Yes and the Hummer is nothing beside the boing 707 drived by John Travolta, and the Earth is nothing in the galaxy, and 50 persons dead per day in Irak is nothing beside the thousand killed by cars. We can hide so many things under the "everything is relative".

The unsafe feeling talked about in this tread is another reality of the hypermiling. Nobody is surprised to see some hydrid drivers sell their car. We, hypermilers, might feel like we lost a member and being unhappy of that. But that is understandable. A WISE response might be to buy a hybrid with a stronger ICE like an Honda Accord, why not. That is a WISE response. But don't tell me is needed a 5.4 liters engin to feel safe at Houston or I don't know where. A Hummer is 3.7 liters. Don't tell me there is no room between 1.3 liters and 5.4 liters.

Don't need comments


PierreM

 

I do believe there comes a time where slow acceleration can cause concern.

About a month ago I had the chance to test drive the US version of the Smart Car. www.smartusa.com The Smart only has a 1.0 liter 3 cylinder engine.

Now my wife is the main driver of our Altima Hybrid and has plenty of horsepower. I drive a 95 Civic with a 1.5, which feels very sluggish compared with the Altima, but was a jet compared with the Smart.

The Mercedes Benz dealer sponsoring the Smart test drive was located in Edison NJ, right on one of the busiest sections of US RT-1. I can't tell you how scared I was trying to merge from a dead stop with huge trucks and speeding cars careening down on me.

The Smart was a fun little car, but I knew that it would be smoked by my anemic Civic. I am not a speed demon, but I just don't think the Smart was meant for Central NJ driving.

My sister-in-law lives in Houston and she claims the driving there is worse then NJ.

I think you need to recognize the limits of your driving ability, and drive a car that has the response you are comfortable with, for your driving area.

That saying, I wish the OP could have tested a NAH as it has plenty of power.

 

Pierre, don't comment this,... Pierre, don't say anything.... Pierre DON'T... Ouff...
...
...God bless America !

PierreM.

Actually, if we try to take it positively, we just have to hope that the new Mercedese 5.4 owner sold his HCH to a Mercedese 5.5 owner who sent it to a scrap yard. So the planet saves a 0.1 liter

PierreM

 

Thank you for your input and for reminding me I am free. I am honored that you have responded to me, as you are the venerable "tigerhonaker". It's not everyday that a car salesman bothers to speak to me. A rare event to be sure. Some of your winking at folks ( as in males) is concerning however.

In any case, sorry if your feathers got ruffled a bit. I find meditation most useful personally. You are FREE to try it.

I hope you continue to enjoy your rocket ship cars, although I am not sure there is any GREEN envy attached to it, at least from my point of view.

 

Whatever happened to the term "to each his own"....

Shouldn't we be glad someone like Terry chooses to go for a performance hybrid rather than just a normal performance car???

29 mpg diving hard in a hybrid still beats getting 19 mpg in some Ford or Nissan rocket as far as I'm concerned.

 

I don't know why Terry needs to defend himself. The HAH is a respectable "Green" car (if there is such a thing).

However, I don't know why Terry needs to defend buying some oil-sucking AMG car.

I don't know why hrothgar02 needs to post about here either. As if he needs some validation for his choice. You want to feel good about it, go to some AMG forum. This is a forum to promote and discuss FE vehicles.

You want to tell us about your patheic argument that led you to your car, then you are gonna get flamed.

Like Terry said, there are plenty of fast and FE cars. A CLK55 is not one of them. I understand why people buy them, but I don't understand why people post HERE about buying them.

Yes, you are NOT green anymore!

You are now part of the problem.

 

I second that, noflash. Fine for people to buy nonhybrids, but why post here about it? Feels a bit off. Absolutely fine for Terry to buy an HAH if he wants one. The HAH is a hybrid, a great choice, we should be glad he did it. I am! Still, sorry to see Terry selling his HCH. I love my HCH! But not everyone feels the same as me, and that's okay, too.

Less okay is the assertion by some posters in this thread that somehow the HCH isn't safe. It's VERY safe. Relative to many forms of transportation, perhaps it isn't safe (planes, trains, etc. all safer than cars, as you probably know) but as a car, it's quite safe, the tests and stats prove it, I've provided links in the past to government studies and websites full of information to prove that to everyone's satisfaction, and the safety ratings bear it out. However, if someone wants to research this and provide a detailed argument that a Honda Civic is or is not 'safe' in an abstract way, feel free. Just be sure to back it up with data and cite to reputable sources, because otherwise I'm not going to give you much credence.

 

This is the only thing that has been pointed out to me, but note that it applies to older model Civics and has nothing to do with the lower power afforded by the hybrid. I think Consumer Reports may have offered similar comments regarding the Accord.

Rear crash protection: Honda

 

The current Civic has the highest marks for rear crash protection.

If you will check out other manufacturers nearly all of them have had less than stellar ratings for their headrests. It's only been since the IIHS started rating (not testing) headrests that manufacturers have started to design their headrests around IIHS's standards.

This is also the same time that people started complaining that their headrests were to close and uncomfortable!

(FWIW, I am certain the new Accord will be to IIHS's specs)

 

Looking at all the Hummers, Trucks, SUV's and sporty sedans on the road I now see low MPG numbers that I have burned into my brain studying fueleconomy.gov. In the past I used to think hey thats a nice looking ride maybe I should get one.

At least hrothgar02 gave it a try which is more than most folks have done. Some who experience vehicles that get unbelieveable fuel economy will leave, others will get addicted to it and keep striving to improve their fuel economy.

Now that I can get > 40 MPG I will continue to aim higher in the future. I am permanently addicted to high MPG. When we break 80, 90 and 100 MPG in a 5 passanger sedan I am gonna be all over it!