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Best milage car

SunnY S said:
Most car makers warranty the battery for 8-10 years. Hyundai offers lifetime warranty on the battery. Battery prices will drop in the years to come as hybrids and their technology become more popular. Just about every car maker has some sort of hybrid/electric design on the drawing board, or out in production. Even makers like Jaguar, Audi, Mercedes Benz, Ferrari and Porsche.

Hybrids are here to stay whether you choose to believe this or not. Technology will improve, prices will drop.

It just happens, for the moment, that Toyota does hybrids better than anybody else.
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I'm not too sure. 8-10yrs for a $30k+ car. What will happen to that car in 8-10yrs?
Alot of these cars were not designed to be practical, more for marketing reasons, to boasts about how green the co. is trying to be.

With the true electrics, how are you gonna get a charge if you accidentally finished your battery?
I see there is still a whole lot of development to go. Even u said it yourself, only the Prius has been the only successful hybrid-electric
 
SunnY S said:
I'd car.

IMHO, I don't think the added expense, weight, and complexity of Hybrid technology is needed for todays small cars. If it were my money, I'd choose the new Mazda 3 SkyActiv as top choice for a fun, fuel efficient (40mpg), and dead reliable car. It also comes with a stick. Handles well. And Mazda has really stepped up their quality recently. Fit and finish is excellent, and the interior is nice. At around $20 grand, its a good value.

If you want to move up to midsize, look at the 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid. Toyota's been doing Hybrids better than everybody else for many years now, and this Camry is an eye opener. Get this.... 43mpg city, 39mpg highway! And, it still does 0-60 in 7.3 seconds. Very respectable. They also improved the handling of this sedan which it needed so badly. This along with Toyota quality and reliability makes it top choice. All this for a reasonable starting price of $27grand. Makes you wonder why anybody would spend $40k+ for a Chevy Volt and GM wonders why nobody wants to buy one.


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Are you misleading people again? Here is Toyota competitor to the Volt:

"Prices for the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid start at $32,000 for the base model and $39,525 for the Plug-in Hybrid Advanced model. Toyota says that the 2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid is expected to qualify for*a federal tax credit of approximately $2,500."

Keep in mind the Toyota has a much smaller battery range (15 miles), so not really an apple to apples , comparison. ( the battery is that much cheaper.)

Actually, has Toyota even started selling the Prius plug in yet??B if not then the volt is the answer to the OP's question.


"The more powerful drive train on the Chevy Volt (149 horsepower electric) is a clear advantage over that in the Prius Plugin (98hp gas, 40hp electric, 134 hp combined).
Repeated studies in the U.S. including US Department of Transportation shows the majority of drivers go 40 miles or less per day. This tells us a Chevy Volt owner will spend more days without burning gasoline, than will the Prius Plug-in owner. GM knew these figures and designed the Chevy Volt to give enough electric-only range to satisfy the majority of daily driving needs. Toyota on the other hand wanted to hit a more affordable price point, to reach more car buyers many of whom are price sensitive. This means the Prius Plug-in has a smaller battery pack, and a smaller MSRP, but has only a 12-15 mile electric-only range. This means the Prius Plug-in owner will be seeing their gasoline engine turn on more often than will the Chevy Volt owner."
 
Get a VW made in Germany.

My mom has a '05 TDI Passat and its been issue free for 200k already.

I have a '11 GTI and not a single issue for 40k already.

Yes, some new TDI Golfs have the HPFP issues, but that's covered under warranty.

Saying DSG is the weakest link is pure non-sense. Yes, there have been some transmission failures, but which maker hasn't?

The DSG has been around for more than a decade now and is proven technology. There is a reason why most auto makers are moving towards the dual clutch technology these days.
 
2011 Hybrid electric US sales.....

Toyota Prius : 136,463

Chevy Volt : 7,600


With Toyotas reputation in hybrid/elec tech, I'll wager that when the plug in version Prius hits the streets, it will sell better than the Volt.

If it were my money, I would take the Camry Hybrid, and keep the extra $$$ in my pocket.


murf said:
Are you misleading people again? Here is Toyota competitor to the Volt:

"Prices for the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid start at $32,000 for the base model and $39,525 for the Plug-in Hybrid Advanced model. Toyota says that the 2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid is expected to qualify for*a federal tax credit of approximately $2,500."

