Nissan Chief: Hybrid Cars Make No Sense

Reuters ^ | Sat Jan 29, 2005 07:44 PM ET

[blackie]

Ya can't have too many vehicles! :)

[pageonetoo]

Not many people have a lift in their side driveway!

[blackie]

You rich guys have all the fun. :)

[NationSoConceived]

The rest of the world is not going to accept the fact that China's internal problems are a reason to continue its policy of undercutting the world's markets by paying its citizens slave wages.

The rest of the world has no choice whether or not to accept it. They can either vote with their wallets, or push the "regime change" option. There is no way to directly force the Chinese government to change the valuation of their currency. If they refuse to allow the market to determine its value, that is both their business and their perogative.

Currently, the rest of the world seems to be voting with their pocketbook, and it seems to be in favor of China's current trade situation. It will change only when it benefits them economically to do so.

Of course, even that will take a minor miracle...the Communists are so ossified that the country is charging ahead headlong without them. The Chinese are capitalists at heart. Communism's hold over the average Chinese subject is very weak indeed.

[Feiny]

My next car is a Prius. My current lease is up in September & am buying a blue one. They are very cool & get great mileage. I have driven SUV's & trucks since 1997 so this is a big change for me. I think the Prius is a great vehicle.

[pageonetoo]

You don't have to be rich to have a lot of cars. I t does cost a lot to keep them up. But, when your wife is the mechanic, the biggest expense is parts!

She is a member in good-standing with over 40 car clubs... and loves to travel. We live near Summit Point Raceway, and get to play on the track... Life is good!

My biggest thrill is riding the back roads in NM, where I can make the dust fly... I bought 45 acres on a 25000 acre ranch, and built a hacienda to visit. There is usually nobody around, and I can chase the antelope... or rabbits!

We're not rich, but we are blessed!

[Keeper of the Turf]

"was spending $60/week on gas...now he is spending $20 every other week" I don't believe it, check your math...his hybrid is getting six times the mileage of his previous vehicle? He gets 40 mpg now where he got 7 mpg before?

It's true. He drives 40 miles each way to work, and remember...he went from a pickup to a Prius. I'm sure his mpg now is way more than 40.

[blackie]

It was tongue-in-cheek remark. :)

We have thee vehicles: a 2001 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning, a '90 Ford Eddie Bauer 4X4 full size Bronco with 85K miles on it and a 2001 Suzuki SV650; which serves our (my wife doesn't ride bikes) needs perfectly.

So, your wife belongs to 40 car clubs ~ wow. :) In the 60's when I owned a '64 Chevy Corvair Monza Turbo Spyder, I joined to the Corvair club and that's the only car club I ever belonged to. :)

I retired in '86 after 31 years of driving big rigs around Northern California and moved to Oregon in '90.

When I owned dirt bikes, riding back dirt roads, fire road and mountain trails was a blast, now I like to bomb around on the two lane twisty, Oregon back roads on the SV650 and in the SVT Lightning.

Life is good! :)

[longtermmemmory]

He is right.

What you MIGHT save on gassoline, you WILL overpay with financing the super expensive battery that MUST be replaced ever so often.

[pageonetoo]

...In the 60's when I owned a '64 Chevy Corvair Monza Turbo Spyder,...

Ragtop, or coupe? My first car I drove was my mom's '60 700. I had '63 monza convertible, and a 65 Corsa coupe! One brother had 4 corvairs...

Damn A'hole Nader didn't know what he was saying!

[Dan Evans]

SUVs are the only choice available that has a large engine and spacious interior at a reasonable price

Someone else was telling me that, because of state laws requiring child safety seats, you cannot buy a smaller car if you need to transport children -- there simply isn't enough room.

[blackie]

"Damn A'hole Nader didn't know what he was saying!"

Roger that ~ that's when I started to hate that jerk!

Mine was a coupe.

[gridlock]

I drive a mid sized wagon. I can fit two child car seats in the back, but if I had to transport a third child, I would need a new car.

And don't even think about putting that kid in the front seat. After the hulabaloo about passenger air bags, my state banned all children under 12 from the front seat, even if the car doesn't have air bags...

[Boiler Plate]

The rest of the world has no choice whether or not to accept it.

Ever heard of the WTO?

[nightdriver]

"Hybrid cars are "over rated" in that their gas mileage is not nearly as high as the EPA ratings indicate."

True, that's a dirty little secret that does not get publicised very much.

I'd like to take a little diesel-powered "economy box" and run it alongside of one of these snooty hybrids for that 150 mile stretch of flat, straight road in the middle of Oregon, against about a 40 mile-per-hour headwind. We would see who got the best mileage and I guaran(bleepin')tee ya that it won't be the hybrid that wins.

[Elsie]

...which takes breaking energy and stores it ...

Where?

[CaptainTenneal]

You're probably right. So for all people who live on a flat in Oregon and get constant 40 mph headwind, please go with diesel.

[Elsie]

And we could probably get significant savings just by getting everyone to get a tune-up and inflate their tires properly..

Simple: MAKE IT A LAW!!!!!!

[Yardstick]

They range from very obvious stuff like upping the tire pressure to arcane (and in my opinion, dangerous) things like using Bernoulli's principle to pull the car along in the air behind a Semi. I never tried that one. Theres something very very wrong about tailgating a truck in that little car...

My Dad, the ultimate cheapskate, used to draft behind semis in order to wring the maximum gas mileage out of his Isuzu P'up. As we'd pulled up to the semi, there would a lot of turbulence and buffeting, then as we moved in even closer, things would suddenly get really calm and smooth. We called this the "bubble". I'd guess that the gas mileage was helped, but like you said, it seemed kind of dangerous. And sometimes the truckers didn't like it and would do things to shake Dad off their tail, like slowing way down and changing lanes a lot. I'm chuckling now that I think about it. I had kind of forgotten about it.

[Doohickey]

That's because hybrids only get better CITY mileaage. Anything other than sitting at a stoplight requires the gas engine to be running. Accessories like the air conditioner are belt-driven be the gasoline engine.