prius had a prob

[blackbob]

my neighbour has a prius with no front bumper as he tried to drive over a curb this afternoon but it didnt clear it [should have bought a 4x4]

[Silvery Thing]

My wife has a Prius.... I'll warn her about kerbs :?

[Thrasher]

Let's see some pics of the Pious with it's bib off ....

[burgerman]

i guess it will go off to a body shop on a truck and have a new bumper fitted or repaired, painted,ect ect,    



   If it was a 4x4 most would clear the kerbs and no damage



   Who leaves the biggest footprint for this event  :lol:

[Thrasher]

Plainly the pious .. cos some of it fell off ;-)

[burgerman]

Ah yes but will some like minded soul collect said item, put it away iin a shed/garage for many years "incase i need it one day"  then finally when  the time is right travel to  a large windy ( and usually wet) field in newbury to "recycle" (flog) it  for a  sum of cash to another owner    :lol:

[Evilgoat]

Hope the bumper went in the recycle bin  :roll:

[rollazuki]

All the plastic parts on the prius are recyclable, so yes, its not gonna harm the environment.
What kinda kerb was it, the prius is only the same as the average saloon/hatch.
Some lack of driver ability/sense here i think.....

[Sheddy]

Some lack of driver ability/sense here i think.....

Seeing as the Prius has some of the most ecologically damaging technology fuelling it I have to agree.  They are bought by brain dead people who cant see past the advrtising.

[mike142sl]

All the plastic parts on the prius are recyclable, so yes, its not gonna harm the environment......

ONLY IF it HAS been recycled and not just dumped in the nearest bin destined for landfill which is the norm.

[Drift]

How much fuel will the recycle wagon use to collect it  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[littlepow]

All is not well with the hybrid is great camp, accordingly scientests have found people who use these cars have increased their driving considurably to match any fuel/tax savings.

Evryone should get a V8, then we'd all be walking by the day after pay day!  :lol:

[Sider]

My wife has a Prius.... I'll warn her about kerbs :?

Wouldn´t it be easier just to divorce her???  :twisted:  :twisted:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[GREENI]

Prius ???
Why hasn't anyone noticed that they are just plain dull ?????

Do gooders :roll:

[Thrasher]

Dull? I thought they were mobile wheel chocks.....

Pious .. not Prius.

Clarkson had the right idea - a Pious and a BIG gun :)

[rollazuki]

Seeing as the Prius has some of the most ecologically damaging technology fuelling it I have to agree. They are bought by brain dead people who cant see past the advrtising

Brave quote Sheddy, dont you think the same was said when we moved from external combustustion engines to internal combustion????

The prius is the forerunner in the hybrid market at the moment , along with other Toyota/Lexus models.

I assume the KILLER fuel is the battery??

With an almost indefinite shelf/usage life, and being fully recyclable, Id say its not as bad as you think. Oh yes, its made by that plant in the usa that is killing the surrounding land back to bare earth.
Yup, they have been extracting lithium for about 30 years, and the area has looked that way for at least 20 years, now thats way before the Prius arrived, so hard to blame the car eh?
I assume you dont have a mobile phone either then, cos they have lithium ion batteries and that plant in the USA supply about 90% of the WORLDS Lithium, so theres a good chance that Nokia and friends are fuelled from the same source. You dont have a mobile do you....?

Brain dead you say, Id guess thats the people who cant see past the day that fossil fuels WILL run out.

Maybe that day will arrive and the groundwork put in by motor manufacturers will be embraced....?

Sorry to be a little harsh, but I work for Toyota, they are making serious inroads into tomorrows fuells, and ill informed people who moan about em for the sake of something to do annoy me a little.
Dont believe the Rubbish printed in the press, Its there to sell copy, and that is all.
Research the damn car, check out the winning results of a hybrid 24hr race car in japan(it won by a Loooooong way), check out the potential fuel economy for the new Lexus Ls.

Rolla

[Wireless]

The thing is, even the prius will not go anywhere for long without fossil fuel, to truly be a green car the whole manufacturing process needs to be carbon neutral, and it needs to be carbon neutral throughout it's life, including eventual recycling at the end of it's useful life.

So a green car today is not a Prius, but a greener car than a Prius IS a Land Rover Discovery 300TDi with elsbett twin tank conversion running on biodiesel and SVO.

Makes you reconsider everything doesn't it?

[rollazuki]

Producing biodiesel makes some lovely chemicals to throw away as....erm.....waste, and if everyone on the planet was to convert to run veg oil powered vehicles, there isnt enough space to grow enough crops to produce the fuel.
Oh, and we also need a little planet space to grow food crops to keep us alive....!

As far as I can see the only 'green' option is a bobble hat and hiking boots, but Ill be damned if Im gonna do that!

Id say a veg oil conversion is good, but not that good.......

Rolla :?

[littlepow]

Sorry to be a little harsh, but I work for Toyota, they are making serious inroads into tomorrows fuells, and ill informed people who moan about em for the sake of something to do annoy me a little.
Dont believe the Rubbish printed in the press, Its there to sell copy, and that is all.
Research the damn car, check out the winning results of a hybrid 24hr race car in japan(it won by a Loooooong way), check out the potential fuel economy for the new Lexus Ls.

Rolla

Why don't car companies put this technology in to commercial vehicles, like vanc and pick ups?

