So, I work for a Toyota dealership, and they put me in charge of presenting the Prius at an Earth Day thing for a local college. I found out today that a salesman from the local Honda dealership (horrible dealership) will be presenting the Civic Hybrid alongside my Prius presentation. After doing some research on the Civic Hybrid, I found out that there are really not many options available on it. Kinda lame, don't you think? Anyways, this is kinda exciting.
I looked at it before buying my Prius last week, and decided that i preferred the hatchback prius to the Saloon style civic. I also liked the prius options better.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Russ Dyer @ Apr 17 2007, 12:36 PM) [snapback]424809[/snapback]</div> I'd had my Prius a year when my wife wanted a hybrid too. We looked at the Civic hybrid. Definitely didn't measure up, so now we're a two-Prius family. Anyways, try not to get into too much of a pissing match between Toyota and Honda. The main thing is to increase the kids' awareness of environmentally-friendly options. Good luck on your presentation.
oh, I won't get too much onto Honda. I love the Insight. It's a shame that Honda killed it. Toyota and Honda should really just merge and change their name to THE JAPANESE GIANT.
hey, me too! they're delivering a prius for the university earth day celebration here and i'm going over to talk to people about it and answer questions let us know how it goes!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Apr 17 2007, 04:40 PM) [snapback]424859[/snapback]</div> will do. I guess it's a popular thing to do for earth day now.
Does anyone have a powerpoint presentation that explains how hybrids work? This would be useful for an event we have coming up here in Ithaca.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ari14850 @ Apr 17 2007, 04:58 PM) [snapback]424873[/snapback]</div> I don't know if anyone has that, but you can make one! Spend some time on this site and others, use Google, and find as many images as you can on the Prius internal combustion engine and MG1 and MG2. There are cutaway images floating around the web. If you do find a PowerPoint on hybrids, let us know. Harry
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ari14850 @ Apr 17 2007, 04:58 PM) [snapback]424873[/snapback]</div> well, my presentation will actually be outside, so I won't use any presentation tools other than my knowledge of driving the car for 18 months and the actual car itself.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Apr 17 2007, 04:09 PM) [snapback]424882[/snapback]</div> Definately, I was planning to research and make one, but I figured I'd see if there was one already floating around. If I end up having to make it, of course I'll upload here!
My university will have nothing to do with Japanese cars. All the security cars are Crown Vics and Tahoes. The plant vehicles are Silverados and the occasional smart fortwo. The last Japanese vehicles they had are the Suzuki Swift and Toyota Van from the early 90s. Needless to say, they're both base models and are starting to show their age.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ari14850 @ Apr 17 2007, 01:58 PM) [snapback]424873[/snapback]</div> Not a powerpoint but John has some good visuals. A bit dated but it may still be useful. John's site Here's a 54 slide show on his 2004 2004 Prius
Our own Tony P Schaefer has a couple of great presentations on his Chicago Prius Group web site. Click on Resources on the left and scroll down to the bottom. He has copyrighted them, but if you ask him I bet he'll let you use either or both. They explain how the HSD system works.
How did you guys do? there were lots of students that were really interested in the car. The Honda guy didn't show, so there was no war. People were freaking out about the backup camera, it was so funny, and fun.
Everyone who gets in my car loves the back-up camera. It's so funny. I'm glad your presentation went well. I considered doing something at my school or something, but I couldn't come up with anything. High schoolers can be educated, but it's not like they're going to be able to go buy hybrids [and most of them couldn't care less].
LOL I thought my college was the only one doing this. Sadly, I decided to park my Prius next to the dealship Prius, Camry and Civic and a few students thought the best way to check if the Prius has dent resistant panels is to slam his a%^ into it. I caught him doing it and it took every bit of self control not to go old school and beat him down. :angry: They started speaking in Russian when I called him on how stupid that was and all he had to do was ask. But the situation defused quick enough when I couldn't find any damage....... Till after they left and the clouds moved and made the small crease in the front drivers fender visible. /Rant off On the upside. A TON of people were checking out the cars and I instructed one of my club members who was in charge of the vehicles on how to dispell the myths and what the real world pros and cons to the cars were so hopefully people would have the best information possible before hitting the dealership. The highlight of the day was when 8 children from a local private school were checking out the cars and pretending to drive them ALL, and climbing in an out of them with ohh and ahhs when they saw all the hiding places (glove boxes, cup holders, sunglasses holder etc). At one point the boldest child asked to sit in my car so I let him in the drivers seat then I decided it would be fun to see how he reacts to my stereo system. I put on an old rap song and cranked it up then turned the bass knob up a bit. He split his face in two with a giant grin and started bobbin' his head as did the 5 adults that were walking around the cars and next hting I know all 8 kids were arguing over who gets to sit in the pimpin' Prius and those not sitting in the car (they filled all the seats) were dacing outside with the adults. LMAO!! I followed the quick music session with "See you guys, you can save lots of gas, clean the air you breathe so children don't get asthma, AND be fly at the same time"... To this they all cheered! I swear it was the funniest moment and the college students walking between classes were cracking up. :lol:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ari14850 @ Apr 17 2007, 03:58 PM) [snapback]424873[/snapback]</div> Hi Ari, You've gotten some suggestions already on how the PSD works. If I were doing a talk, I'd emphasize that the Prius has no conventional transmission like the the Honda does. Instead of a conventional transmission with 500 parts it has a PSD with 7 moving parts! The complexity is in the software: how to control the electrical load on the sun gear to make the PSD do what you want. Fan-atic, CU Class of '66
