If every dog is to have its day then these days the dog would be Toyota. Its not paramount that the company has surpassed General Motors in the volumes of business it conducts. They have been making better automobiles and captured the public's interest and respect well before that. Known for almost unreal dependability and durability the company is now footing itself to dominate the HEV domain - the only type of new-technology vehicle that has any semblance of a real market with expected units sold this year set to test the 300,000 mark. A small number by any standard but one that grew by 52% in Feb 2007 vs. Feb 2006. Total HEV units sold in 02/2007 were 22,998. The Toyota Prius took its share of this performance upwards of 50% and that does not include all the other HEV cars that Toyota sells including the Camry, Highlander and the Lexus models.
If the Prius keeps this up it could well end up being the car that defines a new generation of design and engineering. Despite the fact that its more of a big city phenomenon where gas is expensive and commutes are long, it has never the less demonstrated a popular appeal amongst many classes of drivers including the young (who want to change the world). In California, you can't be driving around in several of its cities without seeing many of them in the course of a day. Upon first glance it comes across as puny and too futuristic in style. Its small and light alright but not as much as you'd think. I see them cruising at 70mph+ every day. The style appeal is somewhat surprising but without much choice in the market it seems to have pulled through. And now that it has sizable and visible numbers on the road the design may spark a new era of car sketching that could start to break away from the status quo. Toyota may be the most successful and robust company today. Its breadth and reach is astonishing when you span through Lexus range of cars. Its the only Japanese economy brand that has broken into the true luxury mind set of the buyer. Infiniti from Nissan ranks a strong second while Honda's Acura has struggled. Lexus commands a spot next to the luxury greats and now I myself have come across several owners who would rank it as a greater feat of quality engineering and luxury modeling than the time-honored German greats.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Sunday, April 1, 2007
INERTIA
You gotta have inertia. Whether its in your career. Your passions or hobbies. Self-development. And of course, your automobiles. Well, as far as the cars go you get it without asking. Inertia is all around you. Its central to the physics of your car's gearing system. But taking inertia for granted is not the same as the fun of exploiting it. In my next car decision, whenever that happens, if I don't buy a HEV then at least I hope for a manual shift. It would be a nice break from the rut and a lot more potential to exploit inertia.
Fairly recently I happened to be casually curving through a leisure cruise at a local park moving with the flow at 25mph when it occurred to me. Noticing that at the lower speeds and with some distance from the car ahead fewer full stops were needed even if the car in front stopped intermittently. While the car ahead would sometimes fully stop, with enough distance I could ride out the distance at a slower speed and hope that it would resume its drive without causing a complete loss of inertia. After exiting the park later that day I experimented further on bigger roads. One thing that I noticed almost immediately was that people generally drive hard into a halt probably coming down from 45mph to a stand still within 100 feet. And I am sure all of it would be foot braking (the other option being to use gear braking). Gear breaking is a left-over habit of mine from the good ole manual shift days. Unless I have to reduce speed dramatically I would apply a gear down shift. As my car's automatic transmission has 3rd, 2nd & 1st gear options it allows for more flexibility. I can now, after some practice, bring my 3,200 lbs. vehicle to a full halt from 45mph within 150 feet by using the gear options and a hint of the hand brake right at the end but not a touch on the foot brake. The habit, which my wife finds terribly annoying, also naturally extends the life of the brake pads.
For the purpose of more bang for your petro-buck, the idea is to have to avoid a terribly low speed or a stop at 1st gear so you don't need to build inertia back up. If I spot a red light from afar I will just step off the gas pedal. Most drivers on your tail will know why you are reducing speed albeit a bit early. Some tend to maintain distance while others will move in on your tail with a hint of irritation. But I find that as much as half the time I have employed the tactic I am able to escape the 1st gear and have to re-build up a lot of inertia. Has it helped? Am I getting better MPG? By just looking at the data one can't tell. So much goes into the character of a trip. But by plain logic I don't see why it won't have an impact. I should be improving MPG and buying less brake pads. At 68,000 miles I have had just one change of pads. Now that should reduce fossil fuels usage somewhere.
Fairly recently I happened to be casually curving through a leisure cruise at a local park moving with the flow at 25mph when it occurred to me. Noticing that at the lower speeds and with some distance from the car ahead fewer full stops were needed even if the car in front stopped intermittently. While the car ahead would sometimes fully stop, with enough distance I could ride out the distance at a slower speed and hope that it would resume its drive without causing a complete loss of inertia. After exiting the park later that day I experimented further on bigger roads. One thing that I noticed almost immediately was that people generally drive hard into a halt probably coming down from 45mph to a stand still within 100 feet. And I am sure all of it would be foot braking (the other option being to use gear braking). Gear breaking is a left-over habit of mine from the good ole manual shift days. Unless I have to reduce speed dramatically I would apply a gear down shift. As my car's automatic transmission has 3rd, 2nd & 1st gear options it allows for more flexibility. I can now, after some practice, bring my 3,200 lbs. vehicle to a full halt from 45mph within 150 feet by using the gear options and a hint of the hand brake right at the end but not a touch on the foot brake. The habit, which my wife finds terribly annoying, also naturally extends the life of the brake pads.
For the purpose of more bang for your petro-buck, the idea is to have to avoid a terribly low speed or a stop at 1st gear so you don't need to build inertia back up. If I spot a red light from afar I will just step off the gas pedal. Most drivers on your tail will know why you are reducing speed albeit a bit early. Some tend to maintain distance while others will move in on your tail with a hint of irritation. But I find that as much as half the time I have employed the tactic I am able to escape the 1st gear and have to re-build up a lot of inertia. Has it helped? Am I getting better MPG? By just looking at the data one can't tell. So much goes into the character of a trip. But by plain logic I don't see why it won't have an impact. I should be improving MPG and buying less brake pads. At 68,000 miles I have had just one change of pads. Now that should reduce fossil fuels usage somewhere.
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