I think this kind of stuff is to be expected from new technology, but comming from Toyota it's a "little" surprising, but as with most things this might be overblown...

Stalling Prius



How can a car that Leonardo Decaprio drives go wrong? LOL :p

 

33 reports out of 88,000 sold is hardly an issue. i think it isnt a "little suprising" i think its an amazing compliment to toyota's record that it is so few

 

I think yours is the only one, abbid.

 

I wonder how many of those people actually ran out of gas and didn't just "stall"

 

I wonder why rx8wannahave knows that Leonardo Decaprio drices a Prius?

 

He went to my highschool for about 2 months and since then...LOL...just messing...

My wife told me about it since she is into the Hollywood/Music Industry thing. She was defending him because he has not gotten any awards or has hardly been given some. She stated that he was not into the BLING BLING thing and was more of a "normal" person.

That's the long story...that's how I know, lol!

Anyway, I agree 33 out of 88,000 is not really an issue...so maybe the flooding issue with the 8 should not be considered an issue either, and the 10-13mpg thing, and so on and so on...or is the ratio much larger for those issues...???

 

I've heard of people having the Rx-8 stall when coasting at speed, at least a few people here have reported it. So odds are there are at least a few more... Yes it's a safety concern and may involve a recall for either or both cars in the future, but it's hardly a big deal...

 

Oh! Only 33 potentially deaths! Not bad!

 

Yeah...I was almost part of that stat myself, but it fixed itself...it's happend once...

 

33 less Prius drivers to get past on the way to work in the morning.

 

Is it just me or is that car ugly?

 

On another note, they need a hybrid rotary. Not only would it be fast, but the electric motor would give much needed torque.

 

A hybrid that burns more gas than a 427 Cobra - can't get more American than that!

 

Its funny this thread comes up. TONIGHT while coming from playing basketball I see one being towed into the dealership.

 

The Prius is a gimmick anyway for people to feel good about themselves since it doesn’t club baby seals to death and when you’re not driving it, it actually sneaks off and plants trees :p.

They had it on an episode of Top Gear (Dec 12, 2004 episode), anyway Jeremy Clarkson’s diesel powered Volkswagen, got better mileage than the Prius from his home to the studio.

Besides that they found it to be slow and very cheaply built, in fact it even had little Velcro sticky things to keep the storage bin lid from vibrating too much.

Fifth Gear (Oct 25, 2004) also had a show where they did a rough calculation on how many years it would take to actually save money from using less fuel to pay off the extra cost of a hybrid, and it was like 10 years IIRC, but could be more, have to rewatch the episode.

 

Hybrids arent all theyre cracked up to be it seems. They're just like every other car, they dont come close to EPA estimates:

From Edmunds-
Prius-40.4 avg (48.6 mpg best) EPA rating-60/51
Accord hybrid-22.0 avg (30.2 mpg best) EPA rating-29/37
RX300h-21.8, EPA rating-31/27

Here's an article, also from Edmunds, that claims they aren't as cost effective as they seem either.

http://theautochannel.com/F/news/2005/06/01/110662.html

 

A diesel will be cheaper, cost less money (initially and probably in the long run, those battery packs aren't cheap), and burn less fuel per mile than a hybrid, but it also spews a whole lot more pollutants into the air than almost any gas engine. A Prius, on the other hand, is one of the cleanest cars you can buy, which, in addition to its gas mileage, is one of its most attractive features to many people.

I've often wondered why some cars get worse than EPA mileage while others match or exceed those numbers. For example, my parent's cars ('02 Maxima 6MT and '97 Grand Prix GT) as well as cars like the old LS1 Fbodies and Corvettes actually do a couple MPG better than the EPA estimates say they should, especially on the highway, which seems to be something of a trend with those models. Others (RX-8, Scion tC) do worse on average. What causes this difference?

Maybe it has to do with the rather short gearing in the low torque cars, as it seems that these are the cars that fall short of the EPA estimates most often? A 400-600rpm difference from 60-80mph in top gear will affect fuel consumption less than a 1000rpm difference would. This rpm difference could be moving the engine into a more efficient operating range for those speeds in the cases of the cars that do better than EPA estimates, while the other cars could be geared to run most efficiently at ~60mph, since this is fairly near the speed limit in Japan as well as a good portion of the US. Maybe automakers expect us to speed more in some cars than in others, and the gearing is set up to reflect that? I don't know, I'm just rambling on here

 

I was in the market to buy a hybrid.. decided I was going to get a manual insight.. plenty of people were getting 65-80 mpg and some with babying were breaking 100 mpg. Got up the the dealer and lowest I could go was 22,000 ( plus taxes and fees ). I looked at the civics and noticed a civic HX sitting in the back lot ( with 1 mile on it still in shrink wrap ) and ended up getting that one for $12,700 out the door, taxes and all.

Civic HX have now been replaced with the civic hybrid. I routinely get 45-48 mpg on my 52 mile 1 way commute to work. I easily go into the low 50's for a long highway drive ( 80-85mph is the sweet spot for this car ) with the 5 speed. Hybrids just cannot touch the long term total cost of ownership. I've had my civic hx for 3 years now and almost 160,000 miles and not a single hiccup although I do have an alernator bearing that has gone out...

 

Also do you all know how they do the gasoline estimates/ they don't actaully drive the cars. they run them on a machine much like a dyno and measure the output and gas usage in simulations of certain driving patterns. it's so not real world it's pathetic. they need to give 10 people the cars and tell them drive for a month and let us know what you come up with.