Yukon Hybrid delivers on mileage promise

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stringmike @ Nov 9 2007, 05:12 PM) [snapback]537430[/snapback]</div>

If that improvement is for towing and hauling, fine. 2 Mode's highway MPG is only 10% better. But the ideal condition for it seems to be in downtown Tokyo. One has to wonder what condition/environment it is designed/optimized to drive/use in.

It seems the performance of 2 Mode transmission with 6.0L V8 plus 300V battery pack equal to 5.3L V8 plus automatic transmission. It doesn't make sense.... Yukon hybrid should be faster than gas only version. If not, we seriously have to question the 2 Mode transmission. Is 2 Mode the real bottleneck between the wheels and the two power sources? Is GM trying to cover this limitation by purely focusing on the city MPG?

We hear no word on better emission rating either. What is given is the CO2 output. It will be 25% lower due to better MPG. What about other particle emission? I can only guess the same emission rating is due to no significant improvement or GM can not warrant the 2 Mode transmission and the hybrid battery pack as required by CARB.

In summary, with the same emission output, the same performance, and 25% better fuel economy sounds like something a mild hybrid can achieve. Remember Accord hybrid? Even Accord hybrid got better performance than the gas only version.

Is 2 Mode 2 little, 2 late?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(micheal @ Nov 9 2007, 10:16 PM) [snapback]537541[/snapback]</div>

BINGO!

That part of you is exactly right.

Another possibility here is that this is a ploy to keep politicians at bay. Dingell can claim GM is trying to deal with the gas-hog problem, by putting out silly gas-hog hybrid SUV's, while GM's real strategy is to prevent the passage of meaningful legislation that will force GM and other car makers to stop their nonsense and get serious about providing fuel efficient vehicles to Americans.

Harry

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Nov 10 2007, 10:31 AM) [snapback]537682[/snapback]</div>

DELAY.

You know who will be retiring in a few years. His successor will clean up the mess. Meanwhile, he can enjoy the final moments of an dying industry mindset with little concern for long-term outcome.

 

I have both:

Prius & Escalade.

Each has its own purpose.... Prius can't do what the Escalade does, and the Escalade can't do what the Prius does. I wouldn't mind having a full size SUV that got better mileage.

You guys hurt my feelings with all those bad things you said about SUV owners..

Kenny

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Vegas! @ Nov 10 2007, 12:25 PM) [snapback]537714[/snapback]</div>

Why?

It's those that drive them for daily commutes without any cargo or passengers on clean, dry roads that irk us.

If you use the SUV for what it was designed for, there's no reason to feel anything negative.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(john1701a @ Nov 10 2007, 02:39 PM) [snapback]537721[/snapback]</div>

What exactly is an SUV for?

To me, the whole purpose of an SUV is to say, "I've got more money than you: I bought this over-priced vehicle that has no real purpose, I don't care how much gasoline I waste or how much it costs, and I don't care about you when I run into your little car with my double-sized vehicle."

Sorry, that's my take on SUV's.

Harry

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Nov 10 2007, 10:47 AM) [snapback]537725[/snapback]</div>

Actually, I bought it to say I have a larger "package" than you - everything else you said was dead on correct -



Really, the SUV does get used for six people at a time. I do have a 6,000+ lb trailer. Does it get used to take only its driver to work? Yes! Does that make me a bad person? I guess on this forum it might??

Kenny

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Nov 9 2007, 12:38 AM) [snapback]537157[/snapback]</div>

To top it off, for some reason it's ok for the Yukon Hybrid to have THREE planetary gearsets and FOUR clutches vs. one planetery gearset and zero clutches.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Vegas! @ Nov 10 2007, 02:56 PM) [snapback]537729[/snapback]</div>

Kenny,

I do have to give you credit for a Prius in your driveway, so my comments are meant for a general debate, rather than aimed at you personally.

How many times a year do you tow that trailer? I've never seen an Escalade towing anything. If you're like my buddy, he tows his Harleys twice a year, and could rent a pickup truck to do that. Six passengers easily fit in my daughter's minivan, at less than half the cost of the Escalade, and with about twice the fuel mileage. So that leaves "bling," the real reason you or anyone drives an Escalade. So how does it feel to be going down the road, burning 4 times as much fuel in that Escalade as in your Prius? Does the bling really justify that?

