"I'm deader than a doornail. But what gas mileage I used to get!"
Posted on 04/14/2005 2:25:36 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Hummer Vs. Prius Waiting List For Hybrids Pushing Up Cost
MADISON, Wis. -- GM is taking the wraps off the 2006 military-style, Duramax turbo-diesel V-8 Hummer H1.
A 300-horsepower engine moves the 7,600-pound beast.
But with gas prices inching toward $2.50 this summer, the Toyota Prius is the hot ride in the Madison area. The Prius hybrids are well known for their fuel efficiency, but now they're also becoming known as one of the only mass-produced cars that can demand $1,000 or more -- used -- than its original price.
Joanne McCann just bought her second Prius and wants to sell her first one.
"I paid a little over $20,000 for the car in '01, and I'm selling it for $15,000," McCann said.
With 19,000 miles on it, she feels this is a steal.
"There certainly is a market now for these cars," she said.
It's not common to pay more for a used car than a new one, but with gas prices increasing, dealers say it's also not surprising.
"Supply and demand can dictate that," said Doug Peitz, sales manager at Jon Lancaster Toyota. "Instant gratification is that you can get the used Prius right now. Some people don't want to wait the four to eight months to get a new Prius."
Peitz says at least two requests come in every day for hybrids -- 22 people are already on the April waiting list.
Other hybrids like the Honda Accord and Civic are also selling like hotcakes, but dealers here say they;re not dealing with a shortage of these hybrid vehicles.
A Kelly Blue Book survey says if gas hits $3 per gallon, 77 percent of buyers will seriously consider a more fuel-efficient car.
McCann said the growing price of her Prius is not what she expected when she bought the car, but is definitely not worried about getting it sold.
"You expect real estate to go up, but whenever you buy a car you expect it to depreciate -- that's just how it is," McCann said.
Because the Prius is so popular, other companies are coming out with hybrid vehicles. Look for them beginning this summer.
News 3 auto expert Matt Joseph said not all used Priuses will sell for more. Joseph said that while the hybrid cars bring a premium, they don't routinely sell for more than new cars.
And this is news? Sheeez...
Given the title I was hoping for crash pics.
"I'm deader than a doornail. But what gas mileage I used to get!"
Ah, the Prius. It just screams, "I'm a vegan weenie!"
Note that the damage was done by a *motorcycle*. If the pilot was wearing a helmet and didn't get hit by other traffic after ejection, he's probably OK.
The car driver almost certainly has to be dead.
OMG! I'm going to go out and kiss my sturdy, heavy, four-door sedan right this minute. A motorcycle did that much damage? Cripes.
Another thing...why do they only do crash tests at like 35 MPH? Do most crashes really happen at theat low of a speed? That seems odd to me. Never did understand that.
I always thought it screamed "run me over with your Jeep".
The vast majority of crashes do happen at or below that speed. The ones that make the news (the messy, nasty, ugly high speed ones) are fewer in number but get more press. Kind of like how the MSM treats shooting incidents with guns - if it was justifiable, then it won't make the news, but if it was illegal nine-ways-to-Sunday for the guy to own a gun *before* he shot up the 7-11 it'll make the national news.
It screams "run me over with your Tonka!"
The sick part is that after replacing the forks, triple tree, control clusters and instruments, maybe the exhaust headers and a little bodywork, the bike is probably still just fine. I'd want to check the welds on the frame head, though.
I'd settle for a Hummer inside a Prius. I hope the seats fold back.
The whole thing is stupid... the premium people pay to get a Hybrid pretty much wipes out the savings from the improved mileage.
I have my eye on the Accord Hybrid... goes 0 to 60 in 6 seconds.
My lesbian friend drives a Ferrari.
My other one drives an Excursion with a GreaseCar kit.
Your point? ;)
How many Priuses can you fit in your wheel wells before you have to take a stick and poke them loose?
Somehow the math here ain't quite right. Oh, I forgot, here in madison, they have outcome-based eddycation so that anything pretty much equals anything else...as long as it make you feel good.
I recall reading something in one of Rush's newsletters that prius-owners were ticked because their milage was any better than a regular cars.
Oh yeah, well a diesel hybrid is way more efficient, but the oil companies won't acknowledge that...and to think, they used to pump the components of gasoline back into the ground because they were undesireable by-products...
BTW the price of diesel in my area has stayed fairly constant for the last 4-5 weeks while gasoline prices have rocket, the local farmers just laugh at everyone driving a gas powered rig...!
"Waiting List For Hybrids Pushing Up Cost"
What moron wrote this headline. It's not the waiting list that pushes up prices, it's the high demand relative to the short supply.
Wouldn't it be nice if just once a journalism major wandered into an economics class. Probably too much to ask
LOL
Yeah. Bet they are great when trying to get through 10 inches of snow. Like that never happens here in the land of the Frozen Tundra./sarcasm
Have you seen the size of the tires on the Prius. They look like they were taken off a tricycle. I wouldn't want to go around a turn too fast or they would come off the wheels.
"I recall reading something in one of Rush's newsletters that prius-owners were ticked because their milage was any better than a regular cars."
