Ed's List of Your Best Vehicles

Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
325
Location
Castro Valley, CA
Since Global Warming is such a HUGE hoax, and I do mean huge, I want to make a list of the best cars and trucks in terms of reliability, safety, performance and cost.

These will be the best vehicles you can get. Vehicles here must burn some kind of fossil fuel to make the list. This will be beautiful.


Best Sub Compact: Prius C.

Best Mid Size: Prius Prime and Honda Accord Hybrid. The Chevy Volt and Ford C Max is a close 2nd.

Best Mini Van: Prius V.

Best Pickup Truck: A Prius with a trailer.

Best 4 door Pickup: A Prius V with a trailer.

Best 4x4 Suv: Prius V with electronic stability control. Why have all that extra mechanical drive train when electronics are 10x
more reliable?


Feel free to add to the list in since I'm sure I've missed something. This will be a big help for millions of people out there and I do mean big. :mrgreen:
 
I'd love to see your prius and trailer carry a hot air balloon and 12 people to crew it at the balloon fiesta. for that you need a one ton, double cab truck. Six inside, six more riding inside the balloon basket, or perched on the envelope bag. On chase just 9, so three still in the truck bed.

If I had a prius, it would be a bit tight for me, the wife, and two st bernards. I could of course make a dog trailer.

But yeah, most people don't have a 35 foot trailer, or hot air balloon. Prius or other small car and trailer works fine to bring home some furniture, 5 sheets of plywood, etc.

Right now my fleet is pretty optimum for me, 4x4 covered by my Subaru forester, which can haul up to 2000 pounds of trailer weight. Sure, its no prius, but it does a lot for a smaller car. For big loads, I just got a long van that can pull up to a 25 foot rv, or a load of gravel on a trailer. Lumber and stuff slides right into the van easy, even with 4 seats inside. Its a total gas hog, but hey, two buck gas these days, and it doesn't drive far unless I'm going camping. Stupid to drive it around town much, so we don't do that.
 
Yes, I have a 2007 Prius. In fact we have two 2007's, one a nicely loaded type 5 with navigation, hands free phone, etc. and then a base model for my two older boys in which we bought used for a reasonably good deal. The main reason I bought the first Pruis was I liked the technology with the electric motors and battery system and the way it was laid out. Then a couple of people with the first generation Pruises (Prii) had battery failures which the press here in the states got a hold of and broadcasted over and over to the point that people were beginning to think that battery failures were happening to everyone of them, and thus, sales slowed. By 2007 I knew the technology was pretty bulletproof with Toyota being the manufacturer and Toyota being very sensitive to any battery problems so I took the leap. I've had the car almost 11 years with almost no problems, only a couple of recalls for the famous floor mat hoopla and one other minor thing.

The cars have been great for us. My in-laws have a cabin down in San Diego about 500 miles away and it is quiet often that all 5 of us pile in a Prius drive down and back for two fill ups costing around $25 to $27 each and when we get home I still have gas to drive to work for a few days.

I guess what prompted me to start this thread was a few guys at work started buying these cars at some end of year clearances with zero percent financing and all. One guy had been commuting for the last 10 years in a minivan by himself spending $500 per month and now spends $100. Then he convinced another guy who was driving an Infinity that required premium fuel and he bought the top of the line Prius Prime and loves it. And a third is leasing a prius right now.
 
The Prius V is much larger than the prius. Fold the back seats down, we have 6 feet of bed. Plenty for large dogs.

But it is not a minivan. It is a small station wagon. Not in the minivan class or SUV class. It is smaller than the Toyota 4Runner inside.

Our Prius V AVERAGES 43 mpg. Completely amazing for the size and capacity vehicle it is.

Great vehicle.

Not rated to tow, as I recall.

Just not competitive with the 4Runner that will tow 5-7K, or our Avalanche 2500 that will tow 10-12K.

We drive the Electric Leaf and the Prius V for anything we can. We use the 4Runner or the Avalanche when we need to tow or carry a lot.
 
A Leaf, Prius V, and some sort of heavy hauler is a great combination. I actually have a Mitsubishi I-miev that I’ve had for 2.5 years that I commute to work in. Great little car. The wife has an older Ford Explorer (our heavy hauler) that she swears by but has quietly slipped into Prius (that she claims to hate) and has driven it consistently for 2.5 years but I dare not mention anything about it.
 
Yes, the Ford Exploder is pretty good if it doesn't blow a tire and roll over. :)

After I bought one of my 4Runners Ford's testing contractor invited me to test drive one of their prototypes, part of one of those testing deals. It turned out to be the Explorer, several years before introduction. It was quite interesting to be part of that.

Our "heavy" vehicles are all fairly old and perhaps we should replace them with a diesel truck, but wow are those a big bundle of bucks. So we keep them, and just don't drive them all that much so they don't contribute to the CO2 much.

