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112 comments on Rita Old Comment Thread 2

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MikeCapone on September 22, 2005 - 10:37am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
"There is no gas.  I suspect that a lot of people are running out of gas on the freeway just idling,"

I guess that the people who drive a Prius (or most hybrids, actually) are happy about their purchase now since the car shuts off the engine when the car is stop and it can move along slowly in traffic on electric power alone (saving TONS of gas in situations like bumper to bumper traffic).

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BobMorris on September 22, 2005 - 11:36am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I've owned a Prius since they were first released in the US. 46 mpg in Los Angeles traffic. And yes, the gas engine shuts off automatically when the car stops.

It hold slightly less than 12 gallons, thus I can go 550 miles on a tank.

Toyota has said they expect all their cars will be hybrids within the next several years.

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Alligator24 on September 22, 2005 - 2:27pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I've got an Audi A2 1.2 Diesel who also stopps automatically the engine when pressing the brake and standing.  With me it consumes about 70 (british) MPG inner-city and 80-85 MPG combined (65 to 70 US-MPG)

Who is offering more?

One fill are slightly more than 9 gallons and it will power the car for about 600 miles.

With the aluminium alloy space frame the car is quite light-weighted and it has a world-record CW-value.

This car it's some real cool stuff :o)

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MikeCapone on September 22, 2005 - 3:34pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
There's no doubt that Europe and Asia have some greats cars, but they are simply not available (yet) in North-America (and that's a damn shame). I don't own a car and might have to get one next spring. I might go for the new Toyota Yaris or the Honda Fit/Jazz (I'm in Canada, btw).
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bhyde on September 22, 2005 - 8:56pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
re idling the car.  The high in Houston today is 99 degrees F.  So I suspect folks are running the engine to keep the air conditioning going.

I suspect there is an optimal speed for getting the most people out of town/hour; that they should be blocking traffic and letting bursts of cars move thru to assure the highway runs at that speed.  I wonder what the math/simulations have to say about that.

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Leanan on September 23, 2005 - 9:57am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
You are correct.  There is an optimal "level of service" (car density).  Too few cars on the road, and you have some people speeding, changing lanes, etc., which actually slows down traffic overall.  Too many, and it's the bumper to bumper mess we have now.  The optimal number allows traffic to flow well, but does not allow people to change lanes easily, nor to drive too fast.  As a result, everyone stays in their lane, everyone keeps up, and everyone keeps moving.

In some cities, they actually close off the on-ramps in order to maintain this optimal level of service (during rush hour, say).  After a certain point, more cars on the highway actually means less people getting out, so they don't allow anyone else on.  

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112 comments on Rita Old Comment Thread 2

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