I've been driving a Plug-In Toyota Prius for the last five days. Overall the experience was about what you'd expect -- Prius-like, but with an electrical cord running from my garage outlet to the Prius' left flank whenever I parked it.
Unlike our Long-Term Mini E, the Plug-In Prius only takes about 2 hours to fully charge. Also unlike the Mini E, it only goes about 10 miles on pure-electricity before the engine has to do most of the work (less if you're not in "Eco" mode -- which makes the car really slow).
Still, I applaud Toyota for offering this version of the Prius. For drivers with a short daily commute or minimal driving needs (as well as minimal power needs and no steep hills nearby), it's conceivable to use very little fuel when driving a Plug-In Prius. And if you take it out of "Eco" mode and suddenly decide you want to drive across the country, the car basically becomes a regular Prius, getting 50 mpg while having adequate space and power.
But this idea of powering our cars off the grid seems to be gaining momentum (for now...), and if that's the direction we're headed I can tell you things are going to be different, and not just in terms of where our motive power is coming from. Thus, I present the Top 10 Things a "Plugged-In" American Driver Will Have to Learn:
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Categories: Fuel Efficiency, Future Vehicles, Hybrid Vehicles, Karl on Cars, Toyota
I spent the past weekend enjoying the automotive enthusiast lifestyle. I cleaned the 1974 Pontiac Trans Am Super Duty 455. I replaced the gasket for the driver's-side exhaust collector in the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE with a 440 Magnum. And I drove the 2005 Ford GT on some twisty roads, reveling in the responsive steering and the 610 rear-wheel horsepower from the supercharged 5.4-liter V8 (a few minor mods give it about 100 extra hp).
Oh, and I gave serious consideration to buying a 2011 Nissan Leaf.
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Categories: Fuel Efficiency, Hybrid Vehicles, Karl on Cars, Nissan
The 2011 Infiniti M37X is a high-tech wonder with an alphabet soup of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS): Lane Departure Warning/Prevention (LDW/LDP), Blind Sport Warning/Intervention (BSW/BSI), Distance Control Assist (DCA), Forward Collision Waring (FCW) and Intelligent Brake Assist (IBA).
These all help prevent drivers from getting in accidents and can be quite intrusive, although you can turn them off. But the ADAS feature on the vehicle that I found the most interesting (and the most intrusive), ECO Pedal, isn't designed to save lives but instead save fuel.
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Categories: Car Audio and Technology, Fuel Efficiency, Infiniti, Test Car Notes
Here's Day 2 from the Fuel-Sipper Smackdown 3: SUV Edition. It was a miracle we ended up in the garage at all after St. Patrick's Day in Las Vegas -- but we had fuel sipping to do to find out which SUVs get the best fuel economy?
Day 1 Video
James Riswick, Automotive Editor
Categories: BMW, Comparison Test, Ford, Fuel Efficiency, GMC, Hybrid Vehicles, Thoughts from the Curb, Toyota, Volkswagen
Here's the Day 1 video from Fuel-Sipper Smackdown 3: SUV Edition. We opted to do something a little different this year. We hope you enjoy it.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor
Categories: Comparison Test, Fuel Efficiency, Thoughts from the Curb
I'm in Detroit right now, surrounded by show cars promising everything from 18 mpg to 230 mpg to infinite MPG, though the latter numbers require one to believe batteries and pure electric cars require ZERO energy. If you believe the hype you might think the electric car is just around the "Electric Avenue" corner, waiting to save us from all those nasty gasoline fumes and all that evil foreign oil.
Of course we all know electric cars still need energy from somewhere, but we've told ourselves electric power is far cheaper and cleaner than refined oil because electric cars don't have exhaust pipes. I think if one were to closely research the assembly and "motor-vation" of electric cars one might be a tad disappointed at their supposed cleanliness, but that's a topic for another column. Instead I'm going to temporarily give the electric car brigade their way and blithely agree that cars powered by motors are somehow "better" for the planet than cars powered by engines.
That said, what will it take to get a meaninful number of U.S. drivers into these electric cars? I think we'd all agree electric cars represent nothing more than headline-grabbing novelties until people start opting for them in lieu of gasoline power.
Not that manufacturers would ever stoop to meaningless technology exercises just to garner a positive headline or three...