Harry

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Nov 10 2007, 12:31 AM) [snapback]537565[/snapback]</div>

Unfortunately you are right. I think it is part of the American culture to want to be able to take everything we could possibly ever need on a trip or to not want to be constrained. Heck I know I have had a few thoughts like that when we have family visiting and I think how it would be nice to be able to all go in one vehicle. Then I slap myself and realize it is for one to two weeks out of the year we would need this space.

We recently took a trip with our newborn and ended up talking a bunch of stuff, including lawn chairs, a full stroller, and various other things for the baby. After getting back and not using any of the stuff, I realized how much we didn't really need to take with us. If we could get everyone to buy based on maximum typical usage rather than maximum ever usage, they could do what you talked about. But for now, it is better to pay all that extra money for something you might use 5% of the time to most people.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Vegas! @ Nov 10 2007, 10:25 AM) [snapback]537714[/snapback]</div>

I wouldn't mind having a car that runs strictly off my own happy thoughts. Seriously though, yes those who drive SUVs would like better mileage but most seem perfectly ok with sacrificing the mileage to have big car.

The SUV has replaced the mini-van as the car for moms, it has replaced the "all-purpose" car market, and it is pretty high up in the commuter car market too unfortunately.

Too many got hooked on SUVs when gas was cheap, so ehh who cares that they fill up twice a week the comfort level is divine! The down side is now that people got used to that, and with GM/Ford/Chevy/Others pushing down on throats that SUVs = good, people will laugh at you if you drive a fuel efficient car, we have so many of them on the roads.

And of those on the roads, I would hazard a guess that the vast majority do not have them for "the things the prius can't do"


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Vegas! @ Nov 10 2007, 10:56 AM) [snapback]537729[/snapback]</div>

So I'm curious if you use your escalade to drive you to work, why do you have a prius at all? Or is the prius the wife/kids/someone elses car?

But yes on this forum that makes you a bad person but you have to realize this forum is about a particular car (or cars) that are the elite of gas efficiency of what's available in today's market. So the people who come here are here because of that car and what it can do. If you go to any Ford based message board you'll be a bad person if your car can't do 0-60 in under 6 seconds.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(john1701a @ Nov 10 2007, 01:39 PM) [snapback]537721[/snapback]</div>

I can see this leading to the ultimate spin. "My Yukon hybrid is greener than your Prius because I save more fuel than you." It might be true if Yukon hybrid is used where it is NOT intended (city). On the highway and towing, it is likely to get about 10% improvement. The trouble is that, Yukon hybrid actually promote the owner to use it where it is not intended to... it makes big SUV owners a big "feel good excuse" to keep them hooked.

Of course, that argument only deal with the fuel usage with no mention of power/performance nor tailpipe emission.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Nov 10 2007, 06:17 PM) [snapback]537794[/snapback]</div>

I demand the same tear down comparison. What will be the number of parts in Yukon vs. Yukon hyrid will be like?

 

I know some people drive SUV's because they feel they are safer in accidents. I can understand that if you have children riding along. But, sorry, driving a SUV solo does not make any sense at all to me and in light of ALL THE PROBLEMS we currently have because of our addiciton to oil, all those who do drive solo should re-evaluate their stance. If more people act now, as opposed to waiting for "visible evidence" (extreme weather problems, $5 gallon gas, economic turmoil, increased terrorism) then we might have a chance at leaving our children a better future. As it stands now, what are they going to inherit from us????????

 

People will continue to justify buying the largest vehicle they can possibly afford.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Nov 9 2007, 04:38 AM) [snapback]537157[/snapback]</div>

Now, is that the OLD epa calc's? Or the NEW epa calc's.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cheminee @ Nov 11 2007, 08:39 PM) [snapback]538189[/snapback]</div>

"The baby boomer generation will feel the wrath of the young. Forget about reforming social security. The time will come when a younger generation says, "Look what you assholes did to our world -- now crawl off and die." --James Kunstler

I predict the Yukon Hybrid will be a huge flop, and GM will point to it as proof that the buying public doesn't want hybrids, and will continue to churn cars and trucks with V-8s under the hood that no one wants to buy.

The reason I think the Yukon Hybrid will be a flop is that the majority of people who would consider buying a full-size SUV in today's economic, ecological, and political climate are just hugely uninformed, and incapable of performing any sort of financial analysis beyond comparing the sticker price of a hybrid vs. non-hybrid. Guilt will compel only a very small percentage of buyers into buying the hybrid version of the Yukon. Most people who are enlightened enough to consider a hybrid will think hard about how much vehicle they really need, and choose something smaller.