[justlurking]

Acura finally shipped their 2014 RLX Hybrid. I've driven one, but they are pretty rare.

It is no slouch -- off the starting line it adds the torque of 3 different electric motors to the 300+ HP engine. Like the predecessor models, it has all-wheel drive, but the rear wheels are electrically driven. There's no mechanical coupling of the gasoline engine to the rear wheels.

It also uses the electric drive on the rear to create drag on the inside wheel and drive the outside wheel when turning, even when not accelerating. As a result, the car feels much more nimble than its 4,000 lbs.

MPG is 28/32: not stellar, but a substantial improvement over the non-hybrid version's 20/31. At current gas prices, I'm not sure it's worth the additional cost for gas mileage alone, but there are a number of other features unique to the hybrid version.

[SVTCobra03]

I would prefer the 650hp 2015 Corvette Z06 or the 707hp 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat.

[Myrddin]

My 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid is approaching 98,000 miles. In Pocatello, ID we have extremes of weather. The consequence is that Winter yields 21 MPG. Summer yields 26 MPG. Spring/Fall yields 28 MPG. The only time it every approached the promised 32 MPG was on a very mild week in San Diego. No heater. No air conditioning. Steady travel on the cruise control. The hybrid never yielded the promised economy. The promised tax break of $3,000 turned into $1202 on my tax return, so the tax break didn't compensate for the failure to deliver economy vs the higher price tag. The leather seats are nice. The nav system was fine until the internal DVD drive failed. Replacement of the nav system would have beem $1300. We put in a nicer sound system and ditched the nav system. C'est la vie.