Still, the comparison suggests a more sensible question. If a new Prius were placed head-to-head with a used car, would the Prius win? Don’t bet on it. Making a Prius consumes 113 million BTUs, according to sustainability engineer Pablo Päster. A single gallon of gas contains about 113,000 Btus, so Toyota’s green wonder guzzles the equivalent of 1,000 gallons before it clocks its first mile. A used car, on the other hand, starts with a significant advantage: The first owner has already paid off its carbon debt. Buy a 1999 Ford focus, which gets a respectable 35 mpg, and the Prius will have to drive 100,000 miles to catch up.

Better yet, buy a three-cylinder, 49-horsepower 1994 Geo Metro XFi, one of the most fuel-efficient cars ever built. It gets the same average mileage as a 2008 Prius, so a new hybrid would never close the carbon gap. Sure, the XFi has no AC or airbags — but nobody said saving the planet would be comfortable, or even safe.

Does it come with a free cardigan?

Hmmm, I feel like a good burnout. Might have to take the beast for a spin tonight. I love burnouts.

I’m glad your happy with your “wide bodied” carmy, interestingly the magna of the time was just as roomy and comfortable inside despite it not being “wide bodied”, but the fact remained our one was completely hopeless and gutless. We upgraded from a 2.6ltr 88 magna auto to a 2.2ltr 94 camry auto and believe me when i say that with 5 people on board, boot full, aircon on (we lived in townsville) on the highway the magna would still overtake a truck! that bloody camry couldn’t overtake a VW beetle! it was a fine car to potter around in but actually try and load it up and go on a trip with your family.. well it was hopelessly underpowered! And that was compared to a bloody carby fed 2.6ltr astron II powered magna! widely regarded as the worst of the magna’s!

If you still don’t like using the air con. in winter then you must run it at least 15 minutes every 2 weeks to lubricate the O rings and prevent leaks…..hope this was of some help mate!

Cheers

As for solar panels on a hybrid, i think it would make more sense to charge all the batteries therefore prolonging the time between when the engine kicks in. If i left a hybrid parked in the sun all day I’d prefer the batteries to charged when i got back to it rather than the air conditioner have been running all day and nothing to show for it!!!

There is no doubting that Toyota (and Honda) have done a remarkable job with the development of hybrid motor vehicles and so much so, that … many of the worlds most recognised manufactuers are now following suit including BMW, Audi, Nissan, Ford, GM (incl. Holden) and Ford as some examples.

As for recycling, Toyota has invested heavily in a recycling regime (were possible) and encourages all of it’s global dealerships to return batteries to them which is apart of not only striving for more environmentally friendly motor vehicles but recycling process for aged and disused components.

As for reliabilty – agree, all models and manufactuers have problems but fact remains … some have more then others while others have more yet again.

Toyota (as with some other manuafactuers) have established a world-wide reputation as one of the best performers for vehicle quality, reliability, dependability and durability while companies like General Motors and Ford have a less then favourale record … infact, they have a history of ranking amoung the worst performers of all particularly in Australia.

Take the time and research any Cust.Satisfaction / Qual. Survey wether it be ‘aged’ or ‘recent’ and you will discover that Toyota has undoubtedly demonstrated the most consistant result of all wether it reflects the US, UK or Australian market and remains no different today.

You talk of reliability with the VS Commodore which is interesting because the Commoddore is infact amoung he most troublesome, unreliable and poorest quality vehicles that can be purchased in Australia and apatt from general knowledge of this, the bulk of Cust.Satisfaction / Quality Surveys have consistantly proven this year after year.

As for the Camry you refered to – interesting … becuase the widebody Camry (and subsequent models) rightly established a reputation for outstanding reliability/dependablity and my current ’second car’ which happens to be a 1994 2.2 4 cyl CSI widebody that i purchased secondhand but near-new many years ago has been absolutely outstanding although and at 14 years of age and 245 000km, it is only now i am starting to spend ’some’ money on the vehicle.

It is because of the reliability of my aged widebody Camry that reserved no hestitation for me to buy another Camry which is a 2003 4cyl manual Sportivo and bar some very minor issues, at 75 000km’s i have been equally satisfied.

yeah this solar panel on a hybrid car makes lots of sense. Much more than say putting the panel on the roof of your garage, inside which you park your Prius when you aren’t using it? Dah..

Don’t forget that there are Turbo diesels out there now that are better than the Prius and actually still have power (or grunt). And I suspect they will get better….especially with lighter smaller cars.

The way we move around is about to change and big guzzlers just to go down the road or sit in traffic at 5-40kmh will be a thing of the past.

Personally I would like to see more enclosed scooters so I can ride to work and not get wet etc.

Now luke you can go off what you have heard off a mate who knows a mate who’s dad is a mechanic all you like, but my parents where REAL consumers who owned both a toyota and a holden and this was their story. Can’t argue with that!

It may be a reliable car (although it hasn’t really been around long enough to prove that) but their batteries are still a biohazard for generations after the car is past it’s used by date. Regular petrol powered cars? More then 98% recyclable.

I’ll tell you what is environmentally distractive – the engineering and manufactuer of poor quality and troublesome vehicles that Ford and GM have long supplied which equates to greater replaced components to maintain servicability.

GM not long ago reported mass problems with thier hybrid system (leaking batteries) that will have to be replaced while Toyota’s own hybrid development has gained global recognition for impeccable reliability

Cheers

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