I knew that fact, but determined that it was providing a 3.1 fold improvement. So I'm happy.

 

wcmack,

Thanks for a well thought out and written reply. It reflects the way I feel about this too.
I think most of us can agree that the article in question was poorly written and based on someone's opinion more than fact.

 

Well put Bill Mack!

BTW - your car was either an Oldsmobile 442 or a Buick 225...

Being in my early 50's (53 to be precise) I grew up in the hay-days of Muscle cars and cheap gas. I still own muscle cars but more for their investment potential than to burn rubber away from the stoplight.

Did I buy a gimick? No.

What I did do is make an investment in technology.
That investment will cause profit in the automaker's vault.
That profit will drive continued research and development of hybrid / alternative fuel technologies.
The resultant technology will be offered to me - my children - my grand-children (none yet thanks) and so on...

So the key driver in the purchase of this vehicle was not Ecology - it wasn't Economy or even Financially motivated.
The key driver was doing what I believe is the right thing - Investing in the future of the world..

 

Dear Big,

Quite correct, it was an Olds 442. I must be getting what-his-name's disease...you know, that long name....uh....

 

...It was presented to me at an IBM presentation when they used foils (remember those?). ...
Actually in a rather nonchalaunt manner like "everyone knows this". They used examples of CD-R replacing magnetic tape, HD replacing SD/ED, solid state devices replacing older technology yada yada yada. As far as I know this "well known" rule does not have a name like "Moores Law" does. That would be too easy to Google.
J

 

Less... yes... but I want an order of magnitude less. As for pollution, hybrids are not the cleanest burning car out there... so not impressed.

 

Because 3 times is better than twice and twice is not good enough... especially since 40+ mpg existed in the late 80s if not earlier.

I had a 1984 CRX HF that could get 40+mpg without trying. No excuse for us to not be able to do better... and 50mpg is not impressive at all.

 

Dear Schmidtj,

Interesting. I personally have never heard that used as a rule of thumb for widespread public acceptance. Thanks for filling that in a little. It causes me to sit and think, which is better than just sitting!

 

Sounds like you need to ride a horse. Then again they still eat as much as they did in the 80's.

I wouldn't consider traveling with my family in a CRX sized car. There may have been 40mpg cars in the 80's. Unfortunately the ones I drove got 13 mpg.

 

Dear livvie,

Although you don't need me to, I like your "we can do better" attitude. What I'm wondering is, how can we help each other to get where you want to go?

Here I thought I was doing a personal good thing, trading in a gas-guzzler for a car with significantly higher MPG and significantly lower emissions. OK, so you're not impressed with the eco-performance of the new car I just got. I didn't buy the Camry Hybrid because I thought it was unimpressive... I thought it was gee-whiz hot stuff tech-wise. But I could be wrong. My college philosophy mentor used to tell me "strive to make your mistakes clearly [so that you can be corrected and learn from them]." I'm cool with that. Where did I go wrong?

If there is something out there that will give me, say, 100+ MPG with only 10% of the current average air emissions of the best cars now on the road, name it and I'll take a serious look at it.

Oh, it needs to seat at least 3 people...me, my wife and mother-in-law (no jokes, please). And it needs to have weather protection, a comfortable ride and easy in and out...my wife's mother has Parkinson's. Also, it needs to be at least a little roomy...I am 6'1" and still growing (not vertically, to my shame) and, as a lawyer, I often chauffeur clients around. Solar probably won't work, since I live in the northeast where insolation rates are not optimal. I need something with good crash protection. I have to be able to run for several hundred miles in a trip, so it has to be capable of interstate speeds, and refueling/recharging has to be publicly and conveniently available. And I would want something that can be serviced conveniently and carries a pretty long warranty, since whatever technology is involved will be cutting- (read bleeding-) edge.

See, given all these goals (none of which have to do with super-high MPG or super-low emissions), I thought I did pretty well in choosing the TCH. But I can learn. Whip me into shape. MAKE ME DO BETTER!