On Oct 22, 2:30?pm, " JimH" ask wrote:
"Chuck Gould" wrote in message

ups.com...





On Oct 22, 11:29?am, "D-unit" cof42_AT_embarqmail.com wrote:
"Chuck Gould"

Fuel economy is reputed to be about 25% better than gasoline-powered
trucks with equal towing capacity.

mmm hmmmm.

db

My personal experience with the 400H indicates that hybrid technology
can indeed improve gas mileage. Our 400H dramatically outperforms the
standard V6 equivalent (especially in acceleration), and with the trip
computer on for a variety of in town and highway driving last weekend
we realized a genuine 28.2 mpg. EPA fantasies aside, I think we would
have been lucky to get much more than about 20-22 mpg with the slower,
orthodox V6.

I'm not sure that the ECVT transmission is heavy duty enough for
extremely large loads, but for small trailer boats under 5-6,000
pounds
the hybrid might be a workable alternative. It would at least bear
looking into.

Everything I have read says the average driver will never recoup the extra
money spend on a hybrid in gasoline savings.

It looks like your Lexus hybrid cost you about $5,000 more than the
comparable non hybrid Lexus. That works out to 1,667 gallons of gas @
$3/gallon just to break even.

Who knows how it pans out for the person doing a lot of towing.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Some decisions aren't made for entirely financial reasons. We chose
the car we did because performance was much improved over the standard
V6 model *and* it's nice once in a while to make a decision that shows
a little bit of mercy on the environment. If we wanted to make a
totally smart financial decision, we would have purchased a brand new,
tiny, Sally Rand Toyonda, kept it for 15 years, and driven it 200-300k
miles

As far as saving 1667 gallons of gas goes- it's actually a little less
because gas out here is running about $3.30 a gallon and (like
everywhere else) seems to be headed up again. From a performance
perspective, we would have to compare fuel consumption with a V8, not
the V6, and saving 1667 gallons isn't out of the question.

I think it's interesting that GM is introducing similar technology on
vehicles suitable for light duty towing.