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European carmakers race to catch up as Toyota shows off new Prius

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"A symbol of environmental responsibility"? Among whom? Surely only the deluded?

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

"A symbol of environmental responsibility"? Among whom? Surely only the deluded?

In central Tokyo, I'd be cycling everywhere and content with a car share scheme. As we live in the outer fringes, though, the Prius was our best option to be green without becoming total troglodytes.

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Except for the problem that Hybrids are unaffordable for anyone who wants to actually buy a car and not lease it...

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Was it really, SenseNotSoCommon? Did you investigate its life-cycle environmental damage? Or were you satisfied just with its claimed emissions reduction? Lots of people have been taken in by the hype, I must admit. But ultimately, Toyota just want to sell more cars at as high a price as possible. Theirs is not the path to sustainability. Indeed, their average fuel efficiency across their whole range is not especially remarkable. And they are still hovering around 10,000,000 of their polluting, energy- and material-consuming units a year.

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We thought our Toyota Aqua, a scaled-down Prius, was quite reasonably priced. After that we were getting twice the mileage that our Toyota Marino, an up-scaled Corolla here, had been getting. So we've been very happy, and after about 3 years there's not been one single problem with it. The same was true about the 13-year-old Marino until we were clobbered from behind by a hit-and-run. Hated to part with her, but we are very pleased with her successor.

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Good news is change is being forced in the auto industry. Tesla may not be the highest, but they're always sold out of vehicles before they can even be made. Toyota's prius line apparently has encouraged the reduction of gasoline usage which is actually quite important until a fully replaceable alternative can be found. Less oil usage = less wars for a fossil fuel that will be depleted soon.

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Thanks, Moonraker

That's a very pertinent point. I came from running our cars in Europe on recycled biodiesel (field to table to tank) to looking at the best compromise (given our need to run a car) here. We average 20km/l over 28,000km of motoring in various conditions in the last 18 months.

Does that answer your question?

Thanks again

SNSC

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I really sympathise with you, Burning Bush, because you are absolutely right plus the mining and pollution produced to acquire the extra exotic material and the damage done to the environment in production and disposal, not to say running, means that these are not environmentally-friendly vehicles at all. But you end up being negged for pointing out truth by Toyota stooges.

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How many years does battery last?

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Hybrids as stated are ONLY temporary. Already new technology using plain "water" as fuel has been introduced. Competition is not necessarily for hybrid technology. Toyota has offered the new patented technology without "fees" (cost) to the entire world and the auto industry.

It is no longer competition to do a "one-up-man-ship" with hybrid technology, but to design the most effective transportation system which allows individual as well as groups, selective, elective, comfortable, convenient, safe, secure and efficient travel from one point to another. That is not necessarily on the ground. We have land, air and water on and in which we travel.

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BMW Hybrid was same Toyota Hybrid technology?

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VW and Audi have problem with US authority for cheating in their Diesel cars. Previously VW claimed its Diesel cars are lower emission than Hybrid car. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked VW to recall 500,000 cars in US. The agency says the cars emit nitrogen oxide up to 40 times above the limits allowed under the federal Clean Air Act. Nitrogen oxide is a major component of smog and has been linked to asthma and other respiratory illnesses. It's outraged the VW and Audi cars have emitted 40 times above the limit. The effected car models were cover up with software during the emission test.

VW has lied to the world and lied to its customers by telling them its cars are environment friendly and less emit poisonous gas than Toyota Hybrid Technology. I believe that's why VW had refused to transfer its technology to Suzuki and VW only wanted Suzuki's technology to fix its cover up problem.

The cars, sold in the U.S. between 2009 and 2015, include such popular models as the Jetta, Beetle, Passat and the Audi A3. The EPA has ordered Volkswagen to fix the cars at its own expense, and could impose an $18 billion fine on the company, which equals $37,500 for each recalled vehicle.

How much will cost to VW Coporation to fix all defective cars world wide?

Will VW will offer to fix its defective cars worldwide or just in US? I will wait and see how VW will sort it out.

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the main issue/problem/hindrance to real high efficiency is a speed limit. My heavy V8 Celsior ( Lexus LS400 ) gets great mileage.........ok, so you don't see that, until I remind about inertia. So, ideally we want to coast downhill wherever we might want to go. i have great up down/ grade on way to cottage, so (dont try this at home. please)

i gun engine to 55 km and i shut engine and coast til me get down round 40 ( speed limit ) then ignition keyturn again (dont care about V8 not liking multiple start/stops) and i wear proper footwear to operate heavy brake pedal ( only after total oil pressure loss arises) I think my best was 45 kilometres covered with Lexus running for 18 of those...Old school V8 rules, but need a manual transmission.

Now that is one quiet ride...Key is: " i only paid a few thousand bucks for a one owner Lexus"!!!!!!

This is a great story and i am saying so myself ( hey, i edited back alot of those exclamation marks a moment ago!), cause we gotta see efficiency or economy with respect to the individual. So me...i got a luxury care for peanuts, and am willing to abuse the engine a bit for the sake of the environment- which includes you folks, too..that is the people around my car maintain fresher air as i coast by...you see? in an ideal world of ideal cars, we could all gun in up to like 80 or so, then coast for a couple miles...that would be so much fun...i know cause, on occasion, that world finds me

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"Except for the problem that Hybrids are unaffordable for anyone who wants to actually buy a car and not lease it..."

As far as I know, you can pick up a used one for about 20k in the US. A new one does not even get to 30k. Is that a lot of money? I am not sure why a lease makes something more affordable. I would bet that a loan is going to give you lower payments than a lease. If that were not true, the leasing company would go out of business, or your credit is shot.

Anyway, it has to be said that hybrids are so mainstream now as to be truly boring to many people. That is the way it should be. They are extremely reliable, low-maintenance, low-emission vehicles. What we have seen in the last few days is that Toyota's biggest rival, which thought it could cut corners and claim a cheap, low-emission technology, was just lying.

Now Toyota stands alone. It competes with itself. And I will say that Toyota already knows how it can improve its fuel efficiency by another 15%, so it will stay in the lead for quite some time.

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