in order to make high margin models like their pickups or 4Runners. They take a pretty sizable loss on the low-mileage cars, which is probably why they're sellin' them for only $20G's.

Justin Stigall

I'm pimping the car because I love it so much. I didn't realize the RDS system wasn't that new, because nobody I have ever talked to has ever heard of it.

BTW the LCD display is a big color touch screen, its really nice looking too.

[Edited by Justin Stigall on 09-22-2000 at 05:27 PM]

Sandman

What is the top speed on this? I have seen a few hybrids around New England and tend to clog the lanes on the Highways, they seem to have great pickup(especially the all-electric engines), but not much of a top speed.

The Toyota seem to have some pretty cool features like a ceramic rear window sunshade and Al alloy wheels, too bad they didn't put on a size bigger, you would get even better gas mileage. Seems like a cool deal for $20k if you want an economy car especially with the way gas prices are going.
Also when do you have to replace the batteries and much does it cost?

Also most manufacurers take hits on some cars because it gives them good press. Take the Acura NSX I think it takes $20,000 more to produce the car than they sell it for.

Justin Stigall

It has some very good acceleraton, and it tops out at about 100mph. But, if you drive at 100 for more than 30 seconds, the car will automatically slow down (battery drainage), so no high speed chases with the cops for me!

I'm not exactly sure when the batteries need to be replaced, but I think it will be a long time from now

Newbiee

my friends infiniti QX4 also has a touch screen lcd navigation system that also displays the radio station junk if you like listenin to the radio, so thats not really new

TheLoneGunman

I talked to a few dealers about this one (2-3 month wait) and they mentioned that you could take a few grand off your taxes because it was an alternative fuel car or something like that?

If that is true, then it could represent a large savings and make it a great deal

puppie

Hey electric or hybrid cars are the future!! The oil supply is so low, the price is only going to go up. What are you going to do with those powerful V8's when there's no gas to power them? I do like the performance and sound of a real car, hence my own 1969 Pontiac. Most electric cars are designed for economy, that's why they don't shine in performance, but who ever designed the Internal Combustion Engine must have been held hostage by the oil companies. The gas engine is one of the dirtiest most inefficient means of transforming liquid fuel into mechanical energy. If you had an electric motor with the same rating against a gas engine in a car, you would be seeing it's tailights. Electric motors have maximum torque at ZERO RPM!. That's why the EV1 out accelerates the Corvette (at least to 30mph). Just wait until the fuel cell cars come out, and you can have the range of a gasoline car and better mileage than a hybrid.

StonedWheat

Hybrids rocks! I remember on the cover of motor trend a few years ago they had a concept hybrid that had like 600HP and got 80 something miles a gallon. That'll prolly be available after monkey's fly out of my butt though.

__________________
"Cynicism is knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing."

-Oscar Wilde

Startide

While GM has their version of hybrid car, there is also the Honda Insight hybrid. It takes a somewhat different approach in its powertrain as compared to the Prius.

http://www.honda2001.com/insight/homepage.html

You know what, it would be neat to have one of those test drive offers for one of these hybrid cars.
_________________________
Seen on a Bumper Sticker "Remember folks: Stop lights timed for 35mph are also timed for 70mph".

Nanotech9

humm... no offense to the owner, but that is one ugly lookin' car... I think the larger wheel size suggested about would really improve it's looks a lot. like it is, it looks too much like an Echo.

I'm not bashing the cool gadgets and electric propulsion though. I've seriously considered picking up a cheap porsche 914 and converting it. The whole car/conversion costs about $15,000 though, so I kinda decided not to do it. (I mention the 914 because it was the easiest / mos popular to convert, and there were several conversion kits avail. also, with the adaquate power, modified brakes and a little body work, it's a pretty decent car.)

Warning: in my research on EV conversions etc, I found that the batteries neede replacing every 2 years or so.

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puppie

Wait for fuel cells to do your conversion then. You won't have to worry about the batteries as much. I can't wait to do that!