Toyota Prius Hybrid
The 2010 Toyota Prius is one of the best hybrid automobiles I’ve ever had the opportunity to own. I bought this car in the summer of 2009 for $21,000. I traded in my 2002 Toyota Camry to get better fuel efficiency.
This hybrid gets around 50 miles per gallon, which has saved me tremendous amounts of gasoline, and money. The reason I selected the Hybrid Prius over other Hybrids was because of the price. Other Hybrid vehicles on the market were consistently more expensive than the Prius. Paying $10,000 more for a vehicle just because it’s a hybrid didn’t make sense to me. The extra money would have eaten up my savings gained by better fuel efficiency.
The 2010 Prius Hybrid has better features than its predecessors. The 2010 model has a bigger engine, going from a 1.5 liter engine to 1.8 liter engine. Thus the car’s horsepower increased from 110 to 160, which increased the car’s 0-60 speed by a full second. I test drove a 2009 vs. a 2010 model and you could feel the acceleration difference.
Also the 2010 Prius Hybrid model was bigger than the 2009 model, four inches longer and 1 inch wider. That was important because I felt cramped in the 2009 model, and I’m only 5’ 3’. My husband at 5’ 11” felt there was definitely more leg room in the 2010 model.
From talking to the Toyota dealer, he stated that the car can get tremendous gas mileage, due to the hybrid engine, as well as keeping the vehicle as light and aerodynamic as possible. Also for my 2010 Prius Hybrid, I got features that non Hybrid car drivers enjoy. The 2010 Prius Hybrid comes with a moon roof and heated seats. The car comes with a solar panel, which helps run the car ventilation system!
The best feature of the car is that it comes with three driving modes, power EV, and economy. Power improves the car’s response time, economy reduces the throttle to save gas, and EV can trigger the car to run at low speeds (such as school zones) without using any gasoline! It is such a pleasure to drive a car that is better for the environment, while I don’t have to sacrifice features on standard cars.
The Hybrid Prius was the best decision I ever made. Hopefully within the next few years, more people will buy hybrids as well.
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History Of Hybrid Automobiles
Just where did hybrid automobiles get its start? Well, read on to find out. Hybrid cars are very popular for today’s car buyers, and there are many reasons why. But before you even think about choosing to buy a hybrid car, you might want to know a little bit about the history of a hybrid car first.
Surprisingly, hybrid cars were around even before gas-powered cars. Back in about the year 1665, a Jesuit priest by the name of Ferdinand Verbeist began plans for a certain type of vehicle. That vehicle would be very simple, nothing complex, or intricate. Simple was all he wanted. So Ferdinand planned out a car that would have four wheels and would run only on steam. It took about fifteen years of work for Ferdinand to go through with his plan. He labored to perfect his dream car. But no one knows if he ever finished because there is no evidence that his concept existed.
Then in 1769, a man by the name of Nicholas Cugnot developed a carriage that could be powered solely by steam. This carriage did in fact work, and it could go at six miles per hour. This project was great, but it was difficult to get the amount of steam needed that would allow the car to go any distance that was by any means significant.
A break thru in hybrid cars finally came when Robert Anderson developed an electric powered car in 1839. It was the first among its kind. The car was built in Scotland.
This electric car was a highly applauded innovation of its time. However, the only problem was that it was very difficult to recharge the car’s battery. Some pioneers came behind Anderson, but they too had a hard time getting the battery to recharge easily.
Finally in the year 1898 Porsche came out with an electric and fuel combustion engine that was the first of its time. The car was called the Lohner Electric Chaise, and it could go up to 40 miles just using batteries.
Soon pioneers combined both a gas and a battery powered engine to power what would become today’s hybrid car. And in 1999, Honda made a leap into the US market. It came out with the Insight. This was a lightweight two-door hybrid. Since then, hybrid cars have just been evolving and improving into what you see on the markets today. Hybrid cars aren’t just for people who are complex and want to combine battery and fuel power to get them where they need to go. Hybrid automobiles started out simple, and they are still simple today.
Now hybrid cars are becoming more and more popular as people understand them more. Hybrid cars in the 21st century saw a boom in sales when the Toyota Prius came out on the market. It was the first hybrid with four doors that was marketed in America.
Then, the Ford’s Escape hybrid became the very first SUV hybrid ever made. So there, you have it, the history of the hybrid, today’s modern car.
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Hybrid Automobiles
When you think about hybrid automobiles, you most likely think of the electricity-assisted/gas powered engine type of vehicles like the Toyota Prius. There are other types of hybrid automobiles that you might not be aware of. The plug-in hybrid car is another type that isn’t getting that much recognition in the hybrid world. Yes they’re trying to push the vehicles at the car shows, but that’s about where the cars should stay in my opinion.
When people think about the plug in type hybrid, they figure that the vehicle is great for the environment. The car doesn’t burn any fossil fuels and leave no pollution from it’s exhaust. As a matter of fact these types of hybrids are no better than the electric assisted ones when it come to the green house gases and the ozone layer.
Why do I say that a vehicle that doesn’t burn fuel and leaves any emissions would be as bad as one that does? The reason I say that is because of where the plug-in hybrid gets it’s power from. Think about it, the car needs to be plugged in every night to recharge it’s batteries. The electricity that the plug-in hybrid cars use to operate usually comes from coal-fired plants. So there really isn’t a difference between the two hybrids.
Of course there are still people out there that believe that the plug-in hybrids are better for the environment that the others. People who insist plug-in hybrid cars are better for the environment also say that plug-in hybrid cars don’t really need a lot of electricity to power them. They recharge their own batteries. So the need to plug into an external power source is minimal.
Either way you look at it, a hybrid vehicle is the way to go if you’re one of the million that want to save this planet. Hybrids are a better choice than going with the conventional type automobile, but don’t think that this will be the answer to it all. It’s definitely a start though.
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