Sick of narrow-minded hybrid car critics
I was reading some AutoWeek forum entries this morning about hybrid cars when I realized that most hybrid critics are not only narrow-minded, but they have a complete lack of vision.
How does the quote go, "There is only one constant in the universe, change." I guess the Buddhists call it impermanence, or the idea that in 100 years, everyone that exists today will be gone, yet the world will go on, it will just be different because change is constant.
If hybrid critics were leading the world for the last 100 years, the world would still be riding horse and buggy. Fortunately, change is inevitable.
But back to the point. The two main criticisms of hybrids are 1.) They aren't as fuel efficient as the EPA rates them, and 2.) They don't save money.
It is true that hybrid vehicles aren't as efficient as the EPA rates them. All vehicles aren't as efficient as the EPA rates them. So what's the point?
Additionally, individual driving habits have a HUGE affect on fuel efficiency - in both hybrids and conventional vehicles. Even a standard Toyota Highlander can achieve better than average fuel efficiency by adjusting driving habits. Nonetheless, the Highlander hybrid or Escape hybrid can achieve much larger increases in fuel efficiency by adjusting driving habits compared to their conventional versions.
Shouldn't hybrids just be more fuel efficient?
Well, they are. For the average driver, hybrid technology will achieve better fuel efficiency than a standard vehicle, especially in city driving. And if you adjust your driving habits, you can significantly increase a hybrid's fuel efficiency performance.
Since most drivers of hybrids are concerned with saving fuel, hybrid technology offers an excellent tool for them to meet their goals.
Testers from AutoWeek, etc., aren't concerned with the fuel efficiency capabilities of hybrids, they are concerned with proving that hybrids don't achieve EPA predictions.
If you don't care about fuel efficiency, well, then a hybrid isn't for you. If you aren't going to use a tool correctly, then it probably is best not to use it. If you want to put a screw in the wall, a hammer can do the job, but it won't do it as well as a screwdriver because the screwdriver is a better tool for the job.
For those drivers seeking to achieve the greatest fuel efficiency, many hybrid vehicles are by far the best tools available, but you still have to use the tool correctly to achieve maximum performance.
Why is that so hard for critics to get? Not everyone has to stroke their ego by driving the biggest or the fastest vehicle.
Additionally, why are critics so concerned with hybrid performance anyway? If they are so concerned with fuel efficiency, why are they worried that a Prius might achieve 45 mpg, rather than 60 mpg? Shouldn't they be more concerned with why a Dodge Durango is only getting 10 mpg instead of 14 mpg? I mean, lets get real.
Regarding the costs of hybrid technology, critics have a point, but so what?
People pay more for the right gas-guzzle obscene amounts of foreign oil but somehow that's cost effective in the eyes of these critics - that's worth the extra money?
Yet, choosing to spend extra money to help reduce foreign oil dependency and to help save the environment isn't justified. Please!
Well, America better wake up. Global warming is real - whether it is caused by man or by nature - and the majority of the world is beginning to take this threat quite seriously. Well, except for America, and the world is becoming much angrier with America for this position. We can continue to pretend like the opinions of the rest of the world don't matter in our ever-more-interconnected world, but we'll do so at our peril, but I digress.
Ultimately, many hybrid owners can recover the costs of their vehicle with intelligent driving. And if not, how do you put a cost on clean air and a cleaner environment?
If you don't care about clean air and a healthy environment, then quite frankly, you are the problem, not the driver of a hybrid car. Any help is still help and changing direction always requires leaders.
Still, many hybrid vehicle drivers aren't just buying a hybrid to save money, or just to reduce foreign oil dependency, or just to clean the environment. Many are making an investment in the future.
While many hybrid vehicle drivers could drive any vehicle they want, they choose to buy a hybrid to help fund the development of new, cheaper generations of hybrids.
Already, experimental hybrid vehicles demonstrate that the potential of hybrid technology is barely being tapped. Plug-in Prius hybrids can easily achieve more than 80 mpg, the Enigma diesel hybrid achieves 80 mpg, yet can go from 0 to 60 in 4.3 seconds, and other experimental hybrids have achieved more than 100 - even 200 - miles per gallon.
Today's hybrid buyers are helping to make tomorrow's hybrid technology more fuel efficient, more powerful, and cheaper.
Perhaps another technology will come along and hybrid technology won't be needed. Or, perhaps it will be hybrid technology that finally makes fuel cell vehicles realistic. Rather than waiting and continuing to gas-guzzle, however, hybrid buyers are taking action because they believe a better tomorrow starts today.
Apparently, hybrid critics would rather just keep talking and hammering screws into the wall as they wait for tomorrow.
How does the quote go, "There is only one constant in the universe, change." I guess the Buddhists call it impermanence, or the idea that in 100 years, everyone that exists today will be gone, yet the world will go on, it will just be different because change is constant.
If hybrid critics were leading the world for the last 100 years, the world would still be riding horse and buggy. Fortunately, change is inevitable.
But back to the point. The two main criticisms of hybrids are 1.) They aren't as fuel efficient as the EPA rates them, and 2.) They don't save money.
It is true that hybrid vehicles aren't as efficient as the EPA rates them. All vehicles aren't as efficient as the EPA rates them. So what's the point?
