Toyota Prius

[VVTi]

Wait a sec, those three words don't go together

Machang... even singers need to lease, right? )

Serious breach of the Privacy Act here... he he he he he... Jobs can be lost over these things...

[BLu3HaZe]

Its a 164 Super, 3.0 24V V6. Yes it was... it still is. Tired of the 'How is it on fuel?' Questions... . Tired of the gasps I get when I say it is a 5Kmpl car...

Now given up, and enjoying the car. Not going to sell unless a serious petrolhead with 95RON running in his veins comes and takes her away.

That's a great car, is it the red one? Or is it a manual? The red car seems to be in great shape and much better for people going after EG8s, only downside is the auto part. If it's yours, that's a beauty to keep and must be fun to drive! And 5km/l is better than an RX-7 isn't it?

It'd be a rare collectors item to keep, you're lucky you can afford to maintain 2 Euro cars! Good luck with them

[VVTi]

That's a great car, is it the red one? Or is it a manual? The red car seems to be in great shape and much better for people going after EG8s, only downside is the auto part. If it's yours, that's a beauty to keep and must be fun to drive! And 5km/l is better than an RX-7 isn't it?

It'd be a rare collectors item to keep, you're lucky you can afford to maintain 2 Euro cars! Good luck with them

If its the maroon one with maroon interior then, Yeah, thats the one. Its an Auto, but don't think anyone told the 164 that... Her S setting will rival a manual.

Need a bit of a paint touch up. Took about 2 months of straight suffering to get it to what it is now. Anger, frustration, sadness, looking at 'other women'... but it all paid off when I first took it for the first real test drive. Jeremy Clarkson is right.. . when an Alfa works and you have a great road... ahhhh... heaven.

BTW, between the wife and I, we have 3 Euros... her's is a Punto with a Dual-Logic GB... best of both worlds....

Actually, it has not been expensive at all to main either of the cars. apart from the repair bill on the Alfa. The high maintenance is a myth. However, I do a a lot of preventive maintenance myself.

Edited January 28, 2011 by VVTi

[BLu3HaZe]

Machang... even singers need to lease, right? )

Serious breach of the Privacy Act here... he he he he he... Jobs can be lost over these things...

Thought they're all damn rich, the way they show off. Especially Mr.Chilie

[VVTi]

Thought they're all damn rich, the way they show off. Especially Mr.Chilie

Well, even Mr. Freddie Silva was rich... till he died an absolute pauper in the garage of some other person, where he has been living his last few years...

When the money and fame is in great supply, people don't think of the coming rainy days.

[LashNeo]

True that in emissions it may be cleaner, but the overall environmental impact in making a Prius with its huge NiMH batteries are disastrous to the environment, especially when it comes to disposing the batteries. IMO, people in SL will have no way to dispose of the battery or recycle it, they'll find a way to take it out and run on just petrol like other cars by bypassing the electric only system or so or fixing some Pb-Acid batteries to start it up and send all the batteries to some empty land where it'd be left to rot or whatever may happen to it. I've seen few such vehicles in SL like that, buses etc. but that's iron and it'd go back to the earth no problem. But all the material in NiMH batteries are going to cause severe soil pollution...

+1

That's the point i was also making. If you are concerned about the environment you must have a holistic view of it. Sure, the Prius might do good on emissions, but many people don't consider other stuff like the battery and electric components in it. I think the battery life of a prius is somewhere around the 150K mark. So,in most of the used ones which arrive in Sri lanka, The battery would have exceeded half of it's lifespan and many would be over-clocked as well. So, what would happen to the used batteries and other worn off electric components when they are replaced? In developed countries they either recycle them or export the entire car including the battery to a poor country like ours. But in SL do we have such a process? I think even during an accident, Hybrids should be handled in a special manner. But how many of us are exactly aware of this ?

So, Hybrids might be a good option if all these aspects are carefully considered and if solutions are provided. But in Sri Lanka it's completely different scenario at the moment...

