Petrol prices reach a new high in the US

[IceFragmatic]

Just saw this on the news tonight.

[Astrotoy7]

lolz.. thats funny, but it's getting that way !!I used to work at a servo exactly 10 years ago and people used to comein complaining that the price was over 65c/L. Now, it hovers b/w $1.30-40

me and my partner both have hybrid cars now(myself a prius and her the new civic). How nice it is to be filling up only once every 3 weeks to a month, as opposed to every week with our older cars. Not only that but its good for the environment too, with the civic and prius having the lowest CO emmission rating of current market cars (The zero emmison Honda FCX cars arent available in Oz)

I throroughly recommend considering a hybrid to those thinking about buying a car in the near future. Prius are sorta geeky because they are a but more hi-tech, with the touchscreen panel, power on button, bluetooth etc. The civic hybrid is pretty much a standard car with a hybrid engine. What also promises to switch many onto hybrids next year is the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid

Go Hybrid ! and save yourself 1000s !

cheers
Astro

[kane81]

^

The thing I didnt like about the hybrids is you have to replace the battery every 10 years? and cost like $5000 AU ?

[Astrotoy7]

lolz...hanging onto any car for 10 years simply isnt a good idea these days ! Once your out of warranty, repair prices on new cars are astronomical. Its a handy setup car manufacturers/sellers have themselves going

Im not sure wo told you that becasue the none of the current hybrid cars have been around that long ! I got a 5 year warranty on my prius, therefore as far as calculating fuel saving, this needs to be factored in. Once the warranty comes near to expiration, time to change over

cheers
Astro

[kane81]

Originally Posted by Astrotoy7

lolz...hanging onto any car for 10 years simply isnt a good idea these days ! Once your out of warranty, repair prices on new cars are astronomical. Its a handy setup car manufacturers/sellers have themselves going

Im not sure wo told you that becasue the none of the current hybrid cars have been around that long ! I got a 5 year warranty on my prius, therefore as far as calculating fuel saving, this needs to be factored in. Once the warranty comes near to expiration, time to change over

cheers
Astro

^
I read it somewhere, yes the cars havent been around that long, but I'm sure they said that the battery need replacement every 10 years at a cost of about 4-5k

[GlenR]

As long as this has been hijacked into a hybrid car thread :

I was interested when watching Top Gear when they tested the Prius. aside from not being thrilled about the cars dynamics (handling, braking, etc), what amazed me was the economy. The host was saying he got 65MPG (it is Britain) driving the Prius from his home to the studio. a Peugot diesel he had previously got 70+MPG for the same run!!!

Some of those European diesels are very impressive.

M personal thoughts: hybrids are not going to be the way of the future. They are a stop-gap technology and most car companies that are making them are only doing so to make them look "green" ans "good corporate citizens". I think that the real future is alternative fuels such as hydrogen. A lot more development needed, but these fuels will render hybrids as technological novelties.

JMHO

[MitchellO]

Yeah the hydrogen fuel is a good idea. Isn't the only byproduct water?

[Astrotoy7]

Originally Posted by GlenR

...M personal thoughts: hybrids are not going to be the way of the future. They are a stop-gap technology and most car companies that are making them are only doing so to make them look "green" ans "good corporate citizens". I think that the real future is alternative fuels such as hydrogen. A lot more development needed, but these fuels will render hybrids as technological novelties.

JMHO

Of course they arent cars of the future, they are for the here and now, where fossil fuels are still used to power most personal vehicles. Therefore, considering current petrol prices, they and the new economoical diesel cars are by far the better option From an environmental perspective, they are a superior option to either diesel or strandard fuels. A cleaner diesel(biodiesel) does exist but hasnt been effectively rolled out here.

Now, "for the future" - this is an economic consideration. Governments are going to milk fossil fuels for as long as it is financially viable, because they make a killing on it due to the excises they charge. As we move forwards, the governments of the world will hopefully back hydrogen fueling stations and begin to develop the infrastructure for it. In the interim, a hybrid/diesel car is absolutely the way to go if you want to save yourself some $$$ I dont see this happening in Oz within the next 10 years at least though...

cheers
Astro