Some college staff writer bashing the Prius

[HAULN-SS]

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argument that the prius is actually more damaging to the environment than a hummer. I'm not sure where the facts and figures are coming from, but kind of interesting anyway.

[CaptainHenreh]

I'm not sure where the facts and figures are coming from,

Through a study by CNW Marketing called ÔÇ£Dust to Dust,ÔÇØ...

[NTIman]

Ha. While I do hate hybrids,and I know that they are not the answer that tree huggers should be looking at, I hardly see how they could possibly be that bad.

[BLINGMW]

I saw this linked on /. and it is SO poorly done. The most glaring error has to be the expected lifetimes. Prius lasts 100,000 miles, and hummer lasts 300,000? Where'd you come up with that!? And of course this throws the lifetime costs WAY off. This "article" should be deleted.

[HAULN-SS]

I figured maybe he was going on battery lifetime there - low end of that scale, vs. high end of the lifetime of a hummer.

[Mike]

i too was skeptical about the lifetime numbers he got since they're pretty much his ENTIRE basis.

Toyota quotes the Prius lifetime to be 180k. As of 2004, one owner knew of one over 250k, two over 200k (one of which was bought back by Toyota for research), and countless over 100k. Three years later? I'm sure there is much better data regarding their lifetimes, but I haven't been able to find it yet.

The one final point made, that driving a Scion is the best option, is true. They get near the same gas mileage, have no batteries, and cost far less to purchase.

[BLINGMW]

And I doubt any Hummer ever in the history of time has made it 300,000 miles. :lol:

[Ryan T]

And I doubt any Hummer ever in the history of time has made it 300,000 miles. :lol:

There's plenty of military diesel hummers that have gone that many miles.

[BLINGMW]

My bad, I assumed we're talking about the ones we see on the road, like the H2 and H3 and that crap. I'm sure there are REAL ones used in the field with that kind of mileage, but FWIW I'm also betting they've eaten a LOT of replacement parts to get there.

[ScottyB]

one glaring figure is also that out of the total amount of nickel mined, Toyota buys a very small portion of that.

the whole article is just some guy with a loosely based assumption trying to find any remotely related numbers in order to back up his assumption. very amateur-ish.

the only thing that kind of gets me is that these green conscious prius owners could have just bought a used, efficient gasoline or deisel car instead of bringing yet another new car onto the roads. i would think that is the more efficient and less wasteful solution. use up what we have....heck i remember old civic VX's (i think thats the model) getting way up in the 40's on highway mpg -- back in the early 90's.



p.s. that nickel mine has been there for decades. pretty sick though that it has pretty much destroyed all of the surrounding wildlife

[JackoliciousLegs]

Well, either way, every true environmentalist who knows anthing buys a used civic (or equivalent gas sipper) over a new hybrid... if for nothing more than the saved waste. I agree that there are issues with the article, but there is also a lot of flawed logic in uneducated environmentalism. If someone says, I bought a hybrid to get into the carpool lane, that's one thing. Nobody should say, "I bought a hybrid because the Civic LX just didn't have the gas mileage I wanted." I've never been a tremendous fan of hybrids for just that reason. They're great for what they are (marketing devices, carpool time savers, etc.) but to truly help the environment... you buy used cars that get good gas mileage to cut down on waste. Still... not a new Hummer.

[ScottyB]

And I doubt any Hummer ever in the history of time has made it 300,000 miles. :lol:

i don't know Chan....when you're pimpin the strip you can probably tally up at least 20 miles a night! plus the travel involved with making the rounds to your hoes to collect money.

[Maengelito]

that article is retarded because of the projected lifespans. completely unrealistic. however, the concept that they're getting at is fairly realistic, albeit not completely true. 1000 tons of nickel is close to nothing compared to what china let along the rest of the world is mining. the article makes it sound like priuses are made from nothing but environmentally hazardous materials while hummers are made from farts and dreams. the mining of metals creates a lot of waste, no matter what you make with it whether its cars or beer cans.

sorta along the same notion though are studies that show it actually takes more oil to make flex fuel cars than it does for just a regular car. between the farming and energy required to make ethanol, you'd be better off just using your standard 87 octane.

all in all, i think the point of all this is to atleast foster further development. technology like this doesnt just appear in its most efficient form. it matures over time and eventually becomes more cost effective and more advanced.

[CaptainHenreh]

the only thing that kind of gets me is that these green conscious prius owners could have just bought a used, efficient gasoline or deisel car instead of bringing yet another new car onto the roads. i would think that is the more efficient and less wasteful solution. use up what we have....heck i remember old civic VX's (i think thats the model) getting way up in the 40's on highway mpg -- back in the early 90's.

This is the logic that my dad uses to buy nearly every Metro he can get his paws on.

[BLINGMW]

And I doubt any Hummer ever in the history of time has made it 300,000 miles. :lol:

i don't know Chan....when you're pimpin the strip you can probably tally up at least 20 miles a night!

300,000 miles would require 41.1 years of pimpin! hock:

In other news, I buy E30s because I'm saving the world. Yeaahhh... that's the ticket! You can thank me later. :lol: It's something Al Gore recommended to me so I could do my part.

[John]

It sounds as if he's lumping all the associated environmental clean-up costs for that one nickel plant into the dust-to-dust cost of the Prius - I simply don't buy it. If that was the case, then Toyota and/or their supply chain would rest be assured passing that cost on to the consumer.

[JustinG]

am i an environmentalist because i put a cat back on my car?

I read somewhere that you wouldnt see any monetary benefits from buying a hybrid version of a car compared to the regular version of a car until like 4-5 years later due to the increased cost in the hybrid. You would end up breaking even by like year 4 and gain in year 5, but who owns a car for that long nowadays anyway. The mileage and stuff used was based on Avg mileage driven a year and avg gas costs at the time i believe.

[ScottyB]

300,000 miles would require 41.1 years of pimpin! hock:

and that, my friend, is why Pimpin Ain't Easy

[John]

I read somewhere that you wouldnt see any monetary benefits from buying a hybrid version of a car compared to the regular version of a car until like 4-5 years later due to the increased cost in the hybrid.

Yes, same for most diesel vehicles as well. You simply need to cover the differential of $4K-7K for an alternative fuel motor - so depending on how many miles you put on your car annually will yield your ROI threshold date.