YARP (Yet Another Prius Recall)

In article >,
Scott en Aztl?n > wrote:

> This time it's an engine part.
>
> Sucks to be a Prius owner - first you paid too much, and now your car
> is in the shop all the time.

I know a Prius owner who's on his second car. He bought the original
Prius and he was thrilled with it, right up until he totalled it last
spring. Now he's driving a new model Prius and he told me he's thrilled
with it too. This is an older guy who's a retired chemistry teacher and
he's got to be one of the most complaining people I have ever met, he
complains about everything and anything ... except his Prius which he
can't say enough good about.

As soon as my '98 Plymouth dies on me, I plan to buy a Prius too.

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> Shawn Hirn > said in rec.autos.driving:
>
>
>>As soon as my '98 Plymouth dies on me, I plan to buy a Prius too.
>
>
> Why buy a Prius as opposed to, say, a Yaris?
>
> It isn't to save money on fuel costs, that much has been conclusively
> proven. Are you simply a gadget freak? Or do you want one because they
> are trendy right now? Or maybe you want to drive solo in the carpool
> lane?
>
> Speaking of the latter, one day the government will wise up and start
> selling those carpool lane "solo driver OK" stickers to anyone who is
> willing to pay, say, $5000 for a set. Right now you can get them by
> paying $5000 extra for a hybrid (over and above the cost of the
> straight-gasoline-powered equivalent), but the government never sees
> that money - the car manufacturers get it. The government could get
> that $5000 for itself simply by allowing people to buy a Honda Civic
> and paying the $5000 to the government for a set of those yellow
> stickers.
>
> Watch for it to start happening RSN (Real Soon Now).

Is the Yaris even available in the US?

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

In article >,
Scott en Aztl?n > wrote:

> Shawn Hirn > said in rec.autos.driving:
>
> >As soon as my '98 Plymouth dies on me, I plan to buy a Prius too.
>
> Why buy a Prius as opposed to, say, a Yaris?
>
> It isn't to save money on fuel costs, that much has been conclusively
> proven. Are you simply a gadget freak? Or do you want one because they
> are trendy right now? Or maybe you want to drive solo in the carpool
> lane?
>
> Speaking of the latter, one day the government will wise up and start
> selling those carpool lane "solo driver OK" stickers to anyone who is
> willing to pay, say, $5000 for a set. Right now you can get them by
> paying $5000 extra for a hybrid (over and above the cost of the
> straight-gasoline-powered equivalent), but the government never sees
> that money - the car manufacturers get it. The government could get
> that $5000 for itself simply by allowing people to buy a Honda Civic
> and paying the $5000 to the government for a set of those yellow
> stickers.
>
> Watch for it to start happening RSN (Real Soon Now).

I have no clue what a Yaris is. I want a Prius for several reasons, some
of which you mentioned. I am absolutely a gadget freak. Considering that
there are no carpool lanes in my area and my commute to/from work is
only about 20 minutes, even in heavy traffic, the idea of being able to
drive solo in a carpool lane is not one of those reasons. I also want a
low emissions vehicle, but I have to admit that the top reason I want a
Prius is because I like the way that car looks; its very futuristic.

In article >,
Scott en Aztl?n > wrote:

> http://www.toyota.com/yaris/index.ht...TN_YARIS_INDEX

This Yaris looks very interesting, but it might be too small for my
needs. When the Toyota dealers in my area have them in stock, I will
check them out.

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:39:14 -0700, Scott en Aztlán
> wrote:

>Shawn Hirn > said in rec.autos.driving:
>
>>As soon as my '98 Plymouth dies on me, I plan to buy a Prius too.
>
>Why buy a Prius as opposed to, say, a Yaris?
>
>It isn't to save money on fuel costs, that much has been conclusively
>proven. Are you simply a gadget freak? Or do you want one because they
>are trendy right now? Or maybe you want to drive solo in the carpool
>lane?
>
>Speaking of the latter, one day the government will wise up and start
>selling those carpool lane "solo driver OK" stickers to anyone who is
>willing to pay, say, $5000 for a set. Right now you can get them by
>paying $5000 extra for a hybrid (over and above the cost of the
>straight-gasoline-powered equivalent), but the government never sees
>that money - the car manufacturers get it. The government could get
>that $5000 for itself simply by allowing people to buy a Honda Civic
>and paying the $5000 to the government for a set of those yellow
>stickers.
>
>Watch for it to start happening RSN (Real Soon Now).

