Hybrid Myth
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That's true Resist. Lots of people ask me how the Insight does on the highway. When I tell them that the top speed is limited to 113 MPH they say, "you mean kilometers per hour?". Funny to watch their face as they have a paradigm shift. 
The Alesandro Volta and the Dualtone have proved that hybrids make capable exotics, but the mass produced Accord (HAH!) will obliterate the slow motion notion. It will be in your face, on your street proof. Can't wait till they put it on the salt flats. It'll be eat my salt spray Prius time.
The Alesandro Volta and the Dualtone have proved that hybrids make capable exotics, but the mass produced Accord (HAH!) will obliterate the slow motion notion. It will be in your face, on your street proof. Can't wait till they put it on the salt flats. It'll be eat my salt spray Prius time.
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Yeah, a number of Ford F350s, H2s, and similar vehicles hate my "girly car" because they can't pass me!
Team America is not a serious movie, but they take a dig at hybrid cars as something only leftwingers would drive. :roll:
Team America is not a serious movie, but they take a dig at hybrid cars as something only leftwingers would drive. :roll:
The only thing that I have heard about the Insight being slow or any other hybrid car is that they don't accelerate that fast, and not as fast as a normal car would. I do not know if this is true or not as I have never driven a hybrid, but I would tend to think it is. As for are hybrid's slow cars, I don't thinks so, as I have seen the Insight as well as other hybyids on the road and they go just as fast as any other car would.
I'm NOT a boy-racer but last week I had two incidents I would like to share.Chris said:
First was a Mercedes C 200 CDi (Diesel, around 130 hp)) at a red light. I noticed the occupants taking a mickey out of my car. Well I showed them what my car could do as the lights hit green. They didn't stand a chance up to 75 kms per hour 8)
Second was an MG ZT 25 (not available in US, 140 -Petrol- hp I guess) in the same situation. He didn't manage to pass me until we reached around 80 kms per hour 8)
The Insight is by no means slow. It's rather the fastest fuel saver in the world :wink:
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I take my Insight to the 1/4 mile nearly every week during the summer, and it surprises a lot of people. While it will never be a big-block-beater, it's faster then nearly all of the 4 cylinder cars that people rice up.
As for the myth, what do you expect from the mainstream media? These people don't even know how their own "normal" car works, so do you expect them to grasp a concept that is only slightly more complicated? Really, I wish that they would stop calling all of the "hybrids" produced today "hybrids", because they clearly aren't. A hybrid is a car that can be powered by TWO sources. All our cars run on gasoline.
As for the myth, what do you expect from the mainstream media? These people don't even know how their own "normal" car works, so do you expect them to grasp a concept that is only slightly more complicated?
Really, I wish that they would stop calling all of the "hybrids" produced today "hybrids", because they clearly aren't. A hybrid is a car that can be powered by TWO sources. All our cars run on gasoline.
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Well,
The "Media" is only 1/2 "wrong".
Yes, you can drive them like a normal car and get somewhat better MPG than their non hybrid counterparts, a Civic being a good case on point. BUT, the stellar MPG that people are led to believe won't be there.
Even with the Insight its EPA highway MPG won't be easily attainable without some driver relearning.
So you can have it either way, but not both.
We are drunk on cheap energy and rarely realize the huge amount of work that it takes to move down the road at 60 MPH.
See the old thread (25 posts):
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... 961baf553f
HTH!
The "Media" is only 1/2 "wrong".
Yes, you can drive them like a normal car and get somewhat better MPG than their non hybrid counterparts, a Civic being a good case on point. BUT, the stellar MPG that people are led to believe won't be there.
Even with the Insight its EPA highway MPG won't be easily attainable without some driver relearning.
So you can have it either way, but not both.
We are drunk on cheap energy and rarely realize the huge amount of work that it takes to move down the road at 60 MPH.
See the old thread (25 posts):
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... 961baf553f
HTH!
If we look at the average acceleration from zero to sixty for all American vehicles, the Insight places right smack in the middle. Above sixty it should be faster than the average as its superior aerodynamic shape means than a lesser percentage of the power of the engine is being used to overcome wind resistance at higher speeds. In theory this makes it faster than the average American car overall. I rest my case.