Keep in mind the Toyota has a much smaller battery range (15 miles), so not really an apple to apples , comparison. ( the battery is that much cheaper.)

Actually, has Toyota even started selling the Prius plug in yet??B if not then the volt is the answer to the OP's question.


"The more powerful drive train on the Chevy Volt (149 horsepower electric) is a clear advantage over that in the Prius Plugin (98hp gas, 40hp electric, 134 hp combined).
Repeated studies in the U.S. including US Department of Transportation shows the majority of drivers go 40 miles or less per day. This tells us a Chevy Volt owner will spend more days without burning gasoline, than will the Prius Plug-in owner. GM knew these figures and designed the Chevy Volt to give enough electric-only range to satisfy the majority of daily driving needs. Toyota on the other hand wanted to hit a more affordable price point, to reach more car buyers many of whom are price sensitive. This means the Prius Plug-in has a smaller battery pack, and a smaller MSRP, but has only a 12-15 mile electric-only range. This means the Prius Plug-in owner will be seeing their gasoline engine turn on more often than will the Chevy Volt owner."
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Pretty sure most hybrid won't be an option for towing. Definitely check first.
 
boooya said:
Huh alot has changed since I was in automotive school :(
Good read, thanks.
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I hear ya. :-( Thing is, the manufacturers now tailor the vehicle to perform as best as possible in the tests so they're still not real-world quite honestly. They make them perform perfectly for the tests (they're exactly the same for all manufacturers) so the numbers look good. But they really don't drive that well as a result. So they're still not all that realistic. It would be nice to know which mfg's actually drive well AND get good mileage.
 
2002 Civic SIR (the last Civic hatchback). Just started driving it 2 months ago and i've been averaging 6.7l/100km over the last 5K km. The thing that kills that car is the high revving on the highway...i'm positive that with a lower RPM on the highway it will dip into low 6's and be a less buzzy, more comfortable ride. I'm in the process of rebuilding a spare 5spd with a longer final drive and adding a TSX 6th gear...it'll drop me to a comfortable 2500rpm at 100km/h vs the 3500 its at now.
 
My 92 Jetta turbo diesel (pre-TDi) was the best car I have ever owned. I got it with 60,000 kms on it. Took it in for a warratied head gasket 27 days later. Dealer didn't want to do it free becasue I had put 9800 kms on car in 27 days. I lived 2.5 hrs from my g/f and we saw eachother 5-6 days a wk. That's why I bought it. Diesel was 45 cents at the time and I could drive to Grand Bend and back for less $ than a phone call. They did the warraty work after I threatened them.

3 yrs later the car had 340,000 kms on it, and only suffered a few mechanical failures. 1 starter, 1 injector pump, and 2 wheel bearings. The original "lifetime sealed" non greaseable ball joints and tie rod ends were all like new when the gf totalled it. When I saw the car upside down int he ditch (black ice on a curve, 3 car pileup), I was amazed that the underside of the car was as red and rust free as the roof was...after 340,000 kms!!
That Jetta towed two bikes to Deals Gap and Myrtle Beach and Daytona a number of times, and as long as you were patient accelerating, it would cruise at 110 kmh with two bikes behind it, and still return over 40 mpg. Without the trailer it'd top 54 mpg on freeway drives under 110 kmh. Fillup in Brantford for $28, and go to Sudbury and back on less than 55 litres at the time.

Took the insurance cheque and bought a 2000 TDi Passatt, fully loaded. Was even better on fuel, rode like a BMW (smooth and whisper quiet compared to the pre-TDi) and made twice the power as the Jetta did. Alas I didn't get custody of the car in the breakup.

VW's are awesome as long as you understand they have a few inherent quirks....switch on your radio and the wipers will go.....but you'll never be able to make it happen again. Turn high beams on and trunk lid auto releases....again, it'll be a one time quirk,LOL. Also they tend to be hot running cars, so periodically in summer heat, uphill, in stopped traffic, you put down the windows and turn the heat on high to help coool down the coolant,LOL....and check any junkyard and you'll see all the VW's with missing doorhandles. That's because every die hard VW'er buys up the doorhandles for spares, as VW's tend to break door handles every winter.
 
