[BC] Gas Prices

[Sid Schweiger]

>>We're seriously considering a Prius for our personal car. We've driven
them 
a few times as rentals and averaged 45MPG. Not a bad car.<<

Considering the wait for the Prius, and needing to replace my wife's
11-year-old Geo Prizm, we went with a Honda Civic Hybrid...picked it up
this past Thursday.  I think we made the right choice.  There were two
on the lot, and we bought it for invoice (about $19,950), since Honda is
already giving dealers incentives to clear the lots for the '06 models.

The Civic Hybrid is EPA-rated at 47 city, 48 highway.  It's what the
engineers call a "mild" hybrid, where the electric motor is used to
assist the 1.3-liter gasoline engine.  The battery pack, with a 8/80
warranty, is charged by both the gasoline engine and regenerative
braking.  It does have the auto-shutoff feature, as does the Prius.  As
long as the engine is warmed up, and a few other conditions are met, the
gas engine shuts down when the car is in gear and stopped (at a traffic
light, for example).  Taking your foot off the brake re-starts the gas
engine.  For this reason, the Prius and the Honda hybrids are classified
by the EPA as partial-zero emissions vehicles.  The automatic
transmission in the Civic Hybrid (and, I believe, in the Prius) is a CVT
(continuously-variable transmission).

Our market manager at work got the first Lexus SUV hybrid to be sold in
New England, and is absolutely in love with it.



Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom Boston LLC
WAAF - WEEI AM/FM - WMKK - WRKO - WVEI
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Boston MA  02135-2040
Phone: 617-779-5369
Fax: 617-779-5379
E-Mail: sid at wrko.com