Comparison Test: 2009 Toyota Prius vs. 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

[fuzzy1]

> ... The new BMW's concepts are getting 64MPG with mega HP and 0-60 in 4.8 sec. If Toyota isn't working on a diesel hybrids, they will be left in the dust.

Is that Euro or EPA or CAFE or Japanese scale? Imperial or US gallons?

It really makes a difference. Prius is already at 70.9 on US CAFE scale, 72 mpg on a Euro scale, and 90 mpg on a Japanese scale.

... Check out their list of the 50 ugliest cars. The Prius made the cut!

And proud of it!

[F8L]

Originally Posted by Northernliving

>
I still contend that they Prius has absolutely zero, zippo style – it’s downright ugly and has no gusto at all. I guess Business Week Concurs with my dork-mobile assessment. Check out their list of the 50 ugliest cars. The Prius made the cut!

Of course you feel that way. You didn't buy one. Do you have the ability to design a car that can compete with the Prius' cargo room, passenger room, cd, and overall size?

The beauty of the car is in it's design, not it's basic outside appearance. I see your logic in the same light as most people who are ignorant of ecosystem services and say a wetland is ugly so let's drain it.

[JimboPalmer]

Originally Posted by Northernliving

> I would be quite interested to see what a clean diesel full hybrid 'could do'.

The new BMW's concepts are getting 64MPG with mega HP and 0-60 in 4.8 sec. If Toyota isn't working on a diesel hybrids, they will be left in the dust.

Unless you are using a different definition of 'concept' than I do, a concept vehicle is a show car 'made to showcase a concept, new styling, technology and more.'* So it does not even have to have a engine, meet any safety or environmental rules, or indeed be mobile at all. Any claim can be made for a concept vehicle, Chevy claims Volt gets 230 MPG, until there is a production Volt, no one can say different.

I some how doubt any BMW has a million** Horsepower, Bugatti claims a thousand.

I have worked with many Diesel Hybrids, mostly the Komatsu 830E*** Not street legal, low top speed, bad mileage, but lots of cargo room! Cool Pantographs!****


*

Concept vehicle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Concept_vehicle

** Mega- - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
***

Komatsu 830E - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Komatsu_830E

**** Pantograph (rail) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[docbooks]

Originally Posted by Northernliving

> I would be quite interested to see what a clean diesel full hybrid 'could do'.

The new BMW's concepts are getting 64MPG with mega HP and 0-60 in 4.8 sec. If Toyota isn't working on a diesel hybrids, they will be left in the dust.

I still contend that they Prius has absolutely zero, zippo style – it’s downright ugly and has no gusto at all. I guess Business Week Concurs with my dork-mobile assessment. Check out their list of the 50 ugliest cars. The Prius made the cut!

Only a little off topic, but what the hey --- Lets see, BMW has a wet dream car that will never see production and meanwhile,Toyota will leep frog everyone when they are the 1st to bring an afordable EV to market. And I don't give a rats toenail about style --- with 20 gallons stored of stabilized gas in Osha approved steel cans, I can go 6 months with the Prius without having to go near the urbam areas when the bad guys or natural disasters disrupt the fuel supplys -- to me the car is an insurance policy. And if things get really out of hand, I can always add a supplemental battery pack and plug in. Of course, if all is well, I can just burn the stored gas as usual. So style and ugly --- who cares when your riding and they're walking.

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by Northernliving

I still contend that they Prius has absolutely zero, zippo style – it’s downright ugly and has no gusto at all.

Quite the opposite is true. And that's not opinion, but fact. Here is why: if it had "zero, zippo style" then it wouldn't evoke much of an emotional response, positive or negative. That it evokes both is a measure of style. The Gen II has a fair bit of style, the Gen III builds on that. Variations on a theme.

There is beauty to something with form that follows its function--especially when in so doing it satisfies the definition of style: "a distinctive quality, form, or type of something." (Merriam-Webster.) The fact that the majority of they hybrid market sales is presently defined by this style...including imitators also proves your assertion false. It also hurts your assertion that hybrid marketshare continues to grow.

What would be accurate is that you don't care for its style at all and consider it ugly. That is a fair assessment as it is merely opinion. I don't find it ugly, never have. It's not sports car sexy either. And thankfully it isn't pimped out with gaudy side mouldings, headlight guards, and non-functional bulges/perforations of many pretenders. It's odd that you seem to be proud of being in agreement with a failing magazine in your ugly assessment. At least pick a publication with a recent track record of getting it right...rather than wrong.

There have been many vehicles over the years that have no real style: ho-hum uninspired trucks and cars that are so generic nobody even notices them on the road or knows their model name. B-O-R-I-N-G. Love it or hate it, the Prius is not one of those.

[usbseawolf2000]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

There is beauty to something with form that follows its function....

This is true with everything in nature. How can anyone not see this beauty (in Prius)?