I can relate to the VW "features" on the older models - door handles were an issue on my '96 Passat. But the new ones are much better and less quirkier. Whether less quirkier is a good thing or not, depends on your perspective ...

The '96 didn't have a separate release for the locking gas cap the way every other car has it. It's on the central locks. If the door locks are open, so is the gas cap. If the doors are locked, so is the gas cap. It actually works out fine.

Front door power window switches were on the door as usual. Rear door power window switches were in the center console. (It's common in Europe for power windows to only be on the front - the kids in the back have to roll 'em up and down themselves. Having power windows in back at all was a complete afterthought.)

Speaking of afterthoughts on the '96 ... the cupholders! Car was originally designed without, because you're not supposed to do that while driving. But the Americans had to have them. I think not more than 15 minutes were spent designing the flimsy joke of a cupholder that intruded on the passenger's foot area and certainly not more than 50 cents manufacturing the thing. And don't take a hard right turn with anything in that cupholder unless you want to soak the passenger's legs!

My '06 has a normal gas cap release, and power window switches are all on the driver's door, and it has cupholder pockets for everyone ... and the door handles work in below-freezing weather ...
 
Oh, one other quirk from the '96 (and all other VW cars from the previous millennium) - the intermittent wipers.

You flicked the wipers to intermittent for the wipers to do one swipe and then put the switch back to "off". Then you wait the amount of time you want between swipes. Then you flick the wiper switch to "intermittent" and leave it there, and it repeats at the interval that you just set.

It actually works great, because you are not stuck with the preset intervals on a selector switch, you can set it to any time interval you want. But good luck figuring that out without reading every word in the owner's manual.

It was cheap for VW because this was built into the wiper relay so the cheaper models got a fixed time interval and the upmarket models got the programmable wiper relay and all the wiring in the chassis was the same (and by the same token, you could upgrade the cheaper models by just replacing that relay).

The '06 has a 4-position switch for this ...
 
SunnY S said:
2011 Hybrid electric US sales.....

Toyota Prius : 136,463

Chevy Volt : 7,600


With Toyotas reputation in hybrid/elec tech, I'll wager that when the plug in version Prius hits the streets, it will sell better than the Volt.

If it were my money, I would take the Camry Hybrid, and keep the extra $$$ in my pocket.
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Ah, so how many plug in Priuses have been sold?

Secondly, what gets better mileage? Where was the OP asking about number of sales anyway?
 
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Wow there seems to be a lot of vw hate!! I have a 2003 Jett's wagon... It tows bikes, commutes and all that good stuff, 327,000km and going strong. This one is also made in Germany.

Other than usual stuff only a couple problems... Dual mass flywheel failed but I bought it like that and an alternator. Oh, and a temp sensor, $40 to replace!

All in all I really love this car. I've had pretty sweet cars and this wagon is one of the best I've had... Awesome quality and fit and finish is top notch, to top it off I can sleep really comfortably in the back when needed!!!!

Routinely gets around 900km for a tank, best I've had is closer to 1100 but I squeezed a Lot of fuel in and drove straight highway to Boston.
 
murf said:
Since when are people's real life experience hate?
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Agreed. Nissan is about to introduce a massive amounts of Hybrid and electric cars next year from what I saw on BNN when they start selling Renault back into Canada. Toyota and Hyundai are trying to get more into market ASAP.
 
BLUE_KAWI said:
Agreed. Nissan is about to introduce a massive amounts of Hybrid and electric cars next year from what I saw on BNN when they start selling Renault back into Canada. Toyota and Hyundai are trying to get more into market ASAP.
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Renault coming back to Canada?? As rebadged Nissans? This is news.

The french really should stick to wine.
 
172Driver said:
Sorry! For you then: there seems to be a larger group than I expected of individuals with negative feelings towards the VW brand.
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I have a love/hate relationship with my VW, master cyl + booster $800, master cly + booster for GM or ford about $350, A/C compressor for VW $1k, everybody else about $500.
VW part prices are just really expensive IMHO. I know nothing is free but they disappoint me a bit.

There is a VW, Honda, Chrysler and GM in my driveway so I have lots to compare things with.
 
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