This summer I was poking along behind two American land yaughts for a couple of miles when the first one slowed almost to a stop to turn left. Clear road ahead and nothing happening so I pulled out to pass. What followed was probably unintentional. Seems like this fellow dropped the hammer right about then cause I was doing 70 by the time I got by. I still managed 87 MPG on the trip in to town, though, so I was smiling for a while.
This summer I was poking along behind two American land yaughts for a couple of miles when the first one slowed almost to a stop to turn left. Clear road ahead and nothing happening so I pulled out to pass. What followed was probably unintentional. Seems like this fellow dropped the hammer right about then cause I was doing 70 by the time I got by. I still managed 87 MPG on the trip in to town, though, so I was smiling for a while.
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I'm not sure where the optimal acceleration for the Insight is. Read somewhere that the IMA is most effective at under 50 mph. I am more certain that electric motors accelerate better than a comperable-powered gasoline engine. I agree with b1shmu63 the 0.25 coefficient helps in getting up to speed.
Production model hybrids are still relatively new, no thanks to Detroit. It's been mentioned that hybrids will use some of their technology in fuel cell vehicles. FCVs will need an assist to give them decent acceleration. Right now it seems the IMA assist is more effective in this regard than the Toyota hybrid.
Production model hybrids are still relatively new, no thanks to Detroit. It's been mentioned that hybrids will use some of their technology in fuel cell vehicles. FCVs will need an assist to give them decent acceleration. Right now it seems the IMA assist is more effective in this regard than the Toyota hybrid.
The Insight isn't that slow...
It is faster than the VW TDIs
It is faster than Civic VXs
It is faster than non-SI 90s civics.
It is faster than a non-turbo Eclipse.
It is faster than the Escort, Neon, MX3, Storm, Impulse, Paseo, etc, etc, etc.
The answer to why the media (and others) propetuate the myth the hybrids are slow has at least 3 factors...
1: There is an ever-present assumption that better MPG = slower vehicle... therefor the best MPG vehicles MUST be the slowest.
2: It is QUIET, people subconciously assosiate noise with acceleration/speed. A car that runs 20s in a 1/4mi but is really loud will "feel" faster than a car that runs 18s but makes almost no noticable noise.
3: People don't know enough about hybrids, it's new, it scares them/freaks them out... so they will look for/belive anything negative about them that they can, in a subconcious attempt to avoid the uncomfortable experiance of dealing with a change in what they know.
IMO anyway)
--Ash
It is faster than the VW TDIs
It is faster than Civic VXs
It is faster than non-SI 90s civics.
It is faster than a non-turbo Eclipse.
It is faster than the Escort, Neon, MX3, Storm, Impulse, Paseo, etc, etc, etc.
The answer to why the media (and others) propetuate the myth the hybrids are slow has at least 3 factors...
1: There is an ever-present assumption that better MPG = slower vehicle... therefor the best MPG vehicles MUST be the slowest.
2: It is QUIET, people subconciously assosiate noise with acceleration/speed. A car that runs 20s in a 1/4mi but is really loud will "feel" faster than a car that runs 18s but makes almost no noticable noise.
3: People don't know enough about hybrids, it's new, it scares them/freaks them out... so they will look for/belive anything negative about them that they can, in a subconcious attempt to avoid the uncomfortable experiance of dealing with a change in what they know.
IMO anyway
)--Ash
G
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·Where are you getting this information?Kobushi said:
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The Insight has a 0-60 acceleration of 10 1/2 seconds (car&driver) which is faster than most cars/trucks.
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...also the mainstream automotive industry is promoting the opposite: size and performance as being macho.Kobushi said:
I notice a lot of sports cars with muffler that hardly soften the engine. Also lot of huge pickup trucks with automatics that when they accelerate sounds like a notoriously loud fart - tending to confirm many women's belief about men's obsession with this act. :roll:Kobushi said:
If you work in a technical enviroment, you see this more. Many people just don't want to think in complexities beyond the 2nd grade level. Any think unfamiliar or the slightest bit complicated, they peg and dismiss it. Unfortunately, some of these people are IT professionals. :shock:Kobushi said:
The political attack ads would lead you a flip-flop is running against a trigger-happy cowboy for President. I'm not stating my politics, but the candidates are being oversimplified because many people refuse to put much thought into their decision.
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