[LashNeo]

I am planning on going Green... Gonna paint the BMW Oxford Green and the Alfa British Racing Green...

:D

Good one.. But don't do that man.. coz, changing the original paint, will have an adverse effect on the 'RESALE VALUE'

[jdnet]

I don't really hate it, its just overhyped.

You are just homophobic

[The Stig]

I know Yesterday the SriLankan young Singer CHilli Brought Prius.. Bcs one of my friend in Leasing company done his docs..

Which proves that he is tasteless and most importantly BROKE

[The Stig]

Did you guys see the new Jag on top gear ? Now thats how a hybrid should look like.

Yep thats right its a hybrid supercar that does 205mph !

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1316273/E-Type-Jaguar-supercar-200mph-electric-hybrid-jet-engine-costs-200K.html

BTW im back in the show

Edited January 28, 2011 by The Stig

[nexus]

Which proves that he is tasteless and most importantly BROKE

+1

[JohnGalt]

+1

That's the point i was also making. If you are concerned about the environment you must have a holistic view of it. Sure, the Prius might do good on emissions, but many people don't consider other stuff like the battery and electric components in it. I think the battery life of a prius is somewhere around the 150K mark. So,in most of the used ones which arrive in Sri lanka, The battery would have exceeded half of it's lifespan and many would be over-clocked as well. So, what would happen to the used batteries and other worn off electric components when they are replaced? In developed countries they either recycle them or export the entire car including the battery to a poor country like ours. But in SL do we have such a process? I think even during an accident, Hybrids should be handled in a special manner. But how many of us are exactly aware of this ?

So, Hybrids might be a good option if all these aspects are carefully considered and if solutions are provided. But in Sri Lanka it's completely different scenario at the moment...

I get the drift machang. Did not know that hybrids should be handled in a special manner when met with an accident. Thanks for the details.

[Mani]

Some of you boys are so misguided on this whole Prius thing it's starting to be very entertaining. Suffice it to say that facts are a wonderful thing.

This article will get you started.

Some wonderful urban legends have sprung up about the Prius and its battery, the most colorful being this claim about the hybrid being less ecofriendly than a Hummer. Some of the more thrilling chapters originated in one study done by a marketing company that was not peer-reviewed but, unfortunately, was widely quoted in the media. Writer George Will, who is syndicated in 450 papers, penned an April column on the topic, headlined "Use a Hummer to Crush a Prius." The story was also pumped into the Internet-disinformation pipeline by gleeful bullies for whom size is apparently quite important, and before long the Prius had morphed into a sort of traveling toxic-waste dump trailing clouds of diabolical fossil-fuel exhaust.

You can disprove most of the false claims by doing a bit of math. Regarding the hybrid battery, let's say a Hummer is driven 200,000 miles in its lifetime. Its EPA rating is 14 miles per gallon in the city and 18 miles per gallon on the highway. Let's be real generous and assume it is driven only on the highway at a reasonable speed, yielding the maximum mileage. Divide 200,000 by 18, and you're talking 11,111 gallons of gas.

Next let's calculate the Btus in that amount of gasoline and convert them to kilowatt-hours. Gasoline has between 115,000 and 125,000 Btus per gallon, so the Hummer would burn through about 1.3 billion Btus over those 200,000 miles. Since there are 3,412 Btus in a kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy, this would convert to almost 400,000 kilowatt-hours, which, at the rock-bottom price of five cents per kilowatt-hour, would be about $20,000, or almost as much as the price of a Prius. If the energy to make the hybrid battery came from fuel oil, which has around 140,000 Btus per gallon, it would take an estimated 9,524 gallons of oil to match the Hummer's 1.3 billion Btus. At $2 a gallon, that's also about $20,000.

Now if Toyota is truly spending that much money on the battery alone, U.S. automakers can stop worrying about the Japanese competition pronto. Either that, or Toyota is cooking up the most brilliant marketing strategy in the history of modern capitalism: investing unprecedented prodigious funds in a loss leader!