Additionally, individual driving habits have a HUGE affect on fuel efficiency - in both hybrids and conventional vehicles. Even a standard Toyota Highlander can achieve better than average fuel efficiency by adjusting driving habits. Nonetheless, the Highlander hybrid or Escape hybrid can achieve much larger increases in fuel efficiency by adjusting driving habits compared to their conventional versions.
Shouldn't hybrids just be more fuel efficient?
Well, they are. For the average driver, hybrid technology will achieve better fuel efficiency than a standard vehicle, especially in city driving. And if you adjust your driving habits, you can significantly increase a hybrid's fuel efficiency performance.
Since most drivers of hybrids are concerned with saving fuel, hybrid technology offers an excellent tool for them to meet their goals.
Testers from AutoWeek, etc., aren't concerned with the fuel efficiency capabilities of hybrids, they are concerned with proving that hybrids don't achieve EPA predictions.
If you don't care about fuel efficiency, well, then a hybrid isn't for you. If you aren't going to use a tool correctly, then it probably is best not to use it. If you want to put a screw in the wall, a hammer can do the job, but it won't do it as well as a screwdriver because the screwdriver is a better tool for the job.
For those drivers seeking to achieve the greatest fuel efficiency, many hybrid vehicles are by far the best tools available, but you still have to use the tool correctly to achieve maximum performance.
Why is that so hard for critics to get? Not everyone has to stroke their ego by driving the biggest or the fastest vehicle.
Additionally, why are critics so concerned with hybrid performance anyway? If they are so concerned with fuel efficiency, why are they worried that a Prius might achieve 45 mpg, rather than 60 mpg? Shouldn't they be more concerned with why a Dodge Durango is only getting 10 mpg instead of 14 mpg? I mean, lets get real.
Regarding the costs of hybrid technology, critics have a point, but so what?
People pay more for the right gas-guzzle obscene amounts of foreign oil but somehow that's cost effective in the eyes of these critics - that's worth the extra money?
Yet, choosing to spend extra money to help reduce foreign oil dependency and to help save the environment isn't justified. Please!
Well, America better wake up. Global warming is real - whether it is caused by man or by nature - and the majority of the world is beginning to take this threat quite seriously. Well, except for America, and the world is becoming much angrier with America for this position. We can continue to pretend like the opinions of the rest of the world don't matter in our ever-more-interconnected world, but we'll do so at our peril, but I digress.
Ultimately, many hybrid owners can recover the costs of their vehicle with intelligent driving. And if not, how do you put a cost on clean air and a cleaner environment?
If you don't care about clean air and a healthy environment, then quite frankly, you are the problem, not the driver of a hybrid car. Any help is still help and changing direction always requires leaders.
Still, many hybrid vehicle drivers aren't just buying a hybrid to save money, or just to reduce foreign oil dependency, or just to clean the environment. Many are making an investment in the future.
While many hybrid vehicle drivers could drive any vehicle they want, they choose to buy a hybrid to help fund the development of new, cheaper generations of hybrids.
Already, experimental hybrid vehicles demonstrate that the potential of hybrid technology is barely being tapped. Plug-in Prius hybrids can easily achieve more than 80 mpg, the Enigma diesel hybrid achieves 80 mpg, yet can go from 0 to 60 in 4.3 seconds, and other experimental hybrids have achieved more than 100 - even 200 - miles per gallon.
Today's hybrid buyers are helping to make tomorrow's hybrid technology more fuel efficient, more powerful, and cheaper.
Perhaps another technology will come along and hybrid technology won't be needed. Or, perhaps it will be hybrid technology that finally makes fuel cell vehicles realistic. Rather than waiting and continuing to gas-guzzle, however, hybrid buyers are taking action because they believe a better tomorrow starts today.
Apparently, hybrid critics would rather just keep talking and hammering screws into the wall as they wait for tomorrow.
Labels: clean diesel, Escape hybrid, Ford, Ford Escape hybrid, Foreign Oil Dependency, fuel efficiency, global warming, Highlander hybrid, Hybrid Vehicles, plug-in hybrids, prius, toyota
posted by Dahcredyns at
10:21 AM
4 Comments:
My 4.7 liter Durango gets 18 MPG, and I tend to open up the throttle. I didn't buy it for the fuel economy, and nobody would. If i spent top dollar for an ugly little slug just for it's fuel economy, and found out it burned 25% more fuel than promised, I'd be pissed too. Check your facts man. Don't belive everything Al Gore tells you.
that's city fuel economy, bud, and it was carried out by consumer reports, man.
i drive a prius and in the city have achieved more than 60 mpg many, many times. so i'm not pissed at all, thank you very much.
18 mpg? so you don't mind being dependent on Saudi oil? You don't mind that fact that your gas money has funded terrorism against the US?
actions don't have consequences? i was i could be so careless about the affect my actions have on the world, but i can't.
so, i assume you don't have kids, right?
I am a very recent Prius owner/driver and read your blog about it. This particular post is now a few years old, but I fully agree with yours positive comments about Prius. Are you still happy with your Prius now in 2009?
Regards,
Joaquim
I drive a Toyota Camry hybrid today because I mostly only drive long distances and the lumbar support on the Prius seats just wasn't efficient for 10 - 12 hours of driving per day (I hate flying). Still, I love the Prius and if I needed a car for every day commuting - today I can take the subway - I'd consider ONLY the Prius.
Be sure to add your Toyota Prius testimonial!
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