hybrid cars

[minx]

Oly,

 

I have to agree with the TDI advice on this thread. My commute has always been long so I place a high importance on mileage with my car selection. I'm getting ready to buy a new car and it well definitely be diesel.

 

The hybrid's mileage won't be significantly better than a TDI. The toyota dealer I called said you'd replace the battery about every 100,000 miles at a cost of $6,000 -$8,000.

 

Doesn't seem like I'd save much over biodiesel.

[espirita]

--

 

I have a hybrid (Toyota Prius) and I like it. There is indeed a tax incentive... something in the amount of $2000-2500, but it only applies to the first owner, not someone like me who bought it used. When I was shopping around for a car I found that the Prius was comparable to the other "normal" cars I was looking at, so I didn't feel I was spending a wad more. And I do the Dance of Joy every time I gas up my car.

 

To tell you the truth I'm not much of a car person. I bought it because I sat in it and it felt right, and the dashboard reminded my sister and me of Darth Vader. I like gadgets, and driving a Prius is like playing a video game. There's a power button. The key is now a cartridge. The controls are now a video screen. The gear shift is now a joystick.

 

It's also very roomy. I can fit my bike in the back with the seats down, and it makes a comfy bed (though I'm not too tall a person). For the mileage it gets (around 50mpg in the summer, 45 in the winter) it's a pretty heavy car so I feel safe.

 

The Prius gets a in my opinion.

 

Also - and this is what the dealer told me so it may be taken with a grain of salt - apparently Toyota is the forerunner in hybrid technology. Starting with the 2004 Priuses (Prii?) they made some pretty good advances in the original technology... both engines/systems are patented, and having the new technology they sold the old technology to Honda. So Honda is using old technology. Just FYI. And when I was researching Hybrids a year ago most of the reports I read said the Toyotas are better than the Hondas.

[selkirk]

I thought TDI was Turbo Diesel Injection?

 

And I'm in Grad-school for a whole 3 weeks more (unless I screw the pooch on my final exam) so by "advisor" I mean "grad-program advisor/committee chair"

[Recycled]

I have two TDIs and use 100% biodiesel in both, except in the middle of winter. I highly recommend them, since they not only fuel efficient, run forever, and also allow the use of non-petro fuel. They're also a blast to drive is you stay away from the automatic transmissions. HOWEVER, they have very low ground clearance and an aluminum oil pan. They do fine on 95% of the mountain roads, but there's that 5% of the time that you can't get where you want. (e.g. Twin Lakes Road approach to Larrabee, etc).

 

To deal with that I have a funky old Trooper that works for off-road and the unmaintained/deactivated roads common in B.C. I only drive the Trooper about 1000 miles a year, so its poor gas mileage doesn't really matter.

 

I suspect that the hybids also have really low ground clearence, since that helps with the overall mileage figures.

[Alpinfox]

I have two TDIs and use 100% biodiesel in both....

 

Do you make your own or do you buy it?

 

How much more does commercial biodiesel cost in BC over regular diesel?

[Recycled]

I buy the biodiesel from Dr. Dan's in Ballard. I buy about 100 gallons at a time (in my own jugs) when I'm down on Seattle on other business. It's about $3.20/gallon right now.

 

I wouldn't suggest making your own unless you really know what you're doing and/or have a really old funky rig you don't care about.

[JackY]

 

I had a 92 Civic with milage in the mid/low 40s and I now have a 2000 Civic with milage in the mid 30s. In

92 the technology produced a gasoline burning vehicle with milage that competes with hybrid technology and was better than the milage of a comparable much newer car. Is it that we can't do better because people want "more" car, heavier, bigger tires, etc?

[AlpineK]

I buy the biodiesel from Dr. Dan's in Ballard. I buy about 100 gallons at a time (in my own jugs) when I'm down on Seattle on other business. It's about $3.20/gallon right now.

 

I wouldn't suggest making your own unless you really know what you're doing and/or have a really old funky rig you don't care about.

 

If you're buying 100 gal at a time the price should be $3.05/gal. Buying just a tankfull will be $3.20/gal.

 

You can also get biodiesel at Laurelhurst Oil (near U Village), some place on Capital Hill, and there's a station in Bellevue just south of the Lake Hills connector on 140th.

 

It's getting a lot more popular. I started using it about 4 years ago, and you could only go to Dr Dan's.

[Dechristo]

Most reports that I've read suggest that hybrids really don't offer that much of an advantage over conventional vehicles when driven on the highway, when most or all of the power is coming from the combustion engine.

 

"Most reports" may suggest this, but my neighbor (he lives two canyons over, one mile as the nazgul flies, but six miles by road) got over 50miles/gallon on a recent trip to the midwest and back in his Honda Insight.

 

I'd opt for a TDI diesel.

[tomtom]

The Honda Insight is a tiny car with a tiny IC engine. Of course it should get 50+ mpg on the highway. On the highway, hybrid cars run off the IC engine pretty much exclusively and the battery system and electric motor are dead weight.

[minx]

i noticed that the grange in Issaquah also sells biodiesel. not so convenient for you city folks but some of the eastsiders might use it.