LTB51

If they are selling all they can make (as they claim), then it must be a supply issue. Replaced by Yaris. Good riddance.

Fusion is showing the up 500 badly. I already see more fusions than 500s on the road. No surprise, as the 500 is pretty unremarkable. Explorer imploded.

I'm not sure. The actual unit still looks fairly complicated. From the documentation and the initial applications it looks like it may be more appropriate for heavier vehicles than the Toyota system. What is interesting is the ease with which it could be deployed into non-hybrid vehicles (assuming they get a FWD capable version out) including diesels. I don't see it written explicitly anywhere, but the documentation seems to imply that it uses the gas engine to charge the batteries instead of regenerative braking. It will be interesting to see how it compares....

With the car you own and the experiences you've had, I can't believe you would post on this. Guess what the failure rate would have to be on all the components that you've had go in order to make it statistically probable? You should view a 0.5% rate of failure as a completely unatainable success rate.

Perhaps it is a statement to how reliable Toyotas are that even something as minor as this needs to get so much attention. On the other hand, some think Toyota is full of it in regards to how many vehicles are being affected.

Haven't you read the reports? Import buyers are more educated.

Except that BMW and DCX are in the unreliable camp when it comes to quality. Still, the more people in the hybrid game the better.

It is an important launch for them, and I imagine most everyone affected is kicking up quite a fuss.

What company do you think he/she works for?

Aura is only exciting because it isn't out yet. Once it is out it will most likely be lost in a sea of product which is just as good or better. Same thing that happened to Cobalt.

Dell is hardly responsive anymore. Their customer service has gone down the drain and they have started backing away from on-line support forums and the like. Plus they sell product with inferior Intel CPUs only.

Ford had a wiper recall a little while back. I believe it was a fire hazard.

But do you have any good reasons?

You forgot to mention that long-haul truckers shouldn't use a prius to haul livestock. Unbelievable. Yes, you are right, a large portionof people (the majority?) should buy a hybrid. Thanks for pointing that out. PS. They never even made it into the city. There was some highway driving. Their average speed was much higher than my average speed (I am all city driving). The test could have favoured the hybrids even more.

Kind of reminds me of a certain leaking gasket causing engine failure that GM is not recalling. It is too bad that such things happen, but they really don't create an equal level between Toyota/Honda and Ford/GM in terms of the number of recalls.

I posted something similar on the accord hybrid thread, but I think it applies here as well: The misinformation and guess work about hybrids is amazing. It would be so easy to run a test to verify what the reality is, but who has actually tried? This is the best (and I think only) I have seen so far where they actually compare hybrids to non-hybrids (although I wish they had thrown a 300C in as well :AH-HA_wink:): http://www.drivingtelevision.com/segmentvi...e=312&segment=2 They follow a course of ~200KM of mixed driving around Vancouver. They attempt to go from the suburbs into downtown Vancouver and back, but the bridge to go downtown is closed so they never make it right downtown. Here are the numbers they came up with: 4cyl Accord Auto 12.0L/100KM Escape 4Cyl Auto 10.7L/100KM Hybrid Accord Auto 9.1L/100KM 4cyl Camry Auto 8.9L/100KM Hybrid Escape CVT 7.5L/100KM VW Jetta TDI Turbo Diesel, Manual 6.8L/100KM Prius 5.2L/100KM (54MPG) The point is that the 4cyl Camry (which is no gas guzzler) gets ~75% worse fuel economy than the Prius. I don't care what the EPA rates it, or what your best-friend's-sister got on a 2 mile stretch on the highway in their Iroc-Z, I don't care that it is going to take 6 years at today's oil prices to break even; those are damn impressive numbers. In terms of the improvement made in fuel economy for cars for the past two decades, they are astronomical. And if someone has bought a hybrid regardless of the cost, because they care about using less fuel, either for the environment or so that their son or daughter or husband doesn't have to go to Iraq to fight, then I'd say good for them. Why do some people feel it appropriate to make fun of them?

The misinformation and guess work about hybrids is amazing. It is so easy to run a test to verify the reality, but who has actually tried? This is the best I have seen so far: http://www.drivingtelevision.com/segmentvi...e=312&segment=2 They follow a course of ~200KM of mixed driving around Vancouver. They attempt to go from the suburbs into downtown Vancouver and back, but the bridge to go downtown is closed so they never make it right downtown. 4cyl Accord Auto 12.0L/100KM Escape 4Cyl Auto 10.7L/100KM Hybrid Accord 9.1L/100KM 4cyl Camry Auto 8.9L/100KM Hybrid Escape CVT 7.5L/100KM VW Jetta TDI Turbo Diesel, Manual 6.8L/100KM Prius 5.2L/100KM (54MPG) Note that the V6 Accord Hybrid uses about the same amount of fuel as a 4cyl accord. Accord Hybrid sales aren't doing well (down about 50% YTD, YOY), but it is an interesting proposition to get 4cyl Camry fuel economy with V6+ performance. I have a 2004 TL 6SPD, and it sounds like I drive in similar conditions to this test, and I average 11.32 L/100KM. I get ~25% worse fuel economy and only marginally more performance (the accord hybrid would likely be faster than the TL if it had a standard).

So few cars have real wood....

I believe the top part of the center dash is from the Malibu. Plus that steering wheel needs to go or be altered.

Well it is a computer generated picture, isn't it?

As a general rule that probably applies to all automakers. But it isn't really possible as recalls are often forced. Even the recalls that aren't forced are more than likely done because they are going to be forced, or to try to mitigate legal liability. Ford has had 9 times the number of recalls/year over the past ~15 years as Toyota. Chevy anout 6 times as many as Toyota. Things have gotten better recently for the domestics, but we have to be fair and realistic. We wouldn't say that Ford and Chevy are doing better because they are covering things up.

Don't let it out that hybrids offer very good fuel economy. It might upset some people that have bought the "We're not in the game so the game is bad" line from GM, Nissan, etc. I'll save someone the effort and state the obvious but irrelevant point, "But they get nowhere near their EPA estimates!" and the old stand by, "That's nothing. I once had a 1980s IROC-Z that got 55 MPG one time on the highway for a stretch of 25 miles."

He thinks his G6 with half a dozen problems in the first year is a model of reliability instead of the lemon that it is. His view of reality seems a little "different". Would the current one be any more competitive? Fuel economy doesn't seem up to par. I doubt the 0-60 or handling would be better than the Fit. Fit and finish won't be. Price is the only real advantage I can see, and I doubt that would win this competition (but it might win some buyers who just want the least expensive car they can find). One of the items that hasn't been commented on is the level of standard safety features on the Fit is going to change this whole segment.

Of course it did. Mine too. Actually I just heard the teaser which did not specify Lexus... just "A Japanese automaker". I won't bother ranting about how the media just smeared all Japanese automakers for no reason. FOG's insane ravings aside, the media gives equal opportunity to sensational news. Ford, GM, and Chrysler just have many more recalls that Toyota and Honda.

Only because the Cavalier was a dozen steps behind. Now that they are one step forward they are still 11 behind everyone else. The bar was set low and they managed to get over it. The interior/exterior design issue is subjective. I find the Civic interior to be much better than the Cobalt's (again, a low bar). The Civic interior is also much nicer than the Mazda3s (Mazda used plastic and controls only slightly less cheap than the Cobalt, but at least they packaged it a better). It is quirky, so it may not be for everyone.