For clarity I'm going to define "meaningful number of U.S. drivers" as the same number of people already buying diesel or hybrid vehicles -- that's less than 3 percent of the new car market for either. If 3 percent doesn't sound particularly meaningful to you, well, I agree. However, if electric cars could ever match even that low bar I'd still be impressed.
So, what's killing the electric car?
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Categories: Fuel Efficiency, Future Vehicles, Talk Back Tuesday
A "turnover house" is a dealership where, if the first salesman is not making headway with you, then you are turned over to another car salesman. We found a dealership where they are using this technique on the internet.
We began by talking with the internet manager but once the price was mentioned, we were turned over to a sales person. This is a bit annoying because you already have a rapport and relationship with the first person, and then you have to start over with a salesman. The nice thing about the internet route is that they aren't conventional sales people who are in love with the ability to sell.
In other news, we took the weekend off from car buying and picked up the pieces again on Monday. We called all the local dealers back and told them we wanted to close the deal by Wednesday. This prompted a new flurry of price quotes. We finally settled on the Ice Metallic Blue because it will photograph better than the black or dark green. Now we are involved in the final stages of negotiating our best deal. By tomorrow, hopefully, we'll have a final deal and a firm price.
Categories: Car Buying Adventures, Car Buying Advice, Fuel Efficiency
All indications suggest quite a buzz around the government's just-launched Cash for Clunkers program. The program, also known as the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), is designed to increase new car sales while getting "gas guzzlers" off the road for cleaner air, reduced oil consumption and World Peace.
Okay, maybe I added that last item myself.
But the program, if you ask certain politicians, is certainly being hailed as the savior of all that's right in the automotive world. And one that's simultaneously reducing all that's wrong.
However, being the cynical/logical/critically analytical person that I am, I'm going to have to call P.C. Shenanigans on Cash for Clunkers, as I did in a CBS Evening News story from last Friday (shown above). I'm also going to describe how this program could/should have worked if the wise, well-grounded people ran the world.
That may sound like a back-handed insult directed at politicians, so let me be crystal clear on this point: most government representatives are so painfully out-of-touch with the real world their legislative efforts create more problems then they solve (and there goes any mystery on my stance regarding national health care...).
The latest example of this long tradition includes Cash for Clunkers. What follows is a list of the program's problems and (more importantly) how they could have been avoided:
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Categories: Automotive News, Car Buying Advice, Fuel Efficiency, Talk Back Tuesday
A flurry of questions streamed through my head as I drove our new Mini E home from Nick Alexander Imports:
- Do I have to drive it easy during the "break-in" period?
- Does plugging my iPhone into the 12v outlet reduce range?
- How are we going to track fuel efficiency in the Mini E's logbook?
- Would a solar panel strapped to the roof extend the driving range?
But I think the most important question I had after spending a weekend with the Mini E is this: How far have we come since the GM EV1 debacle of 10 years ago?
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Categories: Fuel Efficiency, GM EV1, Hybrid Vehicles, MINI, Talk Back Tuesday
Mark your calendars kiddies, because this is the first (and very likely the last) time you'll ever hear me say this:
I'm supporting the idea of a new tax.
What could drive such blasphemy from the mouth of an avowed capitalist who thinks the government is best that governs least? Is it the ever-shrinking role of government in our present lives? The shrewd investment savvy of our government's spending habits (particulalry in my home state of California)? Did Obama call and say I was headed for "Rick Wagonerville" if I don't get with the program?
No...but if he did he'd probably make it a condition of my continued employment (and survival) that I not report such conversations...
Seriously, I think a properly executed gas tax could actually work. But because "properly executed" and "tax" rarely have anything in common I'm not optimistic. Just look at the "Cash for Clunkers" bill for yet another example of government intervention gone completey awry. However, I'll offer my description of a functional gas tax (let's call it "Karl's Gas Tax") and embrace the likelihood it will never be properly implemented.
