A Hybrid Shock? Presuming we source our news from the elite media, the prospect of gas-electric Hybrid automobiles projects a new Nirvana on the nation's highways. Low emissions, high fuel mileage and decent performance in a fleet of new vehicles on the way from Ford, DaimlerChrysler, GM, Volvo and Mazda will soon joining those already on the market from Toyota and Honda. There seems to be no downside to the new power plants, which in various engineering schemes combine electric and gasoline power for both urban and highway driving environments. The first on the market was Honda's Insight, a cramped, streamlined little two-seater that worked like a normal car, save for interior storage capacity fit for a pocket comb and wallet. The most successful Hybrid so far is Toyota's Prius, a five passenger sedan that, for about $23,000, offers about 42 mpg in most conditions (a real world number, not the bloated "official" figures from the EPA).
Actually, this is about the best article I've seen out of Tech Central Station -- their bias tends to run through most of their "reporting". The columnist actually does point out that the fears of electrical shock from a hybrid are unfounded, and minimal compared to the danger of gasoline fires, and problems you'd find with any modern automobile. Good for him.
My uninformed comment was about the mpg. The author sites 42 mpg, which I have read from other publications, but almost never from this site and other Prius sites that have actual owners and their experiences driving the car. Jeff
Aye, the MPG of 42 (or at least low 40s) is what a lot of people in such articles claim to be *the* MPG of the Prius. It takes on check of these boards to see that there are many users that easily have better MPG. Also on other internet sites one can find reports from others with better than low 40s MPG.
its funny that these wayward articles fail to mention the Prius setting the record for child restraint safety or any of the other numerous awards the Prius has won. this also smacks of an article written by a guy using hearsay information and not from actual experience driving the car.
