Hybrid cars

[LumbermanSVO]

A couple of things:

1) Japanese companies are working on a modern version of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) that will reduce diesel exhaust emissions with less need to use an expensive selective catalyst reduction (SCR) system such as urea gas injection or Honda's electrically reactive catalyst to reduce NOx gases to simple NO2, which is easy to remove with conventional catalytic converters. This may pave the way for easier compliance with standards as stringent as EPA Tier 2 Bin 4, the proposed 2010 standard for on-road diesel engines

Notice I said "current" technology By that I mean technology that is actually on the market, not the stuff in development.

2) The new EPA standard actually is essentially forcing all commercial diesel engines to meet at least the EPA Tier 2 standard for industrial diesel engines (heavy trucks, diesel-electric locomotives, power generators and marine engines). Fortunately, there has been a lot of work on exhaust emission control retrofits, and Union Pacific Railroad recently demonstrated an exhaust emission control system that can be retrofitted to older locomotives at around US$22,000 per locomotive, cheap compared having to buy an all-new Tier 2-compliant locmotive at around US$1 million per locomotive.

On-road diesels have to meet these standards by 2010, off-road diesels have until 2012. CAT figures it would be cheaper and easier to drop the on-road market and have an extra two years to meets the standards for their products.

 

[spreadTHEwealth]

What is a car? I walk everywhere and in today's age we don't need cars any more.

 

[ErikCLDR]

My theory is...

If you wanted to save money you'd buy a used civic or something like a Chevy Aveo.

If you wanted to save the environment you certainly would not pay to produce another car.

Hybrids are for eco-snob appeal. While for some hybrids may end up being cheaper, I would be worried about the battery and electrical system over time on top of the conventional car.

They really are a band aid. Until a technology comes out that can produce significantly better gas mileage that costs the same or less than regular fuel its not worth it. The fact is there is only so much oil we can tap into. Hybrids hardly conserve amount of gas we have in the big picture. Sooner or later a new technology has to come out, and I'd rather see it happen when gas prices aren't any more outrageous than they are.

"A recent study has found that in the long term it does more environmental damage than a Land Rover Discovery"
The next time a Prius driver gives me a dirty look I will be the one giving them the dirty look

 

[iJohnHenry]

What is a car? I walk everywhere and in today's age we don't need cars any more.

You walk, in California??

So you are the one!!

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Hybrid cars are ugly because people who drive them WANT others to know they're driving a hybrid.

Absolutely spot on! I'm thinking of the SouthPark episode, "Smug"

 

[hotzenplotz]

I never understood people bashing on Prius owners... now, if it were one of those hybrid Tahoes I could see it.

Anyways, I am in line for a SportWagen TDI manual, which I am pretty excited about. The current dealer mark up (MSRP + $3000) is what is keeping me away.

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

Buy a pre 2002 TDI. They get better mileage, and you should be able to find one for a decent deal. Not to mention, a chip and some bigger nozzles will have you beating most sportwagons anyhow.

 

[hotzenplotz]

Buy a pre 2002 TDI. They get better mileage, and you should be able to find one for a decent deal. Not to mention, a chip and some bigger nozzles will have you beating most sportwagons anyhow.

Looking from a safety standpoint, anything '06 and older I cannot consider. I drive my two kids to and from school every day; a 36 mile roundtrip a day so safety is high on the list, as is efficency. After comparing the Fit, Prius and Scion xB to the Jetta, I came away with the feeling that the Japanese cars are way more "dinky" in look and feel then the Jetta. Safety comes first, everything else is secondary.

Granted, VW USA would like you to believe that the SportWagen is a Jetta (it is actually a Golf Variant), but the very limited selection of new Diesel cars in CA makes the SportWagen my only choice for now. The diesel selection will grow next year, but my current lease is running out soon and I need another car.

 

[Afini]

Public transportation for life!

Obviously not for everybody, but my city has an excellent light rail system I can use to get anywhere.

Between that and my bike, I shouldn't ever need a car.

 

[djellison]

I never understood people bashing on Prius owners..

Because they think they're saving the world - when more efficient vehicles are available.

To be honest, Prius owners remind me of Mac owners quite a lot.

 

[wordmunger]

Because they think they're saving the world - when more efficient vehicles are available.

To be honest, Prius owners remind me of Mac owners quite a lot.

Certainly there are similarities, but just as not all Mac owners are arrogant fanboys, so the same is true of Prius owners.

