I could have titled this thread: On my way to NOT look at a PHEV Prius. But I didn't. My son in law & Daughter live in Nashville TN, and our 2nd home is in Kalispell MT. We do love our 'hick-ville' element. But for those who seldom escape hick-ville, you've probable seldom, if ever, seen any thing like the sight below. They call it, "Cars and Coffee". Any one else on PC heard of it? Just curious. You'll find every car type there, under the sun ... and it's (virtually) EVERY Saturday, unless it falls on some big holiday. I thought this local event was the only one, but after searching the web ... it seems there are quite a few "Cars And Coffee's" - all across the nation. Because many of the cars are 'exotic' - many of the events are held in areas that have more dough, than they know what to do with. Our Cars and Coffee is held within the local high-tech business complex that sits on roughly 200 acres. There'll typically be 1,000 cars there, and 1,000's of folks show up weekly. It's only a 10 minute trip there on my recumbent, yet I've only gone twice ... and both times were last month / June. The 1st time that I went down to cars and coffee, it was to be part of our local Leaf event. We thought it'd be cool to have a half dozen Leafs show up ... show the 'gas burners' what the future will look like. I got there so late the 1st time I went, it had all but ended. So this morning ... I decided I'd get there when all the cars begin to arrive. SIX AM: Here's just a teeny bit of what I saw (enjoy!). I really didn't plan on taking ANY pictures. But I know someone who JUST 2 days ago mention they'd never heard of a Cobra. He asked me, "Is that a Ford?". So I explained the whole history for him. Now I can show him too. so .... here's the rest, except my favorite, that I'm saving for last. ... but I'll start with the Porsche ... tractor : About 1/2 of the pics, I took and the other pictures were shot by other attendees. The groups in their respective states all seem to have a web site where they yack about the different issues. And yes ... they do actually sell coffee there (out door vendors) but I didn't get any pictures - sorry. My next door neighbor (a fellow Porsche owner ... I sold mine over 16 years ago) and I ran into each other. He always teases me about the Prius and the Leaf ... and I jab him over his smelly Porsche exhaust. After about 2 hours of roaming around, and talking to different owners, I rode home. As I was peddling across the parking complex ... there it was! Wow! In the parking lot of all things?! Not on display? Well it should have been out there with all the coolest of the cool cars: Evidently, there are more of the proof of concept Prius PHEV's around here then I'm aware. The license number is different from the one that I got to drive around in for several days, as I managed to take pictures of it on more than one occasion ... and posted 'em here: http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-...ric-vehicle-prius-test-apples-vs-oranges.html so ... like I said, several minutes ago ... I didn't intend on seeing any REAL cool cars ... but there was. What I nice way to start a 4th of July weekend/morning .
I've never heard of Cars and Coffee before. But, wow, from your pics, there's a Bugatti Veyron (right?), a Lexus LF-A, a GT-R,some Ferraris and Lambos. The Veyron has 1001 hp. I've seen a few GT-R's and Ferrari running around in my area. I just learned that a mall nearby on Saturdays has Exotics@RTC | Weekly Exotic Car Event In Redmond, WA. Earlier this morning was a Ferrari day. I wasn't up early enough and had to meet w/someone at 11 am anyway, so I couldn't make it.
One of my co-workers tells me that one of those Lambos (pictured from the rear) is way over priced and almost equally fast. You can probably tell from me not knowing, that 7 figured cars are not my forte. What . . . no one got excited about the PHEV prius ?!?
Cars and Coffee is a famous car meet. Most car enthusiasts have some passing knowledge of it. We have something like that in Chicago called Supercar Saturdays. It looks like you got to see a Lamborghini Reventon up close. Those are very rare. There's also a McLaren MP4-12C there.
A couple guys from the Fiesta forum I frequent were at a recent one...only slightly out of place among the others:
At risk of bumping my own zombie thread - Now it's a month later. Went back to the cars & coffee event just to see what else I could see. Here's Today's treats ... just about as un environmentally friendly as you want. Today's biggest clusters seemed to be the Lambo's (38 were there) as well as a batch of Aston Martins (I counted a dozen) ... so move over James Bond: Them's the luxury toys - as opposed to the fast toys: Then there were the meat & potatoes toys: Ok - so maybe note quite all the rest are meat n' taters: This one was close to my heart, as I used to have an '89 speedster (black on blond leather all-chrome rims). About 20 years ago, "She who must be obeyed" notified me that we no longer needed it and that the sales/dollars as well as the garage space were more important. And once again - heading back home, I found another gem out in the spectator parking lot. Last month it was the PHEV Gen III Prius. This month? Not so economical: One side of me contemplates all the spent fuel for the hundreds & hundreds of toys brought down here - week after week. The other side simply appreciates the obscene power. Thanks for viewing my schizophrenic artistic/lust for crazy toys. .
WOW.. are those two Aventadors?!?! Nice. I did see a Maserati MC-12 for the first time in real life (it was launched in 2006 and obviously very rare in Canada. I didn't even know there was at least 1 in Canada)
Looks like fun. I'd love to take my car there. I could make it one way, just barely, if I drive conservatively. But then I'd need a full charge (8 hours on an RV circuit, 240 v. 50 a.) before I could start home.
I've been to that show dozens of times - in the former Ford Design Center parking not (now Taco Bell Corporate Headquarters and Mazda Offices next door), next to the Irvine Spectrum. Yeah, it fascinates me how many near-million dollar cars (plus multi-mill Bugattis) I see there. It's incredible, indeed. HOWEVER, I am extremely jealous of you, because I've never seen a Prius PHV there, and you apparently did!
You get 245 miles in your Tesla? Wow! How? (according to your profile, you're in Washington. That's more than 245 miles away, though)
245 miles is the range of the Tesla when driven like a sane person drives a car. Driven like it's intended to be driven, less. It gives two figures: "Ideal" range, and range as it's been driven the past 30 or 40 miles. The way I normally drive, I'd get 225 miles. But if I was going to take a road trip, I'd put it in range mode and drive gently. How? 450 kilograms of lithium-ion laptop batteries. Something like 55 kWh. And big electric motors are extremely efficient even when operated slowly. ICEs are extremely inefficient, and more so when operated outside their very narrow design output. So the big motor in the Roadster is probably more efficient than the smaller motor in the Leaf, for example, or the even smaller MG2 in the Prius. The Tesla gives the driver the option of using 100% of the battery capacity for longer trips, at the cost of shortening its life somewhat, or using just the middle 80% of the battery. In standard mode (using 80%) and the way I drive, I've got 170 miles of range, though I can still tap the bottom 10% if I need to. To get the top 10% I'd have to charge in range mode. But as you say, I'm too far away. I'd have to stay over two nights. (In order to be there first thing in the morning and stay all day, without having to drive at night, which I don't like to do.)