Recent Comments:
What is CAFE? {Autoblog Green}
Oct 13th 2009 5:42AM Also see my post 35 at http://green.autoblog.com/2007/12/18/what-cars-can-we-get-today-with-35-mpg/2 for an example of where to get unrounded/unfudged EPA dyno numbers (that are used for CAFE purposes).
What is CAFE? {Autoblog Green}
Oct 13th 2009 5:40AM It's even worse than why not the LS2LS7 states. The CAFE numbers are based on old EPA method numbers w/o the downward adjustment (10% for city and 22% for highway from the test) before it went onto your pre model year 08 sticker.
When the standard was upped to "35 mpg", it meant ~26 mpg combined on the current sticker. With the "27.5 mpg" standard, it meant 21 mpg combined on the sticker.
See http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2009/05/when-cafe-meets-epa-a-tale-of-two-fuel-economy-standards.html
http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2007/12/fuel-economy-doublespeak-at-its-best.html and my comments at the bottom of http://blogs.edmunds.com/strategies/2007/12/higher-fuel-economy-standards-are-coming-sort-of.html.
My 06 Prius counts as having "65.7 mpg" combined for CAFE purposes. Do I achieve 65.7 mpg? Hell no. I'd need to really hypermile and have an ideal commute for that.
Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.5 update guide: no, no, maybe {Engadget Mobile}
Oct 7th 2009 3:21AM Rojo: "You can't load the latest and greatest OS on the original iPhone can you? No."
BZZZ!!! WRONG! You can.
See the P1 footnote of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_OS_version_history#3.x:_Third_major_release_of_the_iPhone_OS for 3.1 and the remarks at http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/.
Some features aren't available on the 1st gen iPhone due to hardware reasons such as A2DP (stereo Bluetooth) since the hardware couldn't do it. However, Apple did omit some features on the 2nd gen (iPhone 3G), like video even though it wasn't a hardware limitation. Some were probably left off due to RAM limitations since the 3GS has more RAM the 1st and 2nd gen.
Engadget's back to school giveaway, part one! {Engadget}
Sep 3rd 2009 5:13AM Pick me!
What's up with natural gas vehicles? {Autoblog Green}
Jul 31st 2009 6:02AM Besides there not being many places fill up, I didn't realize they apparently can be quite slow to fill up until I stumbled across some postings on Edmunds one day. See http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/Vehicles/2007HondaCivicGX/, esp. http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/07/2009-honda-civic-gx-an-afternoon-at-the-pump.html and http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/06/2007-honda-civic-gx-20-minutes-and-still-not-full.html.
I also didn't realize that the home filling station called Phill is quite pricey and later went into limbo state. When the company was viable, it was $3000. Unfortunately, I can only post 3 URLs so you'll want to look back at their posts from early 2008.
iPhone 3GS prototype scooped up at airport, now on eBay {Engadget Mobile}
Jul 4th 2009 8:43PM Let's see how long it is before Apple legal forces the seller to remove it.
Consumer Reports blasts Honda Insight, ranked 21 of 22 tested {Autoblog Green}
Jul 1st 2009 4:40AM win39: I'm pretty sure Car and Driver made a mistake and had their noise figures for the 2010 Prius and Insight swapped. I think that they'll be publishing a correction soon.
It makes no sense that the Prius was louder in all 3 measures: idle, full throttle and 70-mph cruise when they said it was "quiet" under the highs section. For the Insight they (under lows) said "road noise" and "thrashy when thrashed".
Consumer Reports blasts Honda Insight, ranked 21 of 22 tested {Autoblog Green}
Jul 1st 2009 2:14AM Darn Autoblog stripped off almost of my post. :( To continue:
The previous gen Insight had under 75 net hp w/a 3 cylinder engine, sat 2, looked funny, weighed less than 1900 lbs. sold very poorly and was killed. CR in their testing got 36/66, 51 mpg overall.
The 2010 Insight seats 5, weighs almost 900 lbs more, has more power and Honda aimed for low cost.
Harlikan: The Tesla Roadster isn't a hybrid and is $100K+. The Honda Accord Hybrid was a performance hybrid. It was faster than the V6 version and had better mileage than the 4. Problem was that it cost too much and the fuel economy numbers didn't look very good. It sold very poorly as well and got killed.
The Altima Hybrid is the closest we have to an affordable almost performance hybrid.
Want to see evidence of how poorly performance hybrids sell? See http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS180093+02-Jun-2009+PRN20090602 and look how many Lexus hybrids were sold.
Consumer Reports blasts Honda Insight, ranked 21 of 22 tested {Autoblog Green}
Jul 1st 2009 2:07AM jpm: Well, the previous gen Insight had a 3 cylinder engine and had
Consumer Reports blasts Honda Insight, ranked 21 of 22 tested {Autoblog Green}
Jun 30th 2009 1:41PM (2006 Prius owner here.)
I'm not sure what you mean by "why not stick with the Civic which gets better MPG then this". CR got 38 mpg overall (29 city/45 highway) in their testing of the 2010 Insight from looking at the print version. The Civic Hybrid (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/buying-advice/most-fuelefficient-cars-206/) got 26 city/47 highway, 37 mpg overall. The non-hybrid Civic didn't even make it on the list.
When CR tested an automatic Civic non-hybrid, they got 18 city/43 highway, 28 overall. Manual got 22/40, 31 overall. How does the Civic have better mileage?
As for "just over $1000 cheaper than the Prius)", well the Insight LX starts at $19800 before dest. charge. The only currently available 2010 Prius (model II) starts at $22000, which makes it $2200 more.
