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i was going to post for the longest time on here how despite its pretty strong sales, i still had not seen a single camry hybrid out on the road.
surprise, surprise, i finally saw one on the way home this past tuesday. i was making a left turn onto amestoy from devonshire, and the guy passed me going in the opposite direction. the color was desert sand mica, aka sand-colored.
it is worth noting that i still haven’t seen a single lexus gs450h on the road, though.
i also got to drive a 2WD highlander hybrid a few weeks back. that thing really does have a powerful electric motor, it’s almost noisy! i was really surprised though that the 4WD model actually gets worse fuel economy – i’d think the addition of a second electric motor would do the opposite, but apprently not.Current Music: Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone · (album "The Best Of Smokie") · Smokie |
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I was browsing around the lexus hybrid site, and came across this rather interesting article from Car & Driver:
( article )
this methodical approach gives a bunch of very good and useful data. heed the tips he gives, which i think most die-hard hybrid drivers know anyway, and you’ll get the data he gets. i find it amazing that people still insist that the EPA figures for the prius are “unrealistic”. sorry people, but that’s just total bs. those figures are very much attainable if you set out to get them.Current Music: King Arthur / Guinevere / Lancelot & The Black Knight / The Last Battle · (album "Rock & Pop Legends |
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well, i now live in the bay area because i go to berkeley, and i'm not really sure if there are more hybrids here. i remember noticing quite a few 06 priuses back when i just got here, in january, but now it seems that the only ones that I see are all 04-05 models.
yesterday as i was walking i heard the typical hybrid drive sound and turned my head. what is typical of any full hybrid is this sound of coming to a stop with just the electric motor, which sounds just like an (electric) trolley bus, something that's instantly recognizable to any soviet inhabitant. it's very easy to hear it in my mom's prius but it isn't as easily heard in the hatchback version. anyway, as this car passed me and i turned, i saw that it was the highlander hybrid, and as it came to a stop the "stopping" sound was very loud, almost like a full-size bus! which made me think, the hybrid system in that sucker is huge! Just compare:
Prius
Electric Motor
Power output 67 hp (50 kW) @ 1200-1540 rpm
Torque 295 lb.-ft. (400 Nm) @ 0-1200 rpm
Voltage 500V max
Traction Battery
Power output 21 kW (28 hp)
Voltage 201.6V
Highlander
Electric Motor
Power output 165 hp (123 kw) @ 4500 rpm
Torque 247 lb.-ft. @ 0-1500 rpm
Voltage 650V max
Rear Electric Motor (4WD-i models)
Power output 67 hp (50 kW) @ 4610-5120 rpm
Torque 96 lb.-ft. @ 0-610 rpm
Voltage 650V max
Traction Battery
Power output 45 kW (60 hp) max
Voltage 288V
Now, toyota just needs to make a 4wd prius using highlander's electric components and an even-smaller (say, 995cc) gasoline engine. in fact, looking over the numbers now, toyota should just take highlander's main motor and put that on the prius front wheels, and take the current prius motor and put it on the rear wheels (compare the hp of the rear highlander and current prius motors, then look at the torque). now there would be an awesome car - a sedan with 4 wheel drive and superior gas mileage. come on toyota!
i'm waiting..... |
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i've been waiting to see one for quite some time. last week on wednesday, i finally saw a brand spakin' new 2006 prius as it pulled into the Trader Joe's parking lot on the corner of Balboa and San Fernando Mission in Granada Hills. After the owners went into the store, I inspected the car for a closer look.
On the side, it has "HYBRID" written, followed by a cropped HSD logo. the front lights have a little line of plastic "dots" between the the blinker and headlights. the rear brake lights, which used to have black plastic making them look unused - until you stepped on the brakes, that is - now have metallic plastic instead. personally, i think this just takes away from the "coolness" effect. the car was white and appeared to have minimal packages tacked on and still had no plates.
then yesterday my family drove down to santa monica and in the process saw two other 2006 priuses. one of them was a silver pine mica and the other was a barcelona red metallic...i think. we then went to the dealership there and saw 4 new priuses.
i looked inside and took an even further look. the paneling now partially looks really ugly. it's ridged, i guess made to look like aged leather, except that it's not really leather and will only collect dust in those ridges which will be impossible to get out. the new red really looks a lot better than the old salsa red, but to be honest, it's still too dark and not "red" enough. also i couldn't find the AUX audio jack which leads me to believe that they stuck it in the glove compartment, which is simply NOT a good place for that stuff! jesus...BMW started that and now everyone thinks that it's a good place for your ipod...well automakers, here's a little secret...it's NOT. the last place i think of puttin my ipod is in the goddamn glove compartment.
