Hybrid or Highbred

I’m going back on my word – won’t be covering some of the least and most polluting cars in this post like I said I would in my earlier post. I’ll leave it for my next post.

Moving on, many men are interested in engine fittings, specifications, car performance and that sort of thing. But even professional mechanics or men with such a bent might find it difficult to get their head around the super-complex engines of today.Challenges present themselves in the form of electronic monitoring of emission systems and engine adjustment for optimum performance under different operating conditions. I know there’s nothing refreshingly original about what I’ve said. It’s just one of those things.

Anyway! I mentioned how people would have to take to hybrid cars on a global scale for any significant change to be notably felt? But very often, hybrids prices are on the expensive side when contrasted with their conventional counterparts. This will certainly have people debating whether forking out more green for a greener car is really worth it.

Under the Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency went on record to name polluting and non-polluting cars. In the non-polluting category it named cars from the luxury as well as non-luxury segments. Hybrid cars fared well in both categories. The Lexus hybrids took the top three spots in the luxury category. These cars were supposed to be really low on pollution. But they came at a price. Interestingly, the prohibitive price tag did not deter as many as a little over thousand buyers in the U.S. - affluent beyond a shadow of doubt – who purchased the $104,000 Lexus LS 600h L sedan in 2007. This Lexus bagged third place on the list of least polluting cars. The first and second places were also awarded to Lexus hybrid models RX400h SUV and the GS 450h sedan. In the hybrid class of vehicles, the Lexus LS 600h L is probably the priciest. There was another important detail about this sedan that did not go unnoticed – once people learned that in terms of average this baby gave only 2 kms more per gallon than the conventionally powered LS 460, suddenly its powerful V8 engine and electric-motor powertrain didn’t have people waxing lyrical about this car, much less regarding it as the ideal eco-friendly car.

Lexus’ competitors appear to have earmarked 2009 as the year that shall see luxury brands like Audi, BMW (already on the road), Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz (already on the road), and Porsche unveil their hybrid sedans too. Maybe that’s why the Lexus hybrids took the top three spots because of absence of any competition. Tee hee :) Other contenders but outside the hybrid class were four and five cylinder engine luxury cars like the Audi TT that placed fourth, the Volvo S40 that ranked seventh, and the BMW 128i at eight place. However the Volvo S40 and BMW 128i has to share their position - BMW 128i tying with its cousin, the rear drive BMW 328i.

Gauging by the number of hybrid cars on the market today, one estimate puts the total number of hybrid cars on the road in the U.S. by 2012 at 1 million. According to another estimate, customers are sure to experience feeling spoiled for choice with an expected 80 models of hybrid cars that they will have to choose from – SUVs to pickup trucks and whatever else in between.

In the non-luxury segment small hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid were the show stoppers topping the list of least polluting cars for 2008. Toyota Prius has retained its mantle of renown in the new year as well. Hybrid SUVs like the Ford Escape and Toyota highlander placed fourth and fifth respectively.

I’ll close here. More later