What is the point of a luxury hybrid?

[pstokely]

Most luxury buyers aren't concerned about fuel economy

[LeftyMom]

1. Mostly they use the hybrid plant to boost HP instead in luxury cars.

[MonkeyFunk]

2. I don't think that's a fair assumption

I know rich people who are very environmentally conscious, and very liberal. And some of them are very very rich.

There's no conflict between wealth and liberalism.

[gr8dane_daddy]

3. I agree...

I'm not wealthy but I would be interested in a luxury vehicle if fuel economy was good...in this case, this would be something I would consider purchasing.

[pstokely]

8. If I could even afford a Lexus, I'd still drive a Prius instead

I'd give the rest of the money I saved to the Sierra Club or another charity

[MonkeyFunk]

12. but would you

buy the cheapest Prius available, with no add-ons?

That's what this is about - a "luxury" hybrid. What's wrong with having some amenities?

[SeattleGirl]

4. Why do you (and others) assume that having money means you

don't give a flying fig about the environment, or any other liberal/progressive cause?

Just because someone has a lot of money doesn't mean they are a nutball repuke.

I won't buy a really small car, because I'm concerned for my safety. I don't drive a tank of a vehicle by any means, but you won't find me setting foot inside one of the Mini cars, or even a sub-compact or compact car. I was in a horrible wreck a few years ago, and if I had been driving the car I used to have (Nissan Sentra), I think I would have been killed. That I was driving my Taurus, I believe, helped save my life. I was hit by a Dodge Ram pickup going 65 mph when I was going 25 (on a fairly empty highway, when I had slowed down to avoid hitting a dog who had gotten loose).

People buy different vehicles for different reasons. Buying a larger vehicle, or a luxury vehicle, doesn't mean the buyer is a bad person. I'd love to be able to afford a luxury car. Not in the budget right now. But I don't disparage those who have nicer vehicles than I do.

People have got to get over the "money is evil" mindset. People USE money for evil purposes, certainly, but money, and the possession of it, is not evil.

[billyskank]

5. It's like the way celebrities all buy Priuses

when the Prius is in fact their 7th car, and the other six are an assortment of gargantuan SUVs and lightning fast sports cars.

[MonkeyFunk]

6. For some, perhaps

but not all.

Really, the notion that all rich people are republican assholes is simply wrong. The three richest people I've known (two of them are billionaires) are big liberals.

[billyskank]

7. No, it's not about being republican, or about being assholes

It's about being rich. Some people in the newspaper I read complain that rich people get to pollute more than poor people do, but I don't get it. That's inherent in being rich - rich people have more facility than poor people. That is quite simply what being rich means. Almost all activities in our society involve energy and pollution, so it is inevitable that rich people will do a lot more of it than poor people. That's not a value judgment. If that were to change then rich people would have to be restricted in what they do to the extent that their wealth becomes useless, which would be very much like what communist countries did. We might as well forcibly remove their wealth. I don't think many people have any appetite for that.

However, owning a Prius just so you can say "I have a Prius" when it is in fact just one of a fleet of cars IS deceitful, and you can't tell me that some people don't do it. I know they do.

[pstokely]

9. A hummer hybrid would like a Faux (not the news channel) fur coat

You care about the environment yet you'd still want to be a part of the small penis SUV drivin' crowd

[Kutjara]

10. In Europe, there's the first glimmer of a movement...

...to put the luxury features of big gas guzzlers into small cars. I used to own a Smart car, which had a 600cc engine and got 55 mpg, but also had as much front legroom as a Merc S-Class, leather seats, a/c, electric everything and a great stereo. It was an automatic (that I could shift manually using steering wheel mounted paddle shifers - just like a racecar, wheee!!!), and was pretty damned peppy. In short, it had the luxury and quality of a much more expensive car, but in a smaller, vastly more efficient package. I loved that car.

I think, as environmental concerns become more important to society, this trend will become more pronounced. People will finally have to give up the enormous landsharks (after all, there is only so much that fancy aerodynamics can do to reduce the drag on something the size of a block of apartments), but they won't want to give up the "exclusivity." So there will inevitably be small, efficient cars that still make the driver feel like a maharaji on his day off.

[Orsino]

11. "No sacrifices, increased horsepower, lower emissions...

...smoother ride, reduced noise, longer batter life, better fuel economy, and environmentally sensitive," according to http://www.lexus.com/hybriddrive/?s_ocid=30035

Other tidbits:
"During strong acceleration and when maximum power is required, Lexus Hybrid Drive simultaneously uses its internal combustion engine and electric-drive motors for exceptional performance. When the electric-drive motors complement the gasoline engine, they provide higher torque, which in turn results in smoother acceleration, free from gearshift lag. Plus, the extra torque that the electric-drive motors provide makes the engine feel considerably larger than it actually is."

"Performance is further enhanced by the Electronically controlled Continuously Variable Transmission (ECVT). Unlike typical automatic transmissions that have a fixed number of gear combinations, the hybrid’s ECVT allows for virtually unlimited combinations, maximizing the powertrain’s efficiency and allowing the driver to enjoy a smoother, jolt-free acceleration that can’t be experienced with conventional transmissions. And yet with everything the ECVT does, it requires no additional maintenance."

[jmowreader]

13. This may be the most important hybrid to date

It's rear-wheel-drive, which is how police officers like their patrol cars.

Unfortunately for cops, there are only a few rear-wheel-drive cars in current production: the Ford Crown Vic, the Mustang (which is a great pursuit car but you can't transport a prisoner in one), the Dodge Charger and the Chrysler 300. All those cars also get atrocious gas mileage.

Were this Lexus to be sold with a fleet interior, fleet wheels, a police wiring harness and second alternator, and named the Toyota Keisatsu (the Japanese word for "police"), they'd have to build a new factory to handle the demand. No contract officer could resist a police car that gets 28MPG.

[liontamer]

14. you can't be rich and care about the environment?

Just because being born rich tends to correlate with being self absorbed, that doesn't mean that everyone who has money completely lacks principles

[LostInAnomie]

15. If the conventional logic follows

It will help in picking up all the hot environmentalist chicks. ;)