NYT OP-ED: Life in the Green Lane

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IndyDoug @ Apr 16 2006, 09:40 AM) [snapback]240472[/snapback]</div>

Hi IndyDoug,

Article is right on with the qualitative information, but a somewhat off quantitatively. Especially with respect to the Prius. I drove my Prius 384 miles home in 15 to 25 degree weather from the dealership, in cross wind, downwind and into-the-wind conditions at 70 MPH cruise control and got 42.3 MPG that day alone. Its been nothing but better driving around Chicagoland since. 40 MPG quoted in the article is somewhat off. My last tank was 54.4 mpg, and its up above 55 mpg so far for this tank with the unseasonable warm weather.

 

"The car that started the hybrid craze, the Toyota Prius, is lauded for squeezing 40 or more miles out of a gallon of gas, and it really can. But only when it's being driven around town, where its electric motor does its best and most active work. On a cross-country excursion in a Prius, the staff of Automobile Magazine discovered mileage plummeted on the Interstate."

I don't understand this type of statement. I drive on the Long Island Expressway (on the HOV lane thanks to my new stickers) and usually drive about 65-70 MPH. I have gotten 48 MPG on each of my first three tanks.

I do get higher mileage at lower speeds, but to insuate that 40MPG is the best you will see is just incorrect. I would say that 45 is the probably the worst I see on the highway at high speeds.

The only time I see 40 MPG (or less) is the first 10 minutes in the morning.

 

I saw the article in the Int Herald Trib also. Original source ?

Anyway, the author is having trouble thinking logically. First he points out that some gas only cars get better FE than hybrid SUV's (well DUH), and then when faced with hybrids like the Prius that do not have competitors in FE, switches over to the money argument.

If he had read the CR (corrected) article on money savings, he would have then run for cover under the 'unproven reliability", or 'expensive battery replacement', or some other piece of misinformation.

Just another hack job. And a poor one at that. So, is this one more case of a journalist bringing their own ignorant baggage to the table, or an articale written on demand ?

 

I stopped reading the article after it stated that the Corolla gets better mileage on the higway. What moron wrote this aricle? I easily get 50 or so MPG while driving in the summer at around 65mph. Currently I am getting mid 40's. With a Corolla, I'd be lucky to get high 20's.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(djasonw @ Apr 16 2006, 02:52 PM) [snapback]240588[/snapback]</div>

The author is identified at the end of the article as: "Jamie Lincoln Kitman is the New York bureau chief for Automobile Magazine and a columnist for Top Gear, a British magazine."

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(djasonw @ Apr 16 2006, 02:52 PM) [snapback]240588[/snapback]</div>

Well, you don't drive it the same way that a so called automotive "enthusiast" would be driving it.

He got one thing close:

 

Another stupid hit-piece written by a complete idiot. And to think, I used to take these "opinions" much more seriously. Now that I have an accurate frame of reference, I realize just what crap these "expert" pieces are. Totally illogical, unsubstantiated, and un-researched tripe.

 

I had just read this article in the NYT, and had come here to see if it was being discussed yet. Apparently so, and the consensus seems to be about what my thoughts were about the article. It sounds familiar, same old misconceptions, same old balony about "extra space taken by hybrid parts", bad gas mileage on the highway, etc.

One of the best things about my Prius (apparently not the one driven by the author, though) is that the car is smaller on the outside, but bigger than it would appear to be able to be on the inside. That must be due to the extra space taken by the hybrid parts, eh? Don't get that one at all.

Also, I get as good or better gas mileage on road trips than I do around town...Went on a trip of about 250 miles a while ago, 54mpg. That's a little more than I've been getting around town lately, especially with the colder weather.

I just don't know.

-Roger