Isn't it already happening?
I seem to recall some roads use some sort of EZ-Pass thingy that lets
those who pay for it the right to use seperate lanes.
--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> Shawn Hirn > said in rec.autos.driving:
>
> >As soon as my '98 Plymouth dies on me, I plan to buy a Prius too.
>
> Why buy a Prius as opposed to, say, a Yaris?
>
> It isn't to save money on fuel costs, that much has been conclusively
> proven. Are you simply a gadget freak? Or do you want one because they
> are trendy right now? Or maybe you want to drive solo in the carpool
> lane?
>
> Speaking of the latter, one day the government will wise up and start
> selling those carpool lane "solo driver OK" stickers to anyone who is
> willing to pay, say, $5000 for a set. Right now you can get them by
> paying $5000 extra for a hybrid (over and above the cost of the
> straight-gasoline-powered equivalent), but the government never sees
> that money - the car manufacturers get it. The government could get
> that $5000 for itself simply by allowing people to buy a Honda Civic
> and paying the $5000 to the government for a set of those yellow
> stickers.
>
> Watch for it to start happening RSN (Real Soon Now).
> --
> I'm a wreckless driver and damn proud of it!

'Ya know? This is a good point. The only reason I'd be interested in
a Prius is because of the fuel economy. But you have to temper that
with the ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS cost of some of the repairs (at least
that I've read about). I've driven a colleagues Prius. It's a 2 year
old model and I have to say, it's nice. It gets good mileage. I

n the end, the lifetime cost of hybrids does appear to be higher.

If there is a regular old gas powered vehicle that has lower cost of
repairs and gets close, as good, or better mileage, I'll definately go
for that over a Prius. I think the Prius and hybrid's (or all electric
vehicles) in general have some good potentional, though I've heard
others describe them as not even good as a band-aid technology.

Charles R. Whealton
Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com

On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 00:37:02 -0400, Shawn Hirn >
wrote:

>
>I have no clue what a Yaris is. I want a Prius for several reasons, some
>of which you mentioned. I am absolutely a gadget freak. Considering that
>there are no carpool lanes in my area and my commute to/from work is
>only about 20 minutes, even in heavy traffic, the idea of being able to
>drive solo in a carpool lane is not one of those reasons. I also want a
>low emissions vehicle, but I have to admit that the top reason I want a
>Prius is because I like the way that car looks; its very futuristic.

A lot of people buy their vehicles for the same reason: the way it
looks.
Myself, I buy a vehicle based on how well it serves our needs. But
that's me. :-)
I have a friend who recently traded in a fairly new vehicle (not yet
paid for) for a Dodge Magnum (yeah, it's got a Hemi!). And he is quite
up front about buying it more for the way it looks, and how it makes
him feel, than for any practicality.

I'm not trying to say there's anything wrong with that, but I do know
the auto manufacturers are aware of such people, and are aware that
these people will pay extra to feel good about themselves. (And I also
know these same mfgrs do the same for SUVs, of which we have two; not
because they are big, or look badass (the newer one replaced a 13-year
old Explorer; it ceased looking badass many years ago, and the other
one is 7 years old, and also doesn't look badass at all), but because
they best fit our needs.) I do wish they got better mileage will
filling those needs, though. The bigger one sits in the driveway a
lot, while toe smaller one is driven around town by both of us to save
on gas.
Excuse my going on...
--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 10:58:31 -0700, Scott en Aztlán
> wrote:

>Bill Funk > said in rec.autos.driving:
>
>>Isn't it already happening?
>>I seem to recall some roads use some sort of EZ-Pass thingy that lets
>>those who pay for it the right to use seperate lanes.
>
>Yes, they do that in San Diego on the I-15 Expess Lanes.
>
>There are also some express lanes along the 91 freeway, but these
>aren't carpool lanes per se - they are really a separate toll road
>that parallels the freeway (although they just recently began allowing
>vehicles with 3 or more occupants to drive toll-free during certain
>times, you still need a FasTrak transponder).
>
>So I guess my prediction was correct!

