On 2/25/04 12:18 AM, "Dyna Sluyter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> BTW, the clever computer that does this costs $5,000, and the battery pack is > another $5,000. Thusly when the battery dies after 8 years or so it pretty > much prematurely sends a hybrid car to the junkyard. Some of the Honda > hybrids aren't even making it that far, with Honda forced to buy them > back under lemon laws. This is horsepucky. I've been following the development of the Prius and other hybrids for several years now and have not heard of a single instance where batteries have failed prematurely and Consumer Reports has given them great ratings. Even if there were a rare occurrence of such a thing, the Prius' hybrid-related components, including the battery are covered for 8 years/100,000 miles by a special extended warranty that goes beyond the basic 3 years/36,000 miles for Toyota vehicles. Honda's is 8 years/80,000 miles. So someone could just get the failed battery replaced if it actually became a problem. > I was hoping the Prius would be gone by now- Toyota was practically > giving away leases on them to public officials. This may explain the > multitude of year old Priuses on Toyota dealer's lots, along with > perhaps the lemon law buybacks. Hopefully R.T. won't have us buy it at > the end of the lease- for the residual and the price of either of the > two major hybrid components we could buy him a new car that runs on > renewables. What lemon law buybacks? I challenge Dyna to provide real examples that this is occurring since I would think this would be a pretty major news item if it were actually true. From what I've read, if there even are a lot of year-old Prii (not Priuses) on dealer lots, it's because people have been trading in for the new 2004 model that's even better than the initial one. As for Dyna's silly assertion about giveaways, the reality is that sales of the Prius have been increasing substantially every year and there is currently a shortage of the 2004 model at the dealerships because there's so much interest. I'm proud that our mayor chose a Prius as his primary vehicle. It's certainly more appropriate than the gas-guzzling Lincoln (Continental, if I recall correctly) that his predecessor used to ride around in. Or the Navigator that our esteemed governor gets driven around in. My hope is that Minneapolis will continue to add hybrids to its' fleet. They save a lot of taxpayer dollars on fuel use and even more on reducing urban emissions. Especially the Prius, since it's engine design allows for better gas mileage on city streets than on freeways. Mark Snyder Windom Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
