Trade in the Prius for a Hummer to save gas?

[freshmtt]

Originally Posted by bestmapman

Anybody who drives less then the warmup cycle, should seriously consider a bicycle. Use the Prius on bad weather days.

This would fit me , I am seriously considering making a very honest attempt to do this.. However, I can't get my lazy butt up early enough in the morning to have the extra time it requires to ride my bike to the train station. I know, whip me with a wet noodle,, I am NOT a morning person. Never have been,, I hate waking up at 5:30am, I hit the snooze button till 6am, then crawl out of bed and barely make it out the door at 6:30am to catch my train.

I only live a mile and a half from the train station I currently drive to, and only a mile from the other station that is right in my neighborhood. So I could easily ride my bike on good weather days. But I figured getting the Prius was still saving me some money anyways, so I opt to just drive.

I have learned now how beneficial those EBH really are, and I am going to buy one up at Hybridfest and have it installed there by Wayne.

I'll still probably take the car everyday, because those of you that know Chicago know it can be sunny and warm in the morning and storming like crazy right when we are heading home on the train. This has happened several times where riding the bike in the morning would be a glorious idea to save gas and polluting the environment, but then when we are on the way home a nasty storm takes over and we have funnel clouds in the sky,, not a nice time to ride the bike home even if it is just a mile from the house.

[Stefx]

Originally Posted by qbee42

Another observation is that if you drive less than 30 miles per day, you should consider an electric vehicle, which will completely sidestep all of these warm-up issues.

Tom

Agreed. Sounds like a Zenn would be a great solution in this case.

[statultra]

get the hummer, its a much better option

[zenMachine]

Originally Posted by statultra

get the hummer, its a much better option

Cheaper too, according to Carmax.

[mingoglia]

I owned 2 H2's back when they first came out. I had a bright yellow one, and a silver one. I had them wrapped as rolling billboards for my business. I always got between 9.5-10 mpg over a tank of gas on both of them. My Prius at it's very lowest will get 25mpg during the first 5 minutes. The H2, like other cars, also will get lower fuel economy on startup. The percentage is just more easily hidden in lower numbers. For example, let's say a vehicle gets 20% worse fuel economy when it's cold. On a H2, that would equate to a numerically low 2mpg for that short period of time. On a Prius, 20% equates to 10mpg. 10mpg sounds huge, until you consider the percentage compared to it's overall mpg that it gets when warm.

Mike

[F8L]

*shrug*

I get about 25-30mpg on the warmup cycle.

I agree with Bestmapman, ride a bicycle to work on the nice days and buy an engine block heat for the Prius for use during bad weather. Or look into an Aptera or something. The Hummer is such a stupid idea. lol

[Stefx]

My first 5mins is almost usually 7.5L/100km (31 US mpg)

[GetRdone]

Wow, Thanks guys! I never considered an engine block heater. I thought that those were for people living in cold climates. Hope they're easy to use.

I was just frustrated at my inability to resolve the bad fuel economy after a cold-start. I'm not quite close enough to work to walk, run, or ride a bike (as anyone who's lived in Los Angeles knows, riding a bike is close to suicide here).

I haven't done my first oil change either (again, only 900miles on it at this point). Should I do an oil change early/soon?

[Yak18]

Can't back it up with science, but my wife's gas bill was cut in half using the Prius instead of the Honda Van for her numerous short trips each day. Maybe it's the Prius...who knows?

[PriusSport]

I saw an 06 Hummer on auto.com for $22K--$4k below the Kelly retail. $16K trade -in value. That means right now you might get $10K in trade for it. You offer $15K, you might get a good deal. Just pay for the gas. Must be some great SUV deals out there right now. The Hummer is a helluva tank.