SUV'S suck?

Yeah, finally got around to clicking your link, Baldi. Very interesting. I love Toyota for taking the lead on this -- I just wish they'd make more Prius, Priuses, whatever.

We use electric Ford Rangers. Plenty of power and will go about 50 miles between charges I love it.

As I was on my way to work this morning scooting along in the carpool lane, (in my small nissan) I noticed a funny sight. I passed a 1980 something Buick, smoking like it was on fire with an SUV'S suck sticker on the back glass. If the sticker had been on the bumper it would of been invisible from the cloud behind it. I also passed a Volvo (early 90's) with a oil smell problem with a SUV's are gross polluters sticker. Now I am sure that the first might of been a joke, but I'm not sure from the serious look on the drivers face. My new sticker will say get a clue!

I test drove a Prius once. It's pretty cool. You can operate in stealth mode: drive around purely on battery power, engine off, completeely silent, but with a lot of power. Can only go up to about 20 mph before the engine turns on. But even when it turns on it's real quiet. You don't "start" the engine. Ever. The car knows when to turn the engine on to assist the battery, and it shuts if off automatically too.

If it didn't cost $5K more than it should, I might've bought one.

Ticomaya wrote:

I test drove a Prius once. It's pretty cool. You can operate in stealth mode: drive around purely on battery power, engine off, completeely silent, but with a lot of power. Can only go up to about 20 mph before the engine turns on. But even when it turns on it's real quiet. You don't "start" the engine. Ever. The car knows when to turn the engine on to assist the battery, and it shuts if off automatically too.

If it didn't cost $5K more than it should, I might've bought one.

Sounds like you got lucky; I'd not have any use for a Prius. Aside from questions of how reliable anything that complex might turn out to be four years down the road, the thing is dangerously small and yet weights 3000 lbs and they claim that they've gotten weight DOWN to that figure by making suspension components and other things which ought to be made out of steel, out of aluminum.

A Diesel VW is a much better bargain for somebody looking for the last ounce of fuel mileage in a drivable car. One factor I look at these days is what does it take to get a vehicle stopped in east-coast traffic which frequently features brake-slamming, both with and without rational reasons for it. I'd want at least 15" tires on a car which weighed 3000 lbs, and the Prius does not appear to have them.

Some electric cars use dynamos for breaks, recharging the battery as the slow. Makes for very efficient stop and go vehicles.

Einherjar wrote:

Some electric cars use dynamos for breaks, recharging the battery as the slow. Makes for very efficient stop and go vehicles.

You mean the recuperative breaking?

Einherjar wrote:

Some electric cars use dynamos for breaks, recharging the battery as the slow. Makes for very efficient stop and go vehicles.

You mean the recuperative breaking?

You raise a good question about reliability, but I've found Toyotas to be very reliable.

Woman Charged With Running Down Boys Who Hit SUV With Golf Ball

POSTED: 12:42 pm EST December 6, 2004
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- A woman ran over two teenage brothers after they accidentally hit her sport utility vehicle with the golf ball they were bouncing in a parking lot, officials said, leaving one of the boys with life-threatening injuries.

Isiah Grayer, 14, and his 16-year-old twin stepbrothers, Justin and Jamel Marshman, were bouncing the golf ball in a shopping center parking lot Sunday afternoon when it went astray and struck a sport utility vehicle driven by Kathy Feaganes Allen, 47, St. Johns County sheriff's Deputy Greg Suchy said.

Suchy said no damage was done, and the boys apologized and began to walk away. Allen started to drive away, but suddenly made a U-turn, ran over a median and struck Grayer, causing severe injuries, and Justin Marshman before knocking over a light pole, Suchy said.

She then drove after Jamel Marshman, crossing two medians and striking a utility box before her SUV stopped in a ditch, Suchy said. The boy ran away and was not struck.

Witness Russell McPhee said Allen accelerated to hit the boys.

"She charged them," he said. "This was the most deliberate act."

McPhee said he yelled at Allen to stay where she was when she got out of her car.

"After she ran them down, she got out of the car and lit a cigarette like a movie star," he said. "She watched all three of (the boys) just lying there."

Allen then used Terry Gerspch's cell phone to call her husband. Gerspch said Allen seemed unfazed.

"She was as calm as anything," she said. "She said the boys were throwing rocks at her car."

McPhee said Jamel, the uninjured brother, ran over to Allen's car and confronted her.

"He didn't get physical with her," he said. "He just kept asking 'Why? Why did you do this?"'

A judge ordered Allen held without bail Monday on three counts of attempted murder. She is being represented by the St. Johns County Public Defender's Office, which did not immediately return a call Monday seeking comment.

Grayer was in critical condition Monday at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville. Justin Marshman was treated for non-life threatening injuries at Flagler Hospital.