ya i saw the same piece about the auto show that is currently going... as they put it

hybrids used to be in the back corner of the auto show... not so this year as rising gas prices has put the cutting edge technology on center stage

The New England Internation Auto Show is happening in Boston this week too. I saw a special on the news, and yep, the hybrids rule this year.

I think they showed off the new Lexus GS hybrid along with the Toyota and Ford SUVs...

Found this article on the autofield guide .com web site. Thought it was worth reading.


2005 Honda Civic Hybrid
By Gary S. Vasilash, Editor-In-Chief





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“To Drive For†is a segment that’s part of the WDIV Detroit TV morning news broadcasts. The newsreader tells the audience where the cheapest gas can be found in the metro area. Which is important to plenty of people nowadays. The phrase, of course, is a variant on “To Die For.†Which brings to mind—and we’re not talking free-association here—New York Times columnist Tom Friedman’s regular recommendation that one of the things that the U.S. needs to do is to get its consumption of oil under control such that some of the powers in the Middle East who are not so positive vis-à-vis the U.S.—to put it mildly—won’t have such economic power over those who fill up their cars in places like Detroit. Arguably, some of the U.S. military personnel in that part of the world are literally dying in their defense of our “interests†(read: oil, among other things) in that region of the world.

While Friedman has mentioned his Prius in more than one column, Honda should not be overlooked by those who are interested—economically, politically—in getting a vehicle that can provide some remarkably good gas mileage. A vehicle like the Civic Hybrid. Remember, in the race to be first in having a consumer-buyable hybrid vehicle on the market it was Honda, not Toyota, so there is certainly experience backing the capability.

One of the things about American drivers is that we like our “stuff.†And I’m willing to bet that when someone says “fuel-efficiency,†the notion is immediately of something that’s stripped down and rather austere. About as appealing as a diet of bran flakes sans milk. The Civic Hybrid is anything but. It has stuff. CD player. Nice interior. HVAC system that keeps you climatic. Pretty much what you’d expect in a segment-leading car like the Civic. Nothing crazy luxo. But far from Melba toast and tap water.

There is sometimes criticism that the actual MPGs realized by drivers of the Civic Hybrid (and the Prius, for that matter) are not what the EPA sticker says they’ll be. They’re less. With the CVT in the Civic Hybrid (that’s right: a continuously variable transmission, the fuel-thrifty tranny that others have not been able to engineer as well as the company that has made an art of powertrains) the numbers are on the order of 48/47. Gee, just imagine if you get a paltry 38/37 and you got to drive by all of those gas stations people are dying to get into. (During my week in the car I averaged 46 mpg, but I was probably a bit too obsessive, watching the gauge far too often to be reasonable about it, although I didn’t drive as though I was a member of the Sierra Club—not that I know anything about the way members of the Sierra Club drive, nor am I casting any aspersions on the club, but I think you know what I mean.)

There is sometime criticism that the Civic Hybrid isn’t as fast as other cars. To which I have to respond: “Hello? We’re talking about a fuel-efficient compact car, not something that is going to be appealing to the tuners. It isn’t meant to be a ‘fast car.’ It has enough pep to keep up with excessively fast cars on I-275 (this hybrid has an internal combustion engine that’s supplemented by the electric motor system when necessary; it doesn’t run on electrical power alone like the Prius). But let’s talk horses for courses.â€

While I’ll admit that I think that the current Civic design is a little dowdy—and the spoiler on the back of the Hybrid doesn’t exactly spice things up—for what it is, it is a solid value. Sure, a conventional Civic EX starts at $18.5K and the Hybrid starts at $19.9K. Maybe you’ll never make up the price difference when you drive around looking for gas “To Drive For.†But how about the time you save in pumping gas? Is that worth something? To say nothing of knowing that as the numbers on those station signs increase, you know that you don’t need to be as concerned as your SUV-driving neighbors. (Not that Honda won’t sell you an SUV, mind you—but it’s just offering an option in a way that only a few others do.)

Some people say that diesels for passenger cars is the way to go. They’re simpler than the two-system approach of a hybrid vehicle. That may be so. But you’ll be hard-pressed to find many diesel cars out there. Some other people say that the future is hydrogen-powered fuel cells. That may be so, too. Honda is working on one. But right now, the hydrogen future is more speculative than substantive. Even if we get there, you’ll probably drive mile upon mile upon mile between now and then. Wouldn’t you like to save a little gas during that period of time?

Energy
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http://www.zenithfutures.com/
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