In any case, the study indicting the Prius has been discredited by a number of reliable sources since its appearance early this year. As David Friedman, the research director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Clean Vehicles program, put it: "This study has been completely contradicted by studies from MIT, Argonne National Laboratory, and Carnegie Mellon's Lifecycle Assessment Group. The reality is hybrids can significantly cut global-warming pollution, reduce energy use, and save drivers thousands at the pump."

Among the many critics of Hummer hugging, Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute noted that one of the many flaws of the CNW Marketing study is that it is based on fudged figures. As he points out, it assumes a Hummer would travel 379,000 miles in its lifetime and last 35 years, whereas a Prius would only go 109,000 miles and last 12 years. So of course, using these figures, the amount of energy needed to make the Prius is going to come out high on a per-mile basis. (Who knows? In real-world time the Hummer might well have a shorter life because when the owners get bored with their mega-toys and want to dump them, no one may want to buy these gas hogs. Note also that I could've fudged and used that 379,000-mile figure, which would've jacked up the Hummer's lifetime energy use for fuel alone to a value of around $37,000.)

Getting back to the Prius's nickel metal hydride battery, laments about its other environmental iniquities were largely based on reports of environmental devastation from nickel mining in Sudbury, Ontario, where 10 percent of the world's nickel is mined. The problem is that these reports described Sudbury 30 years ago, not today. Yes, nickel mining is a nasty business, but in the 1970s, Sudburians started to clean up the mining mess and make huge strides in rehabilitating their environment. As Canadian Geographic declared recently in giving one Sudbury group an award for restoration, "Once derided for its barren landscape, Sudbury, Ontario, has experienced an environmental makeover since the 1970s. Today, the former industry-blighted moonscape has been transformed."

In any case, Prius batteries, which contain 32 pounds of nickel each, require only a fraction of the world's supply. More than 94 percent of the 1.55 million tons of nickel mined each year is used for stainless steel, alloys, and electroplating. So the batteries for the one million hybrids Toyota has sold so far have required only one percent of the world's annual nickel-mining production. Since the estimates on nickel recycling indicate about 80 percent is being reused, a million Priuses' share of newly mined nickel would really only be about two-tenths of one percent.

Additionally, Toyota researchers say that a Prius battery will last for at least 180,000 miles. There's no reason to believe that the company is inflating its figures, for the simple reason that Toyota issues an eight-year or 100,000-mile warranty on their batteries. Company representatives say that very few batteries have failed and that some fleet cars have already racked up 200,000 miles and the batteries are still going strong. The Prius batteries are also completely recyclable, and Toyota's recycling program even issues a $150 credit when they're finally retired.

Finally, after much Hummering and hawing, there remains your question whether you'd be better off getting a "really fuel-efficient regular car." Well, you might. As previously reported here, I've driven another Toyota, the Corolla, and gotten 42 miles per gallon, a mile more than its official EPA rating. That's pretty competitive with the Prius, especially when you consider that the Corolla costs about $7,000 less. So that regular car may be a sensible alternative to the Prius, but not because the Prius is environmentally worse than the Hummer.

Edited January 28, 2011 by Mani

[BLu3HaZe]

If its the maroon one with maroon interior then, Yeah, thats the one. Its an Auto, but don't think anyone told the 164 that... Her S setting will rival a manual.

Need a bit of a paint touch up. Took about 2 months of straight suffering to get it to what it is now. Anger, frustration, sadness, looking at 'other women'... but it all paid off when I first took it for the first real test drive. Jeremy Clarkson is right.. . when an Alfa works and you have a great road... ahhhh... heaven.

BTW, between the wife and I, we have 3 Euros... her's is a Punto with a Dual-Logic GB... best of both worlds....

Actually, it has not been expensive at all to main either of the cars. apart from the repair bill on the Alfa. The high maintenance is a myth. However, I do a a lot of preventive maintenance myself.

Ok yes I saw it on AL twice now, good car even by looks. I'm sure it's got a sporty GB, so you ever taken her to a track? Bet Peri can beat you though with his 1.6L

Owning an Alfa must be a great lot of fun putting the misery aside, especially for the people who love cars. Never had the pleasure, but they do seem to make some of the most beautiful cars in the world.

