Well, I finally have a hybrid.....sorta.......

Switched vehicles with a co-worker who is one of the chief engineers on a hybrid program. He got my Cadillac CTS, I got his Cadillac Escalade 2-Mode.

I was getting 20 mpg combined with the CTS. I'm getting 21 with the E2M.

Here it is parked outside of my wife's bakery. More on that later



So, why in the world would anybody need such a big hybrid? Or anything this big for that matter?

Well when you have to transport 9 layers of wedding cake plus two half sheets plus 4 people 300 miles......

Everything packed rather nicely, considering that the cakes themselves could not be stacked.



As I mentioned, we got 21 mpg, which I think is pretty good, considering the Tahoe 2-Mode (T2M) AWD is rated 20/21 and is lighter, more aerodynamic, and has smaller wheels and tires than the E2M. And we were carrying a full cargo, plus 4 people and luggage.

I'll have it for another week or so. One more long trip coming up.

Peace,

Martin

 

Ah, so you did go through with the "trade". Looks nice, but I'm not real fond of that blue, or at least not by those pictures.

 

I see the Caddy has lots of Hybrid badging too. Is that a roof rack?

Tom H in Dallas

 

does the 3rd row seat still have 27 inches of crappy legroom?

 

that's pretty nice.

 

Ezra Dyer wrote this review in the New York Times on 11/16/2008:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/au...ws/16AUTO.html

He can't decide to praise or pan the vehicle because the utilitarian aspects of a 3 ton vehicle that can seat 8 with a towing capacity of 5600 pounds and can get 20+ MPG in city driving or **** the vehicle because he feels that most people who buy Escalades use them to cruise around cities and suburbs without carrying any loads.

The remarkable fact about the two mode hybrid is that these massive vehicles save a remarkable 16.7 gallons of gas for every 1000 miles driven when conservatively compared to a similarly equipped Escalade/Tahoe. Assume that a regular Escalade might average 15 MPG (66.7 gal/1000 mi) and assume that the hybrid version gets 20 MPG (50 gal/1000 mi). To put a 16.7 gallon gasoline drop per 1000 miles in perspective, consider that to save this much gasoline by trading in a vehicle that gets 25 MPG (30.3 gal/1000 mi), you would have to get a vehicle that averages 42 MPG (23.8 gal/1000 mi).

If I were marketing cars, I would have a table in every dealership showing how much gas you would save by swapping out your current vehicle for the new one. The nonlinear gas savings is heavily weighted in favor of getting rid of inefficient vehicles that get gas mileage in the 10-20 MPG range than moving from a high MPG vehicle to a very high MPG vehicle. To cite the Escalade comparison a different way. Going from 15 MPG (66.7 gal/1000 mi) to 20 MPG (50 gal/1000 mi) saves as much gasoline as swapping two 30 MPG (33.3 gal/1000 mi) cars for two 40 MPG (25 gal/1000 mi) cars.

 

not bad at all. all i can say is that if it serves its purpose then that's a good decision and that it would be very useful. i was thinking if something like a geo tracker would make it better.

 

Pics aren't coming through anymore. I looked at the Caddy when I bought my Tahoe. Feature to Feature, the Cad has some nice upticks, but not enough to justify the $20K difference- at least that is what my wife told me!

 

This post from Nov. '08 seems to predict the "cash for clunkers" bill making its way through Congress.

 

Sorry 'bout that. Changed photo hosting services.