RE: RE: RE: OT: Hybrid Escape

From: Rick Barnes (barnesrv@comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun 03 2004 - 14:35:04 EDT


I see your point. I think if I were going to buy a new car though, I would
just buy a Civic. Trouble free and great mileage. I am about to get my
hands on a 93 Accord in a month or two for free and it gets about 33 mpg and
will run.

Rascal

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of Mr. Plow
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 12:52 PM
To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
Subject: Re: DML: RE: RE: OT: Hybrid Escape

All good points Jeff!
But, it always comes back to picking the right vehicle for your needs
doesan't it?
I would love to have a little electric car for booting around town, just
enough space to hold 3 other people and maybe a little tiny trunk for the
useless junk i end of hauling around for months at a time only to throw it
in the trash at some distant point in the future.... hehe
I'd love to be able to "plug" the car in at the end of the day and not care
about the dollar/litre that we will be paying over the summer months...
arrgghhhh...
But, i would not expect that type of vehicle would be good for hauling 500+
pounds of gear all the way out west. (Trip i'll be taking in July)

So, bottom line is know what you need out of a vehicle, then go from there.

;)

The Adam Blaster
Two words, figure it out.....

>>
>They have been having fun with this on the VW TDI board. Not trying to say
>go buy a VW but the bit about the mileage and the fact you can get the
>same from a jetta tdi with a stick is making them laugh.
>
>As we'll as the other big thing they don't tell you. Say you have a hybrid
>and want to take a trip on the blue ridge parkway. We'll that road at parts

>runs up and down the smoky mountains and can be a while running up or down.

>The problem with hybrids is the up part. See when you get going up a steep
>hill the gas engine kicks in, which is all fine and good. The problem is
>that it isn't made for an extended trip up a mountain road (half hour or
>more which is common on the blue ridge). What happens is this, the gas
>engine kicks in to help the electric one but after a while the electric one

>starts draining the batteries faster then the gas one can recharge them
>because the electric one is also trying to get up that mountain and using
>alot of power to do it. What happens, the electric motor runs out of juice
>and the gas engine, being a little dinky three cylinder to just help, can;t

>move the vehicle and if you run it too long trying to keep going it will
>start to overheat from too much stress.
>
>Now we all know that there are not big mountain roads everywhere but there
>are in alot of places and this has already been happening quite a bit. Been

>a few postings in the different forums on the net. This gets even better,
>they find out that a vehicle like the escape, which is an suv not a little
>car, cannot haul that much of a load either. In fact the escape doesn't
>have too much over a prius in the max load it can haul. All those people
>that got it for the good mileage and being a small suv to put things in
>find that you cant put much in there at all. This is besides the cost of
>batteries when they need to be replaced and the fact that you already paid
>more for it since it was a hybrid.
>
>Hybrids so far work good as commuter cars and the escape will do goo in
>that role but people get a vehicle like that (suv) to go places too and the

>hybrid may actually not be the better choice. The jeep liberty that's
>coming with the diesel would be a better choice. It doesn't get quite the
>fuel mileage but it can carry more in it and has the ability to tow which,
>I forgot the to mention, the escape hybrid cannot. Twenty some mile a
>gallon in town and in the thirties on the highway is nothing to sneeze at
>when compared to a normal suv or what the escape hybrid cannot do.
>
>I am saying I don't think hybrids have a future, i actually do, but only
>when they get smart. I small diesel engine actually makes far more sense
>for that type of use (torque alone not including it's own low fuel sipping
>ability) but until they get to that I just don't think it will be that
>great. Lexus is going to do it with the RX SUV but, again, there are people

>who are going to be disappointed when they realize that it cannot do what
>the normal RX can do simply due to the small engine and they way the
>batteries need to be recharged.
>
>Jeff Durling

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