As for the Punto, I saw one for sale but was a HUGE price for a hatchback

Well, even Mr. Freddie Silva was rich... till he died an absolute pauper in the garage of some other person, where he has been living his last few years...

When the money and fame is in great supply, people don't think of the coming rainy days.

I'm not too aware of his fate, but must have been bad management. The story about the grasshopper is pretty old and they should all have known...

[BLu3HaZe]

Well you gave the point in the last para Mani, put the Hummer aside, those are out of talk for ordinary people, but the bland everyday Axio is a bigger competitor to the Prius in the environmental impact category isn't it? 42 MPG vs 50 MPG doesn't give a huge difference in mileage rather than when compared to a hulking SUV either. So other than the current tax situation, a full hybrid car like a Prius is a lose-lose situation IMO. But Civic hybrid and CR-Z etc. would have better life and fate in SL

[Mani]

Well you gave the point in the last para Mani, put the Hummer aside, those are out of talk for ordinary people, but the bland everyday Axio is a bigger competitor to the Prius in the environmental impact category isn't it? 42 MPG vs 50 MPG doesn't give a huge difference in mileage rather than when compared to a hulking SUV either. So other than the current tax situation, a full hybrid car like a Prius is a lose-lose situation IMO. But Civic hybrid and CR-Z etc. would have better life and fate in SL

BLu3HaZe

A fact to the matter is that better than 90% or Prius drivers [or any hybrid for that matter] don’t give a rat’s ass about the environment. The simple fact is that it hits you less hard at the gas/petrol or whatever station. Put 10 gallons in and hammer it for 500 or so miles and repeat. The car will out accelerate most, if not all, of the compacts in its segment or price point. For what it's intended for, it is a great vehicle.

As far as esthetics goes, it is entirely subjective. I personally think it looks like crap but if you're looking for a boost to your ego, this is not the car for you. Nor will you get any half way decent looking chick to throw her panties at you. The bottom line is the cost of ownership of this vehicle is much less than a comparable compact car. One look no cooler in a Corolla, Axio, Sentra or a Prius except the guy driving the Prius may have few bucks more in his pocket than the other.

This is new technology for SL and people are apprehensive about it. I get it. It was the same in the US when the first Hybrids hit the market. Think back to when fuel injection was first introduced and all the potential problems people thought it carried. Give it enough time to marinate and once the real facts are out, people will not be as hesitant to look at a Hybrid vehicle as they are now.

[BLu3HaZe]

True that most people are only caring about saving their own pocket and not the environment, but do you not agree it'd cause massive junk buildup like we have with discarded computers and mobile phones which have been thrown out to us from other developed countries? Basically we're getting their garbage after they've had enough with it or had some problems etc IMO. Fuel injection must have been a big deal and ok to compare this like that, yet this is a potential garbage buildup for the country, especially when expertise is scarce and even agents have no idea about the internals of these cars. But overall, we should be happy there are so many fuel eco conscious people out there who only think about their pockets at present offering themselves as guinea pigs Lets see how they cope with problems that may come up and how familiar people become with the new tech, then we can take a plunge too if necessary. Better be safe than sorry, especially when spending millions

[BLu3HaZe]

The chick part is interesting btw, wonder what sort of a car will do that job for a decent girl

[Mani]

but do you not agree it'd cause massive junk buildup like we have with discarded computers and mobile phones which have been thrown out to us from other developed countries? Basically we're getting their garbage after they've had enough with it or had some problems etc IMO.

I don't think that is a valid argument. SL is not the only country that use those items. There aught to be something that encourage people to properly dispose them similar to some of the other countries. It is no more the responsibility of a cigarette manufacture to have the streets free of butts than it is a car or cell phone company to make sure how and where their products are disposed of. Further, most hybrid manufactures have a recycling process for their batteries.

