movielib

Showtime, 9:00pm CDT

Sounds mostly good (and strange). I do hope they don't use that very questionable study that said a Hummer is better for the environment than a Prius but I fear they will.

Next week: Season Finale: Anger Management.

Groucho

The nuclear power stuff was good, and I agreed with most of it. But it was odd that they bashed Al Gore in one sentence, and in the next stated that we needed nuclear power because of global warming.

The Hybrid car thing was ridiculous:

• People don't buy hybrid cars because they're hippies trying to save the environment. They buy hybrid cars because gas is edging up to $4/gallon.
• 0-60 in 12 seconds. Who cares? People don't buy hybrid cars so they can drag race with Vin Diesel.
• Cramming stuff into the car...isn't this a problem with ANY small car? There are hybrid SUVs.
• Mileage. First of all, that looked like a lot of stop and go to me -- so 45 mpg is pretty damn good. And it was a bit unfair for them to compare actual mpg against manufacturer's stated mpg on other cars.

Bottom line is that plenty of people own and love their hybrid cars, and I'm not sure why somebody would be "against" them. I do agree that if you're going to give out tax credits, it should be for any fuel efficient car hybrid or no.

kvrdave

The Passat and Jetta TDI get roughly the same mileage. I agree that the tax credit should be for any fuel efficient car. Actually, I disagree that there should be a tax credit for it at all, but if there is....

I am sure hoping we see some nukes soon. Can't believe the Yucca facility can't do anything until 2017. That is so stupid, given how the waste is currently stored.

But this finally felt like an episode where they had a subject you might expect them to have.

das Monkey

It seems like it's been so long since we had an episode that didn't completely suck, I had forgotten what it was like. Everything was pretty good except the hybrid stuff, where I essentially had the same complaints as Groucho. Who cares about 0-60, and how much luggage can you store on a Harley, Penn? (or in a Corolla or other small vehicle they were comparing it against) I know these guys are smarter than this, and I wonder during these segments whether they feel stupid reading the script or if they're actually blinded by their opinions to the point where they think these experiments are compelling.

Otherwise, good episode, and I can understand bashing Al Gore while being concerned about global warming. It seemed they were bashing the self-serving, "Do as I say, not as I do", "How can I make this more about me?" side of Gore, not necessarily his overall message.

das

movielib

I concur with the above praises and criticisms. Probably the best episode of the year (Wal-Mart was worthy of the better seasons also).

Hiro11

Note: I didn't see the episode (yet), all of the following is only IMO.

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Yeah it's good, but is it any better than a similar-performing conventional car? No.

In other words, strip out all of the batteries, regenerative braking stuff and related hybrid technology and I'll bet the Prius would perform about the same solely on its 1.5l gas engine. As evidence: tons of similar-sized 1.5l European cars are faster, lighter, cheaper, simpler and offer just as good economy. Toyota even sells one, the Yaris/Vitz. All this means that the hybrid parts of the Prius are essentially worthless.

Nobody's "against" them, it's just that they're largely bullshit. We should call a spade a spade. People buy them for their "cool" factor, not for their mileage benefits.That I agree with.

das Monkey

THAAANKS!

das

Groucho

I know lots of hybrid owners (I'm not one myself), and none of them are smug hippies trying to look cool. They're basically trying to save money on gas. Whether or not a hybrid is the best way to do that is debatable, but rising gas prices is what's driving sales, not the cool factor.

orangecrush

Just to gang up on Groucho. (my DVDTalk hero)
People who buy hybrids to save money are not very good at math.

Hybrids are supposed to do better in start/stop situations as they operate on the battery more in these situations than on the highway. You are absolutly correct about comparing the actual milage to the stated mpg of other cars. That was silly.

The only reason I can think of to be against hybrids is that it remains to be seen what the long term enviornmental impact of those HUGE batteries will be if they are trashed (or what the impact of simply creating them is). Personally, I would buy a hybrid in a second if there wasn't such a premium for them.

darkside

I am in agreement. I was really pissed at last week's worthless episode, but this one had its moments and next to the Wal-Mart one was my favorite this season.

Next weeks sounds interesting as well.

kvrdave

I haven't run the numbers with the newest gas prices, but I remember when the Honda Civic Hybrid had to get to 160,000 miles before you actually caught up to any savings over buying the regular Civic. That left the unknown of what the batteries may cost if you had to replace and dispose of them. With gas around $3.50 I wouldn't be surprised if the break even point was down to 120,000 miles or so.

Jimmy James

Those TDI VWs kick ass. I wish more manufacturers went that way. Diesel technology isn't the most environmentally friendly, but it's thrifty on the fuel to be sure.

kvrdave

...equals dead in the US. Honda has a nice little diesel engine in Europe. No chance of it coming here.

Deftones

Wow, terrible episode. So they focused on stupid shit about hybrids instead of talking about how they are more environmentally unfriendly to manufacture than a regular car?

kvrdave

And just like that I read in the paper where Honda plans to bring their diesel to America in 2009.