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But roomy, comfortable gas-electric SUV is certainly no Prius
In her best-selling book “Longitude” Dava Sobel outlines how two different approaches were employed to address an 18th century transportation problem — the need for ships at sea to be able to determine their location.
Leading solutions included a complex, time-consuming method that involved (no kidding) observing the positions of the moons of Jupiter. A simpler method employed clocks to compare local time with that in the ship’s home port. The problem was while this method was easier, the construction of clocks that would run accurately at sea made the option much more daunting.
Today, the automotive industry faces a similar problem of improving the efficiency of our cars, and again we see two primary solutions vying to address our problem — diesel engines and hybrid gas-electric drivetrains.
The 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid falls into the latter camp. It pursues the immediately useful — if costly and complex — solution of using electric motors and batteries to supplement a gasoline-powered, V-6 powerplant to save on fuel. Sea clocks — chronometers — were eventually the preferred solution for maritime navigation, but neither hybrids nor diesels are likely to beat the other in the automotive marketplace of the future. Instead, they will coexist and eventually even combine forces.
For those customers who need a roomy, seven-seat family vehicle that uses as little gas as possible, the Highlander Hybrid is the sole available option. But as good as it is, thrifty-minded drivers may be disappointed to discover that they can only expect to see 23 or 24 mpg in real-world, around-town driving (the EPA ratings are 27 mpg city and 25 mpg highway).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23013615/
In her best-selling book “Longitude” Dava Sobel outlines how two different approaches were employed to address an 18th century transportation problem — the need for ships at sea to be able to determine their location.
Leading solutions included a complex, time-consuming method that involved (no kidding) observing the positions of the moons of Jupiter. A simpler method employed clocks to compare local time with that in the ship’s home port. The problem was while this method was easier, the construction of clocks that would run accurately at sea made the option much more daunting.
Today, the automotive industry faces a similar problem of improving the efficiency of our cars, and again we see two primary solutions vying to address our problem — diesel engines and hybrid gas-electric drivetrains.
The 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid falls into the latter camp. It pursues the immediately useful — if costly and complex — solution of using electric motors and batteries to supplement a gasoline-powered, V-6 powerplant to save on fuel. Sea clocks — chronometers — were eventually the preferred solution for maritime navigation, but neither hybrids nor diesels are likely to beat the other in the automotive marketplace of the future. Instead, they will coexist and eventually even combine forces.
For those customers who need a roomy, seven-seat family vehicle that uses as little gas as possible, the Highlander Hybrid is the sole available option. But as good as it is, thrifty-minded drivers may be disappointed to discover that they can only expect to see 23 or 24 mpg in real-world, around-town driving (the EPA ratings are 27 mpg city and 25 mpg highway).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23013615/
