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Skylane81E said:
The only thing wrong with my Saturn is that it is wrong wheel drive. No more chassis flex, no more overly compliant bushings, proper shocks and springs, "sufficient" power...

RUINED by FWD
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Do you have a modified Saturn? I've only seen your Dodge.

wickedsprint said:
That sounds pretty fun. This is my first FWD car. Usually a show stopper for me as well but MPG and MSRP were the driving factors for this purchase.
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All depends on what your requirements are. For me, FWD is a show-stopper, but I'm also less concerned with MPG and I buy used, which gives me some more flexibility.

JHW said:
What a coincidence, so does mine! Oh wait, I need to move the decimal point.
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Mine's faster 0-60, but probably stops at the gas station more.
 
I've got an Ion Redline that is nearly set up for NASA performance touring racing. Just needs a few minor safety additions and for me to get my Comp license.
 
wickedsprint said:
I'm not sure you can call the explorer safer solely off its extra weight. That weight may not be in a place where it's useful and if the explorer ends up inverted all bets are off.

These small cars have better crumple zones and stronger bodies vs an explorer's weak passenger compartment held to a comparatively heavy chassis with a few bolts.
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I bet a smaller car would not have held up any better....:sad::sad::sad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
 
To be honest, you don't give a tinker's damn about how the car holds up. What you're interested in is how it PROTECTS THE OCCUPANTS! Just like in the plane! Unfortunately, at a closing speed of about 100mph+, it really doesn't matter too much what you have trying to protect you. :( That's why youalways want to be at minimum controllable airspeed at touchdown!
 
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gprellwitz said:
To be honest, you don't give a tinker's damn about how the car holds up. What you're interested in is how it PROTECTS THE OCCUPANTS! Just like in the plane! Unfortunately, at a closing speed of about 100mph+, it really doesn't matter too much what you have trying to protect you. :( That's why youalways want to be at minimum controllable airspeed at touchdown!
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There's a point to that, although my preference is for safety features in the form of good handling/acceleration/braking. Then I have better chances at avoiding a crash in the first place.
 
scottd said:
Geesh, started the thread with the hope there was someone on this board that has gone through the process of replacing a hybrid battery. Simple question. I would like to hear their experience, that's all.
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I have the original Honda Insight 2001. It has been a great car and I have about 150000 miles on it. This was the original hybrid car released. I often get 70 MPG but never get less than 60 mpg. The original warranty on the battery was 80k but Honda increased it to 150k. The average life on my battery is about 110k. eight arou d 110k my battery died and Honda replaced it for free. Even if they had not it would not have been a big deal. They say they just unbolt a few panels in the back pull the old one out and slide a new one in. takes the under an hour. Remember te car was designed with the idea of replacing the battery.

If it was not under warranty, I would NOT have gone to the dealer. I would have gone to one of the aftermarket company that rebuilds the battery and replaced it myself or gone to an independent shop. You can get the service manuals off eBay for a few dollars. Itisprobably easier to replace the battery than the water pump. The battery lasted longer then the turbo chargers on my cars.
 
us AAirways said:
If you look at new car prices, you aren't saving much if any $ with the TDI or Prius. A new Civic is $19k and gets 40mpg. $5k-$6k more for the prius/tdi for only 10mpg? Used of course probably works out better.
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My 2001 Honda Insight ended up working out well. cost 17k. I get 65MPG on average. The only thing I have had to Pay to repair is the clutch slave cylinder at $110 and a new set of 3 spark plugs.
 
scottd said:
Yes, there's always a spin on everything. They say that eating healthy will kill you. I recycle, but they say most of it just ends up in a landfill any way. I can't save the world and I won't really try. My immediate goal when I bought the car was not to lessen my carbon footprint. I was trying to cut my fuel costs and spend less $$$ on foreign oil. I have accomplished that. Yes, I had to pay $3,000 on a hybrid battery replacement that will last me another 8 years. I'm still ahead of the game and I'm back now to getting my 50 mpg.

