First Prius test drive
 

I got a chance to drive the Prius today that my friend has - ran the battery down a bit by the time I got back - man it is tricky to get that thing in gear and they got the forward and reverse upside down on the shifter. Seems the gas pedal is really sensitive to EV mode operation and the engine keeps starting up. Not quite enough power in the electric motor to drive 25-30mph on level ground from what I can see unless something was dragging? The mechanical brakes after almost a week of sitting were really touchy. Needed some really steep hills to test the regen braking but from what I can see there really isn't a lot of energy that the battery has in it - seems to top up pretty quick and run down to the point where it had to charge a lot during my 10 mile ride. Weird driving an automatic and it does seem to "shift" while accelerating - got it to freewheel a little but forgot to try popping it into neutral to get a good coast going. Got up to 37 mph on electric drive only on a gentle downhill. Anyone know the oil capacity because this thing needs some service already and it calls for 5W30. I was not impressed with the mileage and after getting back into my xB with the ScanGaugeII realized that I need to get my SG1 connected to the Prius to really figure out the gas mileage as the console computer didn't register the trip MPG - I think a reset is needed on the computer display?

For my Insight I feel it is plenty worth it. I've got a handbuilt all aluminum car(OK some plastic too), 6 years old now and still people ask if I work for Honda and is it some NEW prototype :D (we have a LOT of prototypes here in town), still fairly cutting edge on technology while being a bare bones point A/point B vehicle. All that for $10,000 - twenty five thousand miles and a year and a half ago. I need to break out my old reciepts/logs and enter them here. I maintained 64.6 MPG for quite a while until Honda's product update which lowered me to around 63.5 for my entire ownership of the car.

IMO, this particular car it was worth it. As far as my old Civic Hybrid, I don't regret getting it but I think I could of done fairly well with an EX but would of taken a huge hit in the MPG department without a Scangauge. Using a Scangauge you can get many of the realtime MPG benifits of a hybrid while driving a more mainstream vehicle that doesn't scare most mechanics away. (yes, I know hybrids are simple to work on once you learn the ins and outs)

In the end it is just personal preference. Once (not if) gas goes to $5 a gallon the hybrid owners will be laughing a bit more.

Kia mmmmmmm
Although i heard somewhere that their reported problems are dropping more and more. And i beleive they beat out mazda last year? Don't quote me on this.

It's not the Aveo's engine that kills its FE so much as it is its horrible aerodynamics. .35 drag coefficient, ~21.5 square foot frontal area(estimated from w x h x .8). This thing has the Cd*A about that of a Buick LaCrosse.

Dae-What?
 

The Chevy Aveo is actually a re-badged Daewoo. The Koreans are currently very guilty of Iron-block cars for cost.

RH77

I'll take my $5.5k 40mpg civic over the Yaris. I don't see the point in buying a new car.

i read an article a few years back that had the toyota echo as the cheapest new car to own and maintain in canada.

The Echo is the VVTi engine in a not so stylish body - they got the economy right but the thing just didn't look right - too narrow and tall with tiny looking tires - of course I drive an xB which about half the people I know think it is pretty ugly.

when my mom was choosing a car the choices were: TC, Xb, Civic, Yaris.

She didn't get the TC because it's a gas guzzler. For the Xb she said she is not going to be driving in a toaster(ROFL).

So it was between a Civic and Yaris. She chose the civic because of the safety features and the civic had more power.

xA, but...
 

So I was looking at fuel efficient cars at the AutoShow this past year. The Scion xA stood out as a nice efficient runabout. That was until I got in and saw that dad-blasted speedometer in the middle of the dash. I mean, WTF? The Saturn Ion suffered the same problem -- it was terrible!!! This can only turn off buyers, IMHO.

RH77