EPA makes it official: 2008 Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon hybrids get (20 or) 21 mpg

Carbon f ootprint of Prius with HSD 4.0
Carbon footprint of Tahoe Hybrid 2x4 8.7
Carbon footprint of Hilander Hybrid 4x4 7.1
Carbon footprint of Tahoe Hybrid 4x4 9.2
Carbon footprint of RAV4 automatic V6 8.7

I guess the Tahoe Hybrid is a step in the right direction but it just seems like a way to lure more drivers into trucks rather than cars.

 

Unfortunately, there's greenwashing taking place.

Focus is exclusively on carbon emissions, ignoring the smog type entirely.

This implementation of two-mode actually increases smog emissions, despite reduction of the carbon type. But they don't tell you that.

 

well you have to think of it in terms of size. The tahoe has got to be at least twice the size of the prius so if you need that room and power to haul stuff around this is the best option.

Otherwise youd need two prius's to accomplish this and end up with almost the same milage (~22mpg) and carbon footprint (~8) for much less money (50k for 2 prii vs prob 35-40 for a yukon)

not to mention how your going to drive 2 prii at the same time...

 

What are the odds that you'll need to carry that much all at the same time?

That genuine need is real, but very small. Saving that extra cargo for your next trip or carrying it on the roof are options that are practical in most cases. If not, we require more detail. How many must tow a trailer heavier than 3,500 pounds for non-work use?

 

oh im not defending getting one for personal use just saying its not that much off from a prius if you need it for what it was made for

 

How is two-mode increasing smog, unless it's changing ratios
in a really badly-engineered way?
.
_H*

 

By using the larger displacement 6.0L engine instead of the 5.3L.

 

I know from experience that the stock 6.0L does use quite a bit more gas than a stock 5.3L. That is, doing an engine swap in a truck you can see the milage drop and power gain immediately. The 6.0L has a ton more overall TQ. We in the LSx racing world do the 5.3L or 5.7L to 6.0L swap all the time.

On the otherhand, a change in emissions equipment can nullify those effects as is seen in the C5 Corvette to the C6 Corvette. The C5 has a smaller displacement engine at 5.7L than the 6.0L equipped C6. The C6 gets correspondingly worse milage and more HP/TQ but the emissions rating is better than the C5. I noticed this on the Ford F-150 as well when comparing the same exact vehicle and engine size except one was a CA/NE States truck and the other was built for the rest of the states. So emissions equipment and possibly programing could be the only difference. In the case of the 2006 F-150 the EPA Pollution score went from a 6 or 7 on the CA/NE States truck to a 3 for the rest of the country.

 

RAV4 V6 will tow 3500lbs and with no hybrid technology and the same carbon footprint as a tahoe 2x4 hybrid even though it has 4x4 and it seats 7.
The Hylander Hybrid is still much better, oh but it hasn't got that great honking 6 litre V8 under the bonnet to make me a real man.

 

Hey, GM's gotta make their money somehow.

It would be a measurable step in the right direction if they made ALL the Tahoes, and Suburbans into hybrids. But this is just a few, very expensive models.

 

The rest of the world doesn't get a Tahoe, it wouldn't be worth the effort for GM to try to sell them when there is no patriotic urge to buy American.

The Australian RAV4 is the same wheelbase as the US. We seem to have lost the 2 door RAV4 now that we get the V6 engine as well as the 4.

The Tahoe is 10 inches longer wheelbase, 6 inches wider and 8 inches higher.

 

The suburban stuck its ugly head into Australia for a little while but Australians showed the good taste not to buy them in any numbers.

What do you call the Toyota Landcruiser there, sounds like midsize. Here it's a full size long wheelbase 4x4.

 

for the person that said "why use 5.3L instead of the 6.0L?"


if it wasn't for cylinder deactivation i'd say gm would have downsize the engine some more. But being to retain utility instead of sarafacing some features because its a ,"hybrid" makes it a no brainer for them to use the bigger block!

how efficent it is for it to run 4 cylinders on a heavy 8 cylinder block is a different story, I'm sure GM had all the engineering figured out. After all three big corporations working on one powertrain is better than one in theory.

although if it was up to me, i'd pick one up in a heartbeat and piss a lot of people off, I'd be the oxymoron SUV, hypermiling and pissing people smaller than me hehe. What you want to rear end me? I double dare you mo facker, your dinky 2400 lbs beast vs my 6000 lbs monster gua hahaha, plus being able to seat 8 and get more than 30 mpg is gansta (assuming I drove it

check this out for the 2mode FE capabilities http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7448

 

A little left of topic

Yes that big ugly useless thing that gets hung up over sand dunes because it has a wheel base as long as a route service bus. The one that is wider than everyone elses 4x4 so it gets scratched the most when picking it's way between trees and shrubs.

Yep, Lexus is sold here too, same model designations.

Prado is a Landcruiser in name only, they are quite a bit smaller with V6 3.5 litre engine or 2.4 litre 4 rather than the straight 6 or V8 of the Landcruiser. I think the Highlander is the same as Kluger here but no hybrid here .

The short wheelbase Lexus 4x4 is the RX400h or RX350. You guessed it, the RX400h is a hybrid. At near $100,000 I'll give it a miss this year. Even the RX350 is $79,000. But the RX400h is cheaper than the cheapest hybrid sedan in the Lexus lineup at $122,000 for the GS450h.

 

This hidious thing

Shown with a road train in the background to demonstrate the size.
More like 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, about 5 tons of American pride.
Called Suburban because it was slightly smaller than a suburb.