lastly, i thought that the line of plastic "dots" on the front headlights was actually a line of LEDs, but as it turns out, those dots actually serve no purpose. which leads me to say one thing: the "improvements" that toyota has put in the prius lighting are actually...not improvements at all.
overall, with this new model, i like the increased choice of colors and leather. i like the implementation of data music capabilities. i don't like the new lights, the new panels, the complete lack of casette in any model grade, and the rather spiked price tag on this baby. |
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haven’t posted here in way too long.
i’ve seen a few highlanders, and i think i’m a little better suited now to spotting them. from the rear, the hybrid highlander has its brake lights - that is, the individual lights - arranged in rows, whereas the regular highlander has them going out in a radial pattern.
i’ve also seen quite a number of hybrid rx400 cars. what stoke me as really interesting was that i was standing on the corner of burbank and fulton the other day, just looking at the ground waiting for the light to change so i could cross the street, and a RXh drove by, making a right turn. what was interesting was that i identified it not by the way it looked, but rather, but the way it sounded. the “electric” sound so typical of the prius when it is driven in stealth (electric-only) mode was what caught my attention, and sure enough, it was a hybrid that had passed me.
i also saw a hybrid accord parked in sylmar. man those cars are rare!
i think that is all for now. |
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in the past week, i’ve spotted a hybrid highlander, the rx400h, and an accord. interestingly, that’s the second time i’ve seen an accord on the road in my life. the other time was during the summer, on the parking lot at valley college. this time it was on the off-ramp of the 118 west at balboa.
needless to say, the driver was a woman who was holding a cellphone in her left hand and failed to signal while changing lanes. |
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i passed a 400h today on the 118 ramp coming off the 5 going north. white in color. i'm still not 100% good with sighting them at a distance though, despite the fact that the rear lights are actually fairly different from those of the 330. |
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So Toyota’s summer sales event is over, and here in southern cal, the printed ads are now changing to HSD ads. So far I’ve seen one huge billboard ad and another ad which was on a glass bus stop.
Turns out toyota has made a special HSD section on its site. Interesting to note that they have linked both priusonline.com and priuschat.com in their links section, and the FAQ addresses many more “technical” issues and more concerns from the hybrid owner community as opposed to the potential buyer community.
Go and check it out. |
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so, just after I say that I haven’t seen any, i come across....3!
the first one i saw on wednesday last week. it was a black one, under the 101 freeway on reseda blvd, heading north, in the left-turn lane to go onto the freeway in the west (north) direction.
i saw two more today while on the beach. both were on sunset blvd in the vicinity of the starbucks there. considering the income level of people living there, not much of a surprise lol.
interestingly enough, i also saw a RAV4 EV parked on sunset. it had those clean air stickers for carpool lanes, which looked exactly like ours, except that they were white and really starting to fade. keep in mind, they’re prolly 5 years old or so. |
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so, even though I sent the form for the CA HOV stickers on the day it became available, and received them before I left for canada on Sep. 1, I only got to put them on today.
some of them look crooked, but that’s ok. i only wish i could get another set for my accord ;) |
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so I haven’t written here in a long time. here’s what’s new...
I have already seen two hybrid Highlanders. I saw one on september 6th in Canada, coming toward Barrie, ON on some north-south highway (going south). this, despite the fact that one guy I met while we were on the camping trip (from which we were returning) said that the hybrid highlanders wouldn’t arrive in canada until 2006.
the other one I saw right here in northridge, just past the intersection of balboa and devonshire. interesting to note that the “hybrid” designation is very prominent, quite unlike the Lexus RX400h, which has....just the letter “h” lol.
my accord is getting very good mileage, ~25+ mpg, despite me going 80 mph most of the time and the fact that my tires mysteriously lose half their air frequently (esp one tire which was under 20 psi hot today!!).
also, noticed that not too many priuses have the new Clean Air stickers on them for the HOV lanes. quite a shame.
last thing here. two days ago, on wed, i was going north on I-5. I was on the ramp to 118 west, when a silver new prius passed me on the overpass. the guy (I think) had his clean air stickers on crooked (slanted) and was going above 80 mph. I saw him speed further down the highway later and i want to say - kudos my man! that’s the kind of driving i like to see from a prius. why? because it shows that getting good gas mileage doesn’t mean going 60 mph. because it doesn’t. even my accord can show you that. |
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yesterday, as my old man drove up to pick me up after school, there was a group of teens standing next to me. as my dad pulled up, the guy in the group pointed out the fact that my dad was driving a hybrid car and then added, "i love hybrid cars". i have no idea who the guy was though.
i remember it striking me as extremely unusual at the time. |
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I browsed over to the Toyota-europe website yesterday and came across the auto show in Paris. And guess what was there - the Prius. But not a regular one, but a race Prius:
full-size version (117k)
(see this page for the original link and images) |
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