See, you're psychotic!
Or is that psychic?
Oh well...
:-)
--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

On 22 Jul 2006 14:07:58 -0700, "Chuck Whealton"
> wrote:

>
>Scott en Aztlán wrote:
>> Shawn Hirn > said in rec.autos.driving:
>>
>> >As soon as my '98 Plymouth dies on me, I plan to buy a Prius too.
>>
>> Why buy a Prius as opposed to, say, a Yaris?
>>
>> It isn't to save money on fuel costs, that much has been conclusively
>> proven. Are you simply a gadget freak? Or do you want one because they
>> are trendy right now? Or maybe you want to drive solo in the carpool
>> lane?
>>
>> Speaking of the latter, one day the government will wise up and start
>> selling those carpool lane "solo driver OK" stickers to anyone who is
>> willing to pay, say, $5000 for a set. Right now you can get them by
>> paying $5000 extra for a hybrid (over and above the cost of the
>> straight-gasoline-powered equivalent), but the government never sees
>> that money - the car manufacturers get it. The government could get
>> that $5000 for itself simply by allowing people to buy a Honda Civic
>> and paying the $5000 to the government for a set of those yellow
>> stickers.
>>
>> Watch for it to start happening RSN (Real Soon Now).
>> --
>> I'm a wreckless driver and damn proud of it!
>
>'Ya know? This is a good point. The only reason I'd be interested in
>a Prius is because of the fuel economy. But you have to temper that
>with the ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS cost of some of the repairs (at least
>that I've read about). I've driven a colleagues Prius. It's a 2 year
>old model and I have to say, it's nice. It gets good mileage. I
>
>n the end, the lifetime cost of hybrids does appear to be higher.
>
>If there is a regular old gas powered vehicle that has lower cost of
>repairs and gets close, as good, or better mileage, I'll definately go
>for that over a Prius. I think the Prius and hybrid's (or all electric
>vehicles) in general have some good potentional, though I've heard
>others describe them as not even good as a band-aid technology.
>
>Charles R. Whealton
>Charles Whealton @ pleasedontspam.com

There's another problem with electric vehicles (not so much with
hybrids, per se). The electric distribution infrastructure in most
cities won't handle the load of a lot (as foreseen and desired by many
groups) of such cars pluging in.
I'm hearing reports that LA is having serious problems with some parts
of their electric infrastructure failing under the loads being
incurred by the extra AC units added over the last decade (with no
improvement of the delivery system) in the current heat wave.
The addition of electric cars will not be handled by the current
infrastucture, but I've seen no answer put forward to this problem.
Here in Phoenix, APS and SRP say there's no problem with the amount of
power available, and the figures they give show a few percent of
leeway; I have my doubts about this being enough if electric cars were
to catch on. This doesn't include the infracture for delivering that
power to the users; we've had several transformers blow recently
because of the strain the heat wave is putting on the throughput
needed.
The costs of electric cars won't just be the cars.
--
Bill Funk
replace "g" with "a"

Scott en Aztlán wrote:
> Nate Nagel > said in rec.autos.driving:
>
> >Is the Yaris even available in the US?
>
> Yar, is.
>
> http://www.toyota.com/yaris/index.ht...TN_YARIS_INDEX
> --
> I'm a wreckless driver and damn proud of it!

I can honestly say that I've never seen one of these, never seen an ad
for one, and had only heard of it by seeing it discussed on newsgroups
by foreign posters. I'm guessing they're not selling too well, athough
I'm not sure why. I mean, it's butt ugly, but it's cheap and it's a
Toyota, and people seem to love butt ugly Toyotas anyway.

Heck, my GF's roommate has an Echo and loves it, although I'm not sure
why. "paid for" might be one reason, and "reliable" another... I
guess she just looks for different things in a car than I do...

nate