Edited January 29, 2011 by Mani

[BLu3HaZe]

We do have some very bare recycling processes as I've seen up in some billboards for mobile phones, but no one really bothers to do that here and on the other side, heaps are being imported to choose working parts and sell, and all non working parts are thrown away. As for car parts, that doesn't seem to happen as every single part seem to have some use, atleast after repairing. Maybe other than batteries and I've seen them being piled up in lots already, and when it comes to hybrid batteries, no one knows what may happen, so guess we better wait and observe

Edited January 29, 2011 by BLu3HaZe

[nexus]

Did you guys see the new Jag on top gear ? Now thats how a hybrid should look like.

Yep thats right its a hybrid supercar that does 205mph !

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1316273/E-Type-Jaguar-supercar-200mph-electric-hybrid-jet-engine-costs-200K.html

BTW im back in the show

yes i agree with you that is how hybrid supercar should look. powerd by jet engine

btw stig in 35 days you have been to school been a teenager and in to university how do you feel dude....

[The Stig]

yes i agree with you that is how hybrid supercar should look. powerd by jet engine

btw stig in 35 days you have been to school been a teenager and in to university how do you feel dude....

Yeah stigs grow up pretty quick

[nexus]

Yeah stigs grow up pretty quick

:D

[serialkiller]

It seems like the most talked about car related topic in SL these days is the Prius.

People are so eager in buying one and are talking about fancy stuff like, Going green, Saving the environment etc..

But I just don’t know how many have analyzed the negative impact it has on the environment. For an example, what would be the procedure for disposing the used batteries? I don’t think there’s a proper plan for this.

And I think the lifetime of a Prius is less than an average car running on pure gas. Therefore if people keep on importing used hybrids to SL, it will be another occasion where SL becomes a Junk yard for developed countries.

We have enough environment problems with used computers, mobile phones, electronic items etc.. don’t we??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw

[xXx]

+1

That's the point i was also making. If you are concerned about the environment you must have a holistic view of it. Sure, the Prius might do good on emissions, but many people don't consider other stuff like the battery and electric components in it. I think the battery life of a prius is somewhere around the 150K mark. So,in most of the used ones which arrive in Sri lanka, The battery would have exceeded half of it's lifespan and many would be over-clocked as well. So, what would happen to the used batteries and other worn off electric components when they are replaced? In developed countries they either recycle them or export the entire car including the battery to a poor country like ours. But in SL do we have such a process? I think even during an accident, Hybrids should be handled in a special manner. But how many of us are exactly aware of this ?

So, Hybrids might be a good option if all these aspects are carefully considered and if solutions are provided. But in Sri Lanka it's completely different scenario at the moment...

True that most people are only caring about saving their own pocket and not the environment, but do you not agree it'd cause massive junk buildup like we have with discarded computers and mobile phones which have been thrown out to us from other developed countries? Basically we're getting their garbage after they've had enough with it or had some problems etc IMO. Fuel injection must have been a big deal and ok to compare this like that, yet this is a potential garbage buildup for the country, especially when expertise is scarce and even agents have no idea about the internals of these cars. But overall, we should be happy there are so many fuel eco conscious people out there who only think about their pockets at present offering themselves as guinea pigs Lets see how they cope with problems that may come up and how familiar people become with the new tech, then we can take a plunge too if necessary. Better be safe than sorry, especially when spending millions

I think reducing the taxes on hybrids has really brought the inner tree huger in all of us, and i'm not talking about the people who are lining up to buy a Prius.

All you boys who worry about pollution in Sri Lanka, what's your stance on the use of plastic bags and the amount of plastic furniture in circulation? I'm sure the sheer volume and the magnitude of pollution cause by them surpass the effects of discarded hybrid battery packs.

About Sri Lanka turning in to a dumping ground, well its because majority of the local population can't afford brand new goods. let it be cars or electronic items. For example since there's lot of used computers in the market for sale, person earning couple of bucks an hour doing clerical work for a government institution can afford to buy his kids a computer. Stop looking at things from just one angle dude. There's civilization outside greater Colombo too.