At a claimed 51 mpg highway, they are even with some Honda Civics. However, the Civic costs over $5,000 less. Volkswagen Jettas and Beetles are just behind in the mid-high 40's.
This article is uninformed and stupid.
But that isn't a prius.
But only if you don't run out of gas first.....
Yep, there's a Finnish lady at work here that has one...my buddies metro has bigger tires...
I went head to head in my '74 CJ-5 with a Subaru Forester this winter. The Forester came apart like a rusty can of beans! The CJ needed some fender work.
Everybody walked so I can be embullient with a good conscience. The Forester, which lost it on an icy curve and slid into my lane was packed with anti-Bush bumperstickers. It's being converted into beercans even as we speak. I had an artist friend paint a Japanese "meatball" on the cowl of my Jeep.
I can't speak for a Hummer but with my Dodge Ram truck (with the 5.7 Hemi and 20 inch wheels of course) I gotta clean the wheel wells out when it gets up to 14 or so Priuses.
My wife, the wimp, hasta start cleaning them out of her Durango at 5 or so.
I ran my prius into a concrete light post at over 20 mph and walked away. The passenger compartment virtually untouched.
Love the pic. If it was mine I would put "Run Hillary Run" on the front license.
She has a 4 year old car with 19,000 miles? She needs a bicycle.
I gotta '49 Hudson that'll glean the glogk of your Jeep.
Rush Limbaugh foolishly insisted on telling his listeners to get the biggest SUV. This has been proved to have been deadly wrong for our country, and for the individuals who listened to Rush. Please don't take me wrong, I don't care for the "environmental Wackos" as Rush likes to calls them, however, our national energy security and efficiency is a whole different thing. Blow hard radio talk people like Rush don't have the experience to encourage people to buy big gas guzzlers even if the supply is going down, and the refinery capacity in this country is shirking. Rush is correct more than 90% of the time about most issues, but on his diatribe regarding the big & and bigger SUV, he did this country a disservice. He had this funny cowboy song about the little idiot guy buying a Yogo, and the big man buying a huge SUV, and he runs over the little man.
Whatever kind of car that was... It lost in a collision with a medium sized motorcycle!
What I find kind of amusing about this article is that when the 8th-generation Honda Civic arrives this Fall, you'll get a car that is almost as roomy as the current Prius, gets decent performance (thanks to a new 140 bhp 1.8-liter I-4 engine with variable valve timing), better fuel efficiency than the current Civic, and costs several thousand less than a Prius. And you don't have to deal with the hassles of the longevity of the hybrid drivetrain, either.
And here I was thinking of getting something smaller for my commute into work. After seeing what even just a motorcycle can do to one of these mini-cars, I think I'll keep my Durango.
That's hard hitting and true.
I love it when they take their frameless, lightweight compact car and say "With airbag". (sarcasm)
In Europe there are so so many of these communist cars. They all seem to have them. They are the new Trabants and Ladas of the semi socialist Europe where big government thinks for the people by eliminating freedom through taxation (But technically, it's not illegal- you just can’t afford it as a normal person). I’d feel guilty if I stuck my wife and daughter in such a car on the Autobahn or Highway.
I have a friend in Fairbanks who hit a Moose on the Main Highway between Eielson AFB and Ft. Wainwright. He threw the Moose 40 feet (He was speeding a bit) and that animal was HUGE! He had the biggest Ford SUV built (Excursion?) and it was totaled. NO ONE in the car was hurt.
Red6
Buy both. A Duramax V8 diesel Hummer H1 is a great utility vehicle for the special occassions. A gas-sipping Prius is great for a daily driver.
My lesbian friend drives a Matrix. I think the point might hold up ;P
Need more data samples I guess...
If the electric portion of the hybrid is flexible enough to completely control the engine RPM by controlling the load, you could even use the dual-fuel diesel. Which, the book said 50 years ago, might be the most efficient practical thermodynamic cycle.It consists of a diesel engine with a lean carburator, which requires a pilot charge of diesel to ignite the main charge of gas. Runs smoother than the diesel, but can't be throttled and must be controlled by main force through its torque loading.
While Rush defends SUV's and those who buy them, I don't believe he has told his listeners to go buy the biggest SUV.
The irony is that the SUV caze was driven by the liberals and their attack on cars with, in their opinion, poor gas mileage.
If they would have left it alone people would be driving cars getting better mileage that the SUV's. In classic overreach they got laws passed requiring cars to get better mileage (smaller cars) but the people didn't want to buy smaller cars, so they bought much larger SUV's that were classified as trucks and were not required to meet their mileage requirements.
In my opinion, the Hummer has replaced the Corvette as the #1 small penis car. Everyone who owns has to tells us how big and powerful it is and how it drive over small cars. I wonder what Freud would say?
In the interest of full disclosure I drive the following:
2000 Honda CBR 600 F4 Motorcycle - Track / Group ride toy
2001 Honda S2000 – It’s my weekend / track car. It has about 1000 track miles on it (@ Summit Point.) You’d have to gather about 500 SUVs to equal that in off road miles.
2005 Honda Civic Si – My Daily driver. My last tank yielded 28+mpg
I'm confused. She buys it for around $20k and is selling it for $15k. According to my elementary school arithmatic, she is selling the car for LESS than she paid for it, not more.
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