GM rolls out hybrid transmissions

Well let's run the numbers, say the full-size SUV improves from 16mpg to 20mpg. If you assume a Prius driver can average 45mpg, the fuel savings from the SUV is over half of what the Prius burns:

Non-hybrid SUV: 45/720 gallons/mile
Hybrid SUV: 36/720 gallons/mile
Prius: 16/720 gallons/mile

So unless you tree-huggers want to park your Priuses for half the time you'd normally be driving them, I'd say the hybrid SUV drivers are doing more for the planet than you are.

Just kidding. :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Oct 30 2007, 03:39 PM) [snapback]532568[/snapback]</div>

Read the other forums... they're not.

Rather than acknowledging how much fuel is actually being USED in the first place, they focus entirely on what will be SAVED instead. That sure sounds like an excuse to continue guzzling.

After all, it still boils down to whether or not avehicle is driven for the purpose it was designed. Are they really towing trailers that large?

Driving a monster-size vehicle to the office empty simply doesn't make any sense, especially at 22 MPG.

 

Most American men, today, IMHO, define themselves by what they are not.

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"Roll out" that new transmission is right...I'll bet it's a weighty piece.
[laughing]

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I did have this idea for a "fantasy construction camp."

Here, all of these big tough guys in their immaculate jacked up four-bys could pay big $$ and actually get to drive on something other than the grass at the elementary school soccer field. Maybe, for an additional fee, they could even operate a backhoe or something...!?!

We could rent them another truck, too...so theirs won't get dirty!
;-)

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Oct 30 2007, 04:26 PM) [snapback]532583[/snapback]</div>

Ummmmm...I think it's supposed to go, "the more you *buy* the more you save..."

..."spend" has such a negative connotation!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Oct 30 2007, 05:55 PM) [snapback]532589[/snapback]</div>

The more you buy, the more you'll spend. If they want to talk about saving, Prius gets about twice the mileage as a comparable car. Can 2-mode hybrids do that, especially at hauling and towing?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(john1701a @ Oct 30 2007, 01:21 PM) [snapback]532489[/snapback]</div>

Well there is Altima hybrid though its not available everywhere. What I am anxious to see is the much delayed Ford Fusion hybrid which should be a full hybrid like the Escape.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hampdenwireless @ Oct 31 2007, 01:22 PM) [snapback]533024[/snapback]</div>

The Altima Hybrid is itself a hybrid. It is essentially the Camry transaxle bolted to a Nissan engine and dropped in a Nissan.

Nissan does not seem to be serious about hybrids. Their management does not speak well of them. My opinion is that they are simply selling them for California emission credits.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(n8kwx @ Oct 31 2007, 12:46 PM) [snapback]533065[/snapback]</div>

What emission credits?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(clearview22 @ Oct 30 2007, 01:56 PM) [snapback]532559[/snapback]</div>

How are contractors dealing with the rising fuel costs???? Obviously by passing the extra cost to the customer. And they obliviously think the tax write-off for the fuel charges is worth it.

 

For when that F450 Super Duty pickup just isn't big enough:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Oct 31 2007, 03:08 PM) [snapback]533131[/snapback]</div>

And each of those barrel-shaped running boards with inset steps is an auxiliary gas tank - for the 4-mpg appetite.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hycamguy07 @ Oct 30 2007, 12:40 PM) [snapback]532428[/snapback]</div>

You have a good point, not everyone can get by day to day on the space of a 4-dr sedan. Not everyone needs a 7-8 passenger vehicle. All the people I can think of off the top of my head that drive an SUV have at maximum 3 kids, several don't have any. The family I do know that has 5 kids used to have a Tahoe, but a
about 18 months ago traded it in for an Mazda MPV. Last time I talked with them, they were loving it.

Just for kicks (and to get out of work), I compared larger vehicles for size and mpg based on fueleconomy.gov and MSRP from Edmunds (for simplicity, I took the MPG for the 2wd versions and picked the smallest engine size for each vehicle).

Sienna: 17/23 19 combined and MSRP from $24,340 - $37,665

Tahoe: 14/19 16 combined and MSRP from $34,095 - ¤38,950


So to seat 7-8 people, one could choose the first vehicle that gets about 21% better fuel economy and is likely to cost significantly less than the second vehicle. The hybrid Tahoe would just barely be above the mpg for the minivan! One advantage for the SUV is towing capacity, with 3,500 lbs vs 4.500-4800lbs. But that is far from a need.

Anyway, I guess my point is that just because a family needs more space than a car, doesn't mean they still have get a bloated land yacht full size SUV. I imagine one of these days, my family is going to outgrow the Prius. I can only hope by then there is a minivan sized hybrid out there by then (I'm hoping for the Estima hybrid and combined mpg around 30). And yes the comparisons between the Sienna and Sequoia (14/17 15 combined and MSRP $33-42K) come out even better for the Sienna.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(usbseawolf2000 @ Oct 30 2007, 07:03 AM) [snapback]532399[/snapback]</div>

Followed by

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Oct 30 2007, 10:54 AM) [snapback]532509[/snapback]</div>

Fantastic! I've been looking for that for months! What else are you hiding? Seen my new page yet?
http://evnut.com/quotes_ev.htm

I'm accepting submissions!

 

I still don't understand GM.

They wanted to market their 2mode system. And they put it in their not so hot selling land yaught?

Their GMC Arcadia, Buick Enclave, and Saturn Outlook are selling like hotcakes. They should have used the 3.6L v6 engine and 2mode to make it is highlander killer.

Guess we will only know if/when GM put their 2mode system into their Saturn VUE in a few years to prove the customers are better marketing people than their marketing staff.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Nov 1 2007, 08:00 PM) [snapback]533620[/snapback]</div>

Lutz also recently did an interview where he acknowledged his earlier mistakes. I am not asking for him to be granted sainthood; I'm only asking that we stop bashing GM for it's earlier errors and mis-statements and focus on the fact that they are finally getting the point and doing something to reduce and hopefully in the future eliminate our need for petroleum based fuels for our vehicles.

While the vast majority of us on the forum would never purchase a GM manufactured hybrid or electric or fuel cell vehicle, there are many people that are very committedto the GM family of automobiles. Let's be grateful that GM finally has heard what the people are saying and is actually doing something about it.

By the way, if I needed a truck with outrageous torque a full size hybrid truck would be my first choice and as far as I am aware Toyota doesn't make one yet.

 

Did the people really say, give us a 5 MPG better large SUV?

Hmmm, seems that if you're going to afford a gas guzzler (like $40,000 and up), then saving gas $$$ is not on your mind.

Who Killed the Electric Car proves GM has no intention of listening to the people. To their cash cow SUVs, yes. The people, no.

I'll be convinced when a Prius-like vehicle is produced. Sheesh, how about a hybrid van. That's an untapped market, waiting for anyone to make a killing. At this point, I don't see GM pulling it off with this hybrid "fool-sized" SUV. Saves gas? No, wastes gas compared to a vehicle that does the same thing, move people and stuff. YMMV.