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Categories: Automotive News, Fuel Efficiency, Talk Back Tuesday
Do you qualify for the proposed "Cash for Clunkers" bill being considered in Washington? I guess technically none of us know, because the bill isn't finalized yet. However, there's enough similarity between the two versions (House and Senate) under discussion to be pretty confident about a few aspects of the bill:
- It will offer no more than $4,500 to new car buyers
- It will require the trade-in vehicle to be crushed
- It will require the new vehicle to get better fuel mileage than the trade-in vehicle
That last point, regarding fuel mileage, is the proposed bill's most nebulous aspect in terms of how the final version will work. In terms of how effective this bill will be it's also the least important, so let's ignore it for now. Instead, let's focus on how the first two points will essentially make this bill useless to almost every new car buyer.
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Categories: Car Buying Advice, Fuel Efficiency, Talk Back Tuesday
I'm watching an interesting conundrum brew in pop culture right now. In one corner you have the Green Movement rapidly gaining steam (wait! -- make that a non-GHG emission, like nitrogen) with a presidential administration fueling the hopes of tree huggers everywhere. In the other corner is the reality of our crumbling economic superstructure. The unemployment, GDP, 401K and consumer confidence numbers don't lie poeple -- this is serious.
If you were reading my blog last week you saw me ask a series of questions pitting environmental "Green" against economic "Green." Questions like "If you're unemployed and get a job offer from a 'non-green' company should you take it?" or "If a company could 'go green' but it would require a workforce reduction of 10 percent to pay for the initiative, should they do it?"
The point of these questions? It almost always takes Green to be Green, and right now we're precariously low on Green.
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Categories: Fuel Efficiency, Talk Back Tuesday
I've been making fun of the theory of man-made global warming for over 15 years -- basically ever since I first heard the concept. I know it was dreamed up by various "scientists" as far back as the 1970s, but I didn't hear about it until around 1992. Ironically, I had just graduated college, where I'd taken a science class on the sun and its affects on the earth (magnetic fields, radiation, aurora borealis, etc.).
The class provided a solid understanding of just how puny the earth is when compared to the sun, and it explained with solid scientific evidence how even tiny shifts in solar activity can have a major impact on our planet. And, despite being the early 1990s, well after the creation of global warming theory, our instructor never once mentioned the concept of human activity impacting the global temparature. Maybe he wanted to avoid the mocking laughter that would have surely followed.
But times change, and it's clear man-made global warming is no longer a theory but a certified fait accompli. And the critical point of this blog entry is to finally explain the causes of man-made global warming.
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Categories: Automotive News, Fuel Efficiency, Talk Back Tuesday
Auto shows are supposed to be filled with fantasy cars. After all, for decades the glitzy show cars at these flashy gatherings were referred to as "dream cars," so expecting nothing but down-to-earth reality vehicles to appear on the show floor would be unrealistic (and, honestly, boring).
But at this year's Detroit Auto Show I found myself increasingly annoyed by the unending parade of pure fiction being shown off. This aggrevation came not as much from the show cars' embodiment as metallic vaporware as it did from the messages surrounding them. Basically, the automakers were claiming these vehicles would be available in the next 12-24 months when, of course, they probably won't represent viable transportation for upwards of 12-24 years.
By now you've probably identified which cars I'm referring to -- electric cars.
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Categories: Auto Shows, Dodge, Fuel Efficiency, Future Vehicles, MINI, Talk Back Tuesday, Tesla, Toyota
I'm ready to start driving this car today.
Seriously. Between the Honda FCX Clarity's power, handling, comfort, features, cargo space and, yes, even range on a full tank of fuel, this vehicle is 100% ready to meet the demands of today's car owner.
I personally drove the FCX Clarity over 110 miles between my commute and some errands (inlcuding Cold Stone Creamery with the kids). To say I was impressed would be inaccurate because the car isn't particularly quick or nimble or cutting edge in any way, except for the fact that it runs on hydrogen. Really, it's pretty much like any other Honda sedan on the road.
And that's what impressed me. If you like how Honda sedans drive (sales figures suggest many of you do), then you'll like the FCX Clarity. In fact you'll probably feel exactly how I did after driving one: "When and where can I buy it?"
Of course you can't buy it. Honda is only offering leases on the FCX Clarity, and so far only three are on the road, meaning they ain't exactly widely available. That's probably a good thing, as hydrogen (despite being the most common element in the universe) also isn't widely available as a vehicle fuel.
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Categories: Fuel Efficiency, Future Vehicles, Talk Back Tuesday