Turns out my battery actually failed hard due to a short in the battery. It didn't die gracefully with old age as most do. I am pursuing this with Toyota to see if they will reimburse me for the cost of the battery or a portion thereof.
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Scott, some batteries (like the ones we use in locomotives) have replaceable cells in the case of a short. Is it possible to repair your battery rather than replacing it ?
 
us AAirways said:
Electric cars like the Leaf won't ever be mainstream unless they can go 300-400 miles between charges. How much extra fossil fuel are they going to have to burn to keep all those cars that use no fossil fuels charged??:rolleyes:
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Most people drive within commuting distance that falls within the range of current electric cars. I was kinda disappointed not to see a photovoltaic roof on the Mitsubishi. The way to get 300-400 miles is with a fuel cell though.
 
Herman vanOoijen said:
I wonder what would happen if the Smartcar gets rearended... To each his own.
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It bounces regardless the direction of impact. I call Smart engineering 'ping pong ball safety', and it works interestingly enough. They make a sports model reminiscent of a Lotus as well that hasn't made it to the US market yet.
 
bflynn said:
Look at it this way - replacing your battery at 150k is the trade off for not having to have done major engine work at 100k.
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MAKG1 said:
For a modern vehicle, that figure is closer to 250K, unless you do something out of spec like drive with severely low oil or continue while overheating.
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I was wondering the same thing. My 14 year old Jeep Wrangler has about 186,000 miles on it and the engine is running fine.

flyingcheesehead said:
They kinda look like they were rear-ended at the factory. :rofl:
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Amen to that.
 
Buy a Ford Cmax. Mine's good for 8 yrs! Of course my MPG is not even close to advertised but that's a different story. :)
 
In case anyone's interested... I just purchased a 2004 Civic Hybrid whose gas engine has failed. Car is very nice otherwise. All parts except the engine now available. Nationwide shipping available.
 
Henning said:
It bounces regardless the direction of impact. I call Smart engineering 'ping pong ball safety', and it works interestingly enough. They make a sports model reminiscent of a Lotus as well that hasn't made it to the US market yet.
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My friend who is stationed in Kaiserslauten Germany has one. He says he gets over 50 MPH on the autobahn with the top down and his ***** in the right seat. (She's a sweet girl even tough she's missing a leg...)



2ynj6lx.jpg
 
Marauder said:
Pretty funny! But you did come to an aviation website to ask a car question. ;) my brother-in-law was told by Toyota that the batteries are not user changeable because of product liability. I don't know if that is true but the best way is to see if you can buy the batteries as an end consumer. If you can, then it may something you can tackle.

I doubt it is a complicated process but do wonder if special processes are required (like deactivating a main breaker to do the changeover).
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Unless the batteries have in internal cutoff switch that stays with the battery when it's removed from the car (unlikely), deactivating a main breaker isn't going to help much, you'll still be working with something live that can shock and/or make things really hot if you screw up.

More likely is that the batteries have some kind of disconnection method that separates both leads at the same time like some of the higher end aircraft batteries.
 
I've seen videos on YouTube showing how to replace the battery. I believe there is a main "breaker" of some kind. The issue is that you still can short the leads and it's easy to wire it backwards.
 
I wish I could break myself of connecting things backwards - and I'm even an electrical engineer! :redface:
 
JHW said:
you'll be happy to know that my vw diesel averaging 53mpg just turned over 320k miles and has no issues
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Indeed

Good engineering beats trinkets and whizbang BS all day.

Ever watch the topgear episode on the electric cars.

A vette gets near 30mpg on the freeway, is easily repaired or upgraded, makes over 400hp, near 200mph car and about the same price as a useless volt.
 
I think we discovered earlier that he DID have issues, he just fixed them himself. I did that with several old Beetles, but I couldn't find the time to keep a jetta up properly.

BTW, the engineering on the prius is pretty top notch too. It's a different kind of engineering.
 
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