Technotoy

[cdybedahl]

We've ordered a new car. Or, rather, jennyaxe has. It's a Toyota Prius, a nifty electric/gasoline hybrid car that uses about half as much gas as our current car (and even less in city traffic, to judge from the numbers it displayed while we were test-driving it). It's also very seriously techno compared to our current one, with a touchscreen to control almost everything, wireless ignition key(!), continously variable automatic gear-box (may be called something different in English, I'm translating from the Swedish brochure) and lots of other nifty stuff. The darn thing probably has more computer power altogether than my first few computers had.

The main drawback is that it's not cheap, and that it's popular enough that there is a nine-month wait for delivery. So we won't actually get it until May next year...

Comments

How long do the batteries last

[norikos-author.livejournal.com]

And how much do they cost to replace? IE, are you going to be losing your savings in gas on the cost of replacing the batteries in a couple of years?

Re: How long do the batteries last

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

There's an eight-year (or 160000 kilometers, whichever comes first) warranty on the entire hybrid system, so I guess they'll last at least that long. And we haven't seen any reports of battery problems for the older Prius models (they've been around since 2000) either.

There's not only gas savings, by the way. The taxes on hybrid cars are about half of those for ordinary cars, and they'll be exempt from the road tolls that are to be implemented in Stockholm next year. So even by fairly pessimistic calculations we'll get a 2005 car instead of a 1993 one for only about 50-60 pounds more a month. Which really seems worth it.

Re: How long do the batteries last

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that should be that the original Priuses have been around since 1997, not 2000. The used ones we looked at today were from 2000 (but so much less nifty than the new models that we didn't even test-drive one).

[seaya.livejournal.com]

I ordered one too. Mine should be ready in December or so.

The wiat is not because of Toyota's manufacture of the cars (which by the way are only made in Japan due to their low quantities) it is the battery that is the holdup.

The battery company is not making or cannot make them fast enough.

It's a macintosh on wheels.

Do you know of anyone who has figured out the specs of the encryption of the smart entry and smart start features?

hugz

-L

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

I should've guessed it was the batteries, the rest of the car is quite standard in comparison...

No idea about the keys, haven't even tried to look. Probably should.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

Usually called a CVT - Continuously Variable Transmission (so the Swedish is pretty literal also).