I now at present it carries a premium, but as commercial vehicles usually travel more in a year than private vehicles. Wouldn't the end product of reducing polution be greater?

Also when is the hybrid celica and MR2 replacements coming out?

[Range Rover Blues]

Forgive me for being ignorant, but last time I looked at it the Pius did less MPG on a "test" cycle than my Micra.  Given that my Micra doesn't have any planet killing batteries in it, why the hell should anyone sane jump on the bandwagon and buy one?

The only clever thing it does is regenerative braking, meaning the worse you drive the more economical it is :lol:

[rollazuki]

Does your micra carry five passengers and luggage comfortably in air conditioned comfort at 90 on the motorway.....NO

Not being cheeky, but so many people compare em to ickle hatches etc, when in fact they are a big car, and do pretty good mileage with low emissions.

There are many other techno plus points, first all electric aircon system, very innovative drive train. Very re-cyclable.

As for the new sports car, we were told 2008, then 2009, so at the mo, its supposed to be a re-release of the Supra name, in 2009, but might be sold as a Lexus....!?!?!

Better bet is the new LandcruiserV8(AKA AMAZON) with new body and new,new,new v8 diesel twin turbo nutter engine. Highest output luxury 4x4 in UK. (including all the V8 petrol thingumies and rr sports etc)
Highest Torque output(cant remember what it is, but its scary) and about 8 seconds to sixty ........

Also gonna be some new hybrid stuff in existing models.

2008 will be an interesting year for us.

As to why commercial manufacturers dont jump on board, Ive no idea. Seems like an ideal market, plenty of space for batteries/fuel cells etc, but there doesnt seem much interest does there? maybe some of the truck drivin members know differently, I dunno?!?

[Wireless]

Producing biodiesel makes some lovely chemicals to throw away as....erm.....waste, and if everyone on the planet was to convert to run veg oil powered vehicles, there isnt enough space to grow enough crops to produce the fuel.
Oh, and we also need a little planet space to grow food crops to keep us alive....!

As far as I can see the only 'green' option is a bobble hat and hiking boots, but Ill be damned if Im gonna do that!

Id say a veg oil conversion is good, but not that good.......

Rolla :?

All true until they figure out a way to breakdown cellulose to extract the oil, then any vegetation will do.

Your response is exactly what I was hoping for, you lot can pay for the dino diesel while I buy the veg oil wholesale.

Suits me down to the ground.

[Range Rover Blues]

Does your micra carry five passengers and luggage comfortably in air conditioned comfort at 90 on the motorway

Yes it does, but anyone who claims to be buying a hybrid car to help save the planet has no business charging around the countryside, 20mph in excess of the legal speed limit.

The 55mph limit in the 'states was introduced in the early 70s IIRC following the oil crisis as a measure to reduce fuel consumption, not as a measure to reduce fatalities.  If only they'd though of leaving a couple of cylinders off :roll:

Not that I'm wanting to pick any fights and yes I agree that the technology has to come, but quite honestly any gains in economy from regenerative braking are lost by lugging hooge batteries around.

Don't even start on electric cars, they are powered by COAL.

[blackbob]

i like big cars
best ever was a austin westminster 1962
second best renault 25 for comfoort had 2 of them
worst was a ford granada
but aint found one better than the rangie 3.9

[richo]

My mate was told that he will be getting a prius for a company car so he said he'd have one of the older pool ford cars so that he don't have to have one.He reckons they only do 85 90 flat out and he's a rep,he would have no street cred left.

[Thrasher]

and about 8 seconds to sixty

So about .1 of a second faster than the latest TDV8 RR .. and 1 second SLOWER than the petrol. What's the point of high output etc if you are going to make it so damned heavy!?!?!

Wait for L405 - completely aluminium, possible hybrid technology - but still boasting something like a 500bhp engine. In fact I have seen spy stuff for the 2009MY (2008 release) RR "Type R" - carrying a 500bhp factory engine - destined to blow the Cayenne and the Merc thingy out of the water for sheer power...

2008 is going to be interesting indeed ......

[davidlandy]

commercial vehicle operators dont bother much for non diesel powered vehicles simply because they NEVER do the job as well as a diesel engine. Operators need reliability, economy, and lowest possible wholelife operating costs , these all add up to diesel. Funny fuels, and electric, batteries etc just dont yet make commercial sense - there are too many compromises.

I was lucky enough to drive an all new electric transit van the other week, a 200 mile range turned out to be 100 ish the regen braking only put 5% power back into the batteries, when the regen brake kicked in it done so with such ferocity that it could cause the back to step out. turning the heater on considerably shortened the battery charge. BAttery life only 4-5 years if charged properly, capital cost 3 times that of a new transit.  payload only 60% of that of the diesel equivelant which means that your have to buy a 4tonner to get 3.5 tonner. max speed 50mph makes it a nightmare on motorways. slows down on the hills like you wouldnt believe. would i have one?...no thanks.

The toyota prius I think is a PR machine - nothings for nothing these days, why is it sensible to use an engine to drive an alternator to charge a battery to power a drive motor to power the wheels - surley it would be simpler to just connect the engine to the wheels, rather than add the complexity in the middle and fuel efficency losses. ie like a conventional car.  

I recommend that its very sensible to buy a modern diesel car that does say 50mpg ish and keep running it until fuel cell is widely availalbe.  oh and buy one without a deep front spoiler!

[Thrasher]

Spot on Dave :)