Bingo. Aside from the emissions controls, those early cars were terrible little rattle traps by today’s standards. Very very minimalistic. If you put them on a lot and had the average consumer now test drive them alongside current cars and hardly any would sell. A crx had a curb weight of 1800, a 2011 civic coupe weighs almost 2600. And 76 hp vs. 140 hp.
Meanwhile the advancements in engine efficiency have been pretty amazing since then to keep gas mileage AND make lots of power, comparatively. I wonder what kind of mileage you could get with modern engine & transmission technology shoehorned into the spartan vehicles of yesteryear?
I’m calling bullshit on your price difference, then. Something else is in that equation you’re not talking about.
1000 pounds of batteries plus a second drive system cost more than $2000.
Plus there is the fact that you and your wife are driving around a toxic waste dump.
Plus there is the fact that the cost of gasoline STILL doesn’t come close to covering the additional $10-12k your precious hybrid REALLY costs. You know how long you will have to drive it to make up that difference? The answer is probably longer than the operational life of the vehicle.
Plus there is the fact that when your batteries no longer charge, the depreciatioin on that car will kill you. You basically have to keep buying a new car every few years, which also has a huge ecological impact.
Now, where hybrids really work is in very large vehicles, like trains and heavy trucks, where the additional weight and complexity of hybrid technology has less impact on the various costs associated with hybrid technology.
We had our Passat in to get the A/C fixed yesterday and today and they gave us a loaner Jetta TDI (2011 – new Jetta).
It drove really nice and gets really good gas mileage. That is the way I spell “green”
The TDI clean diesel emissions are really pretty much non existent and they accelerate pretty well due to the higher diesel torque and the transmission they put in them.
This had the DSG “automatic”. Would like to drive a standard transmission TDI one of these days.
those are the car if you want mileage and the torque makes them a nice driver
I dont commute etc… but love to travel and camp etc… keep thinking of getting a station wagon I know many with a load and cruising can get 40 or more on the HWY pretty easy
better than my 12 I get now in my 4x4
i like these… the drivetrain is just metal things. no batteries. 260 hp, 450 ft lbs of torque, 37 mpg highway. it’s a twin turbo I6 diesel…
i really think diesel is the answer to a lot of the whole energy situation. it’s fairly insensitive to fuel, (can run diesel biodiesel, Veggie oil, ATF, JP8, various mixtures of the above) 30% more efficient than a gas engine, great power, long life, reliable… good stuff… luckily the EPA has protected us from most of the highly efficient fun to drive diesels the euros get :rolleyes:
the name is about it and rough shape 