Here's what I wrote about buying a Prius:

Here’s the problem. I’d like to get a high-mileage car. The highest-mileage car sold in America is the Toyota Prius. Priuses are starting to get a reputation as “show cars” that rich suburbanites use to publicly proclaim that they’re “ecologically correct.” I think it’s a shame that we don’t have more high-mileage cars to choose from in America. In the rest of the world, you can get high-mileage diesels for much less money than a hybrid costs. But since diesel fuel is so hard to come by in the U.S., they aren’t available here.

I don’t especially care what sort of judgments people make about me based on my car. I happen to know that my car isn’t even my worst ecological sin — it’s my travel bug. My family adds many more greenhouse gases to the environment each year due to air travel than due to driving. But what the heck, it’s a start.

 

[da meat tree]

The problem with america is that everyone is dependent on cars. I live in the suburbs, and I commute to work/school by bike.

For me, it is a 12 mile ride to school, then 7 miles to work from school, and then 19 miles back home. The 12 mile ride takes me no more than 45 minutes, the 7 mile ride takes me about 25 minutes, and the ride back home takes me about an hour and fifteen minutes. I know alot of people don't have time for this, but it's possible to make time. My school day starts at 7:40, I wake up at 5:45, eat breakfast, take a shower, and I'm out the door by 6:15. I get to school at 7:00, and I have 40 minutes to finish up my work, eat a snack, whatever. My school day ends at 2:45, I leave as fast as I can, get to work by 3:15, workday ends at 8:00, get home by 9:20, eat dinner, start on my homework, take a shower, do my ab/arms workout routine and then go to bed by 10:30. During the winter I don't work because of school sports, so my ride is shorter. I have time to do everything and get more than enough exercise.

I know that alot of you are pampered by your motor vehicles and are not used to this amount of physical activity, but let me tell you, you'll get used to it. If you try that is.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

The problem with america is that everyone is dependent on cars. I live in the suburbs, and I commute to work/school by bike.

For me, it is a 12 mile ride to school, then 7 miles to work from school, and then 19 miles back home. The 12 mile ride takes me no more than 45 minutes, the 7 mile ride takes me about 25 minutes, and the ride back home takes me about an hour and fifteen minutes. I know alot of people don't have time for this, but it's possible to make time. My school day starts at 7:40, I wake up at 5:45, eat breakfast, take a shower, and I'm out the door by 6:15. I get to school at 7:00, and I have 40 minutes to finish up my work, eat a snack, whatever. My school day ends at 2:45, I leave as fast as I can, get to work by 3:15, workday ends at 8:00, get home by 9:20, eat dinner, start on my homework, take a shower, do my ab/arms workout routine and then go to bed by 10:30. During the winter I don't work because of school sports, so my ride is shorter. I have time to do everything and get more than enough exercise.

I know that alot of you are pampered by your motor vehicles and are not used to this amount of physical activity, but let me tell you, you'll get used to it. If you try that is.

Umm not all of us are that way. Reason I do not bike to work is it is just not safe for me to do so. I would have to travel on some very major roads with no shoulder or bike lane. Not exactly safe for a biker. I work 12.5 miles from where I live.

Also a lot of us can not arrive to work hot and sweaty. That and the weather does turn bad. Like when it rains and very cold out side it is not exactly safe nor conformable to drive.

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

That is true - when I was working in a cleanroom, no way you could bike to work and show up wet.

Also - some of us don't have short commutes.

 

[7on]

I used to bike to work, but in the summer I would just come in all sweaty (I have a one-speed). So I stopped. Now it's too cold

But I carpool with the gf so it's better than us owning two cars

 

[ILBandit]

Me & my wife have driven nothing but diesel VW's for the past 10 years.
1998 Jetta TDI - consistant 47-48 mpg
2006 Jetta TDI - around 43MPG

'98 Jetta - 247,000 miles, and still runs great
'06 Jetta 97,000 miles

Both are great cars, and you can't beat the mileage, Diesel is more expensive right now, but with the better mileage, we are still coming out ahead.

In 2010, in the diesel truck engine industry, the emissions are going to be so good, that the air coming out of the exhaust, will be cleaner than the air that went in.
I was told this by a specialist for CAT, the new semi trucks are being held to very strict government emission standards in the very near future. They will be some of the "cleanest" vehicles on the road.

 

[InvalidUserID]

Because they think they're saving the world - when more efficient vehicles are available.

To be honest, Prius owners remind me of Mac owners quite a lot.

Driving around Palo Alto, I'd say that 8/10 Prius cars I see on the road have an Apple logo on them.

OT: Priuses, Priusses, Prii, Pri'i?