New hybrids on the way from BMW, Toyota
The FT-HS concept shows what a Toyota hybrid sports car might look like.
(Credit: CNET)News circulated on the Internet today about a new hybrid Toyota sports car and a hybrid BMW sedan. Spy photos show the BMW 755ih, a hybrid version of the 7-series, driving the streets of Munich. The car uses the 750i's twin turbo 4.4-liter V-8 complemented by a small 20 horsepower electric motor. BMWBlog says the hybrid system reduces the V-8's fuel consumption by 15 percent. The 755ih should be unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show.
The egmCarTech blog reports that Toyota is working on a hybrid sports car to be released in 2011. Over the past couple of years, Toyota has gone back and forth about this hybrid sports car project, showing the FT-HS concept at auto shows then claiming to halt plans for any performance-oriented car, but the latest reports suggest reviving the Supra as a hybrid. This car would use Toyota's 3.5-liter V-6 along with its Synergy hybrid system to put down 400 horsepower.
(Source: BMWBlog and egmCarTech)
The 0-60 and 1/4 mile numbers should be shockingly awesome.
What about 400 miles to the gallon... Now there's something to work toward!
Driving is an enjoyment and the NON-ELECTRIC, powerful engine adds to the experience.
Time to face the facts, We will not buy a car we do not enjoy driving. Ask Goverment Motors
50MPG is great, if you can do it without turning the car into a Chevette or Omni that is no fun what so ever to drive.
Cheap is even better, if you can do it without using the cheapest plastic's (GM) so the car doesn?t fall apart before the car is even a few years old. Or reuse the same generic styling (Chrysler) Or simply get too greedy (All of them) and more importantly we do not need three or more different rebadged versions of the same car (Again all of them)
For some people, a sense of excitement is what we want, for others it?s the capacity to pack the 2 more kids they choose to have, for others still its being able to get to school and work for two weeks on a tank of gas and the lowest possible price.
The auto is not basic transportation, it is an extension, part of who we are, we spend large amounts of our life in them, there is no real alternative and for some of us it?s really more a lifestyle. Just ask the aftermarket companies that make billions of dollars a year from us.
While your mileage may very,
Remember this before you turn your nose up at the next Hot Rod / Tuner / Muscle car while you drive Prius that runs mostly off its normal gas engine and is more of a ?Look at me, I?m a good person, I care car? than it provides any real benefit. (The batteries alone do massive amounts of damage to the environment.
In most cases our cars get rebuilt and lovingly cared for not driven into the ground nor scrapped after a family of four has trashed it after only 60,000 miles. It is way more common for your Focus or Cobalt to be driving with bad O2 sensors, fouled plugs, and over due oil and doing the environment way more damage, than say my old Trans Am or Rx-7 that I worked on every weekend. Some of these cars are only being driven on the weekends of the summer months and maybe see 5,000 miles a year.
While that ?family vehicle? travels on the roads (15,000+ miles) taking someone to work and back every day, picks the kids up from school, takes them to football, soccer, dance, pta, and in general transports that family to hell and back.
All Electric! It's VERY FAST, must be awesome to drive, and it uses NO GAS!
I'm wondering how long it will take for an all electric car to compete in the Indy 500? ;-)
MILLIONS of people will buy one and travel in them and live in them.
Make them like the Eurovan with poptop roof for sleeping, add a refrigerator, sink, bed in back (DUH)
Maybe you could add power assist takeoff?
PLEASE LISTEN
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by tipoo_
June 23, 2009 10:57 AM PDT
- The FT-HS looks nice.
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