The Leaf is very useful and fun. A Bolt would have a lot more range, but rarely do we need it.
 
I was going to joke and say a half ton truck, but a 4cyl diesel 1/4T truck would actually rock, unsure how'd us 6.5'+ would fit in 1/4T truck, always hated not having lots of elbow room, or the A-pillar hitting the shoulder. Same goes for the small cars, but I actually fit just right in the Merecedez Benz SMART car, better then the Car2Go's newest mid-sized cars. Suzuki Samurai would rock for an electric conversion, or the Suzuki Grand Vitara 4 door, 4 door Sidekick/Geo Tracker. They probably flipped just as bad as the Ford Exploders did. The only good thing about them were it had the Ford 8.8 rear axle, yeah they were c-clips but I am sure there was a mod to convert them. The 8.8 was a tad bit stronger then the Dana 44. I forget the spline count.
 
dogman dan said:
If I had a prius, it would be a bit tight for me, the wife, and two st bernards. I could of course make a dog trailer.

Just strap the dogs on top. Mitt Romney says it's OK.
 
Daisy would love to be the driver. It would have to be a good 4x4 though, when she sees a rabbit.

I'd love to get an accord hybrid, all my friends that drove prius for years now have the accord. Right now though, the budget got tight because I quit working, till we start getting some SS in a couple years.

But what I plan to get next is a replacement for my scooter, that got 65 mpg at 75 mph. That thing cost about 12 cents a mile. All my e bikes have cost about double that. The fairing on that big scooter made it amazingly comfortable to ride long distances, and the mpg can't be beat by any hybrid car.

If I was to choose my ideal fleet, it would still start with a few e bikes, then a scooter, for exercise enjoyment and economy. Then a small hatchback of some kind, but one that is flat towable. It would have the space of our current Subaru, 6 foot length with the seat folded down. It's just able to cram in the dogs, though they hate it with two. It would also do better than the Subaru's 25 mpg. Then a 35-37 foot RV. Lastly, one old van or truck, something that could tow at least 3000-5000 pounds. That truck might get driven as little as 1000 miles a year, and similarly the RV would go at most 3000, and most years much less. The small car and the scoot could rack up as much as 10,000 miles a year each.
 
Alan B said:
Great vehicle.

Not rated to tow, as I recall.

Earlier versions seem to be rated for a 1000-1500lb tow...
I over built every small car trailer with trailer brakes. Made life so much saner at higher speeds.
 
Alan B said:
Dogman, those little squished Honda hybrids get higher than 65 mpg, as I recall. Forget what they call em. Might be too small for you and your dogs though. :)

Accord 4 door.
 

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Alan B said:
Dogman, those little squished Honda hybrids get higher than 65 mpg, as I recall. Forget what they call em. Might be too small for you and your dogs though. :)
That's right, those early Honda Insites were amazing with their 65 mpg but they didn't have a back seat. Just a flat platform like a hatchback with it's rear seats folded down. A couple of chiwawas would be no problem but two st bernards?
 
I think my brothers Accord gets about what that EPA rating says, on a 75 mph mostly highway commute. Not bad!

I just have a use for a huge vehicle right now, and two buck gas makes it easy to own one again for awhile. Now that I'm home, its not getting much use, about 15 miles a week, so easy to afford it right now.

Today I will drive it 12 miles, to get some plywood. Nice to have a van that can swallow a whole sheet of plywood again. I loved that when I had a 4x4 ford aerostar. I could hook up the trailer to the subaru, or a smaller car and do it. But is so much easier to just hop in the huge van.
 
edcastrovalley said:
tomjasz said:
Accord 4 door.
Damn that's good mileage. And it's not a small car either. I had to add it to my list on top. :)

Consumer reports indicates they are exaggerating the mileage!
 
They do that EPA highway test at about 55 mph these days I think. My brothers accord is about 5 years old, and he swears he gets about 45 mpg. His typical commute one way is about 35 miles highway, and the last 5 in a gridlocked city full of detours.

I kept saying bullshit, you get 39, or you drove slow that time. He swears cruise control on 78 mph, and about 45 mpg. He got a great deal on his, about $16,000, 3 years old when he bought it. The deal was set up by his USAA insurance company after his regular accord got bashed up. But still, how they found that price beats me.

Accord hybrid on the list. Like I said, all my friends who had prius for years now drive the accord, but I don't think it comes as a wagon like the prius. When he travels, luggage for two fills the tiny trunk, and the whole backseat. Sometimes there are three, and they can't bring much then. Literally one change of shorts and some underwear.
 
dogman dan said:
My brothers accord is about 5 years old, and he swears he gets about 45 mpg.

Testing reporting lack luster mileage was on newest version. I believe there were some changes since the 2012.
 
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