Just another article from a confused and obsolete car columnist.

That's Warren. He's quite Agenda Driven.

You can go back and see multiple threads on his FUD.

Here's the most recent before this one

SSDD

"Perhaps, I am an old-fashioned snob at heart. I yearn for the days when Jaguar meant something special

That says it all. The man is thinking in the past, and is struggling to cope with a changing world. The times they are a-changing!

Besides that, comparing the mileage of a Prius to a Smart ForTwo is ridiculous. And it's even wrong. Let's look at the numbers:

Prius: 4.5 L/100km combined cycle
Smart ForTwo gasoline: 4.7 l/100km combined cycle

Given the fact that this ForTwo is a tiny 2-seater that does 0-100km/h in 16.7 seconds, this is perhaps the best proof of the miracle of the hybrid system.

True, there is a Smart ForTwo diesel that consumes 3.4 l/100km in combined cycle. But that is a horribly slow thing that does 0-100km/h in 20 seconds and has a top speed of 135km/h. In addition, one should never forget to correct diesel consumption with it's 15% higher energetic content. That gives an unfair advantage to diesel engines. In fact, it would be closer to truth to use mass instead of volume for calculating consumption.

Note to Warren: Never mind that if the current trend of "fashion" trend setters weren't around advances wouldn't be made, hybrids would simply fizzle out since it's not worth it financially for car companies to make them.

He's got NiMh (not an evironmental disposal problem) and NiCd (big disposal problem) confused. Also overlooks that disposing of NiMh batteries (or NiCd) is throwing money away. (Not too many actually do that.) Announcing to the world that he has his facts incorrect. The sad state of journalism at a major paper.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FL_Prius_Driver @ Aug 5 2007, 09:13 AM) [snapback]490876[/snapback]</div>

Because Mr. Brown writes for one of the world's most prestigious newspapers, any factual errors he makes seep into the global consciousness faster than you can say "Prius vs. Hummer".

I urge anyone with the facts to rebut his contention that Prius batteries are a "looming enviornmental problem", to e-mail a concise response to Mr. Brown and the editors of the Washington Post respectfully requesting a prompt correction in print and online.

confused and obsolete auto columnists are abundant these days. They're as outdated as the nineteenth century technology that powers most of the Detroit 3's SUVs and pickup trucks. What this Washington Post goofball's biggest error is in focusing on one aspect of the entire impact of the environment: hybrid batteries. What, does he expect us to all take out our hybrid batteries and through them in the trash? That's unrealistic, at best. Also, what about the reduced impact on the environment that hybrids do already? What about the impact on the environment that all of those cars that he loves produce with their gas guzzling ways and the huge clouds of exhaust that they fart in to the atmosphere? Old-fashioned old fart or fossil or dinosaur are more accurate.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...5/70625045/1106

^^^

I know for my old car when I needed to replace the lead acid battery (after 9 years of happy service) it was actually cheaper for the replacement if I gave them the old one. So there are incentives for recycling old batteries.

This guy must have just stumbled accross the Sudbury mining (early 1960's -70's) articles. Fortunately for this obsolete journalist, he'll be dead of old age long before he and his ilk have to face the consequences of gas guzzlin (mentality) vs peak oil. To bad he still thinks it's 1955. His grandkids unfortunately will live to see what mindless turds these kinds of people were.

I could care less what some diot in Washington says especially a So called reporter at the Post. To a person they are all jerks just looking for something to write about, no engineering degrees there. Just BS.