[boot up]

I like driving small efficient 4 bangers. Some people like being involved by rowing their shifter, I like having enough power to keep me safe, but be reasonabley efficient and I actually have to drive the car, not just stomp my foot. I like a car to have some fun in it. Either driving a 2012 Impreza that can get 36mpg on average drives to trail heads, and is a blast to drive...but just doesn't have clearance. And just added a 2014 Forester 2.5L , which has gobs of clearance, fun to drive (not the Impreza go kart of course), and once broken in I should be able to squeeze 30 to 32mpg on average drives to trailheads. I am happy. Everyone at work seems to own BMW's. My subies are passé...

[tigermn]

[tigermn]

[DIYSteve]

All hybrid cars have plans for recycling batteries cuz there's valuable stuff in them. Thing is, there's not much data on it because NiMH batteries in Priuses, Insights, etc. are lasting way longer than anyone expected. Lots of reports of Priuses with 200,000+ miles on the original battery.

[boot up]

[DIYSteve]

Raise it up and you lose lots of aerodynamic efficiency, which is a BIG part of Prius's fuel efficiency.

[Backpacker Joe]

Four vehicles all diesel! Ill never buy a gasser again!

[nuclear_eggset]

[DIYSteve]

Subie AWD is mo betta than BMW AWD

[moonspots]

Was in Eugene last week, saw a Prius with a 5.7L HEMI emblem on it.

[sarbar]

I miss my bio Benz so much...but we couldn't put car seats in it, nor could we fit a family of 5 in it. So about 2 years ago we sold it to a good friend. He has made it into an amazing car. He is kid free though ;-) So at least someone is loving the great mileage! Him and his wiener doggie go all over in it!

[tigermn]

[Bedivere]

So how does my WRX fit into the typical Subie mindset? Yeah, it's got that great Subie AWD system and is literally the best vehicle I've ever owned for dealing with snow covered roads (including 4WD trucks) where the snow isn't more than 6" deep. But, it has poor ground clearance, made worse by putting 1" lowering springs on it last summer, and it doesn't get very good gas mileage unless you drive it like a total grandma, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a turbo'd engine with ~100 more HP than the non-turbo. I dunno. i kind of miss getting 38mpg from my Corolla but I don't miss all the things that car didn't have (like power, comfort, handling). Something like a hybrid Forester/RAV4/CRV/CX-5 seems like it would make a lot of sense. You'd think it would significantly boost mileage in around-town driving where those vehicles are the worst. Aerodynamics is kind of a non-issue for city mileage.

[marta]

11 Year old Honda Civic Hybrid (2003). Been getting me to most trail heads. I can't say that we necessarily get that much better mileage than low-end Civic (~42-45mpg). We currently have ~120,000k. We had to replace the battery about 6 months ago. I had absolutely no power going up hills the last year. My husband ordered a third party replacement battery from Bumblebee Batteries in Portland. There are great videos on Youtube on how to DIY replace the batteries in the Honda Civic. He had it done in about an hour. The hardest part was lifting the 70lb battery and taking out the backseat. There is $500 core deposit on the battery that is refunded when you ship back the old battery. They provide all material and arrange the shipping. Easy Peasy. Overall the experience was excellent. My only complaint at this time is I would like more cargo space for car camping. We load fully load the backseat and trunk on trips. I may also want to tow a small trailer in the future. I'll be looking at something like the Outback/Forester.

[tigermn]