Cars of the future?

[Englishman2010]

My car has been in for a service today, the garage gave me a 6 month old Prius (Petrol hybrid) as a courtesy car. My initial thought was one of disappointment, especially after all the negative publicity on Top Gear.
It was very strange at first, there's no noise from the engine/motor, even at 50 mph all I could hear was the noise of the tyres on the road. However, it was responsive enough for a family hatchback, and the economy guage was showing around 50 mpg at normal round town driving.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and being realistic we are all going to be driving alternative fuel cars in the next 10 - 20 years.
I prefer my cars a little bit more luxurious than a Toyota, but if the German manufacturers come up with a decent Diesel/Electric hybrid I may well consider one (assuming it's realistically priced).
I'll be pleased to get my Mercedes back tonight, but first impressions were not as bad as I thought

[bornatbirth]

when i took my bike test...i had to borrow a bike to do the figure of eight due to my tzr 125 not having the turning circle to complete it and it was a MZ which was a like the skoda brand at the time and i was surprised just how well it went it.

most of the lastest eco cars will be very surprising to most of us to drive, thats if all your doing is city driving.

[Englishman2010]

As the worlds oil supply runs lower and with political uncertainty in the middle east, sooner or later we are all going to have to drive more economical cars. The manufacturers are waking up to this and I also believe that when there are viable alternatives to petrol engines the Gov't will legislate or tax us out of conventional cars anyway.
As I said, the Prius was nothing like as bad as I expected and whilst I wouldn't choose to buy one myself, if I had no choice I would, and it definitely beats walking or getting the bus

[bornatbirth]

they wont be much fun driving down the motorway and if you have a large family they will be so slow

i much prefer that electric sports car which is a bit more nippy

[KeithD]

Because of the fuel prices I'll not be getting another Nissan 4x4 this year, as they only get 35mpg. Pretty much sure I'll go for the Mitsubishi ASX4, 50mpg, and plenty of hi-tech stuff which helps it get such high mileage

mitsubishi-asx-4x4-studio-blue.jpg

[Englishman2010]

One of the things that annoys me about motor manufacturers is that they already build cars that are capable of 25% more mpg and 25% more horsepower. All they have to do is change the engine management chip. The reason they don't is that they do millions and millions of test miles on say a 2.0 litre diesel engine producing 150 Bhp averaging 40 mpg. They know that under normal driving conditions nothing should break in the first 3 years meaning they don't have to fix it under warranty. If they tuned the engine a bit more and bothered to do the test research we could all have cars with more power and better economy today.
There is no doubt a technical excuse why they can't do this, but there are lots of companies out there selling chips that can improve the above and I'm not aware of any major issues from 'chipping' cars by 10-20% unless of course you take a 100 bhp car and boost it up to 300 bhp

[KeithD]

Just be glad you don't live in the US... average mpg is about 22

[Englishman2010]

Just be glad you don't live in the US... average mpg is about 22

But petrol is still around $3.50 a gallon

[KeithD]

Which is expensive for them. Remember you can't compare it with our prices as it is built into the economy.

[stevewool]

i love my toyota hope it last me a long time

[Pete/London]

Just be glad you don't live in the US... average mpg is about 22

Hard to compare but a US gallon is roughly a pint less then a UK gallon or .83 of our gallon.

[KeithD]

Add 17% to 22 = 26mpUKg

[Pete/London]

That brings it up to the average car here in the 60s, mind you if they are 2.5 to 4 litre jobs its not so bad.
My wife only gets that from our 5 series beamer pottering around to work and local shopping, took it to Exeter at the weekend and got 43 mpg, offered to buy her a Verso but she is having none of it.

[KeithD]

[QUOTE=Pete/London;279335]That brings it up to the average car here in the 60s[QUOTE]

You don't adjust the UK one as well as the US one .... that gets you back to where you started

[Pete/London]