Tdefny

It could be legit if her commute is downhill in both directions and she drives with the engine off.

Great job Jus. Sounds like a great trip. Who wouldn't love such an opportunity. I hope the come to NY.

Sure looks sweet. Congrats.

You go Girl!

We can't, but I think that GM has that capability in On-Star. It would be potentially dangerous to give to the regular users.

Commands that used to work are getting less reliable. I am not sure why. Maybe it is my NY accent. Wait, we don't have an accent in NY!

Nothing will get you to use foul language like trying to get a voice command to work. Luckily the other controls are good, so it is less important. Still, it should work in 2013. Speech recognition is not new.

Basically hold the wiper stalk down while shutting off the car and the wipers will park in the up position.

Don't worry the directions are in the manual. You can look in there if you ever get locked out.

Aren't you allowed a few days to cancel if you haven't taken delivery yet? I have done that before and never had a problem, but never with a lease.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/05/best-worst-fuel-economy/index.htm Sorry if you have seen this list already. It is from January, but I only stumbled on it today. The Energi did not make the list at all. The Max did, but with their own MPG figures, as with all the cars they mentioned. The Volt was also there but I didn't see the PIP. Not sure why Chevy got better representation than the Energi, which is more efficient than the Volt in both EV (albeit for about half the range) and gas (for about twice the range) or PIP, which is more efficient as a hybrid than the others. I guess they never got their hands on the Energi and PIP.

Thank you for the link. I hope the resale value stays so high because it is a great car. I can see why the Hybrid would retain value better than the Energi because plug-ins will not work for everybody and a lot of people might be put off by the reduced trunk space, which hasn't proven a problem for me yet. They also had this one about the Energi on a different list. http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/cars/T011-S001-14-most-fuel-efficient-cars-2013/index.html

There would be lower air flow into the radiator at lower speeds and the possibility of inadequate cooling if the shutters are closed. With little aerodynamic advantage to closing them it was simplest to close them only at speed. It sounds from some of the posts on this forum like it would be worth it to consider adding temperature into the mix, but the coolant system is already thermostatically controlled so it might not make a difference.

Thank you Laurel. I couldn't remember for sure, but I like it. I used to use my headlights all the time for safety when I used to work in Brooklyn, where driving is very competetive (for lack of a better term). Of course full lights are better when needed, but DRLs are a great safety feature during the daytime when the tail lights don't help. It was a $45 option on my Prius and it just added a relay.

Are they required or available in Canada? This is a feature that I wish I had.

A glitch in Synch? Is such a thing even possible?

Even starting with a warm car isn't absolutely necessary, but keeping engine warm is. Many people expect the mileage to be the same for a short trip as a long one, but modern cars (since the mid '70s or so) can't run closed loop until the catalytic converter is up to temperature and the FE suffers. Most people just don't realize it because they are not fanatical about FE. Hybrid drivers have the perfect storm - a reason to track FE (wanting to see if the hybrid really delivers), the tools to track it (usually a Star Wars display of some sort), and a system that will not deliver the big numbers unless it is fully warmed up and the ICE gets shut off. Short trips means the ICE doesn't get much time to shut off, so the Hybrid becomes more like a regular car. When driving my '02 Prius, I never thought about the FE penalty the car pays for the electric heat. It is primarily there to heat up the coolant and get the engine warm quicker, but it also gets the cabin warm really quick. The Prius didn't have the tools to see the effect of the electric load, so it feels like it is for free. In the Max, it is very easy to see this effect and I end up never running the heat unless the ICE has come all the way up to temperature and is enabled to run. Of course, it helps to find routes that keep the car moving. I found I use less gas taking a longer (by 2miles) route on the parkway, which goes steadily at some slow speed, than taking a local main road, with loads of lights and full throttle starts, hard braking, and waiting at lights.

Thank you. Very interesting to hear about all of the choices they had to make and what they discovered along the way. Hopefully some stuff like ICE management and controlling active shutters based on temperature and speed will be software upgrades that can flow back down to the existing cars and not just future models. Can't wait for MFM to work.

Thanks. Had the Max on the road getting home from work before things really got nasty and I am really impressed with how it handled the bad weather. My other cars are eleven and thirteen years old and don't have traction control or yaw control and are just not as sure footed in the snow as this.

I saw one in NYC about two weeks ago. I was so surprised that I took a photo of it. NYC carefully regulates what vehicles can be used as a cab and there was just a big competition for the next generation taxi. The two finalists were the Ford Transit and a Nissan that looked very similar. Both were imports and get mileage in the 20s. The Nissan won. I didn't think they would be open to allow other vehicles in after picking the winner in that competition. The current blend of hybrids should be really good for the City, producing a lot less pollution. Especially considering how much of the time taxis spend idling I don't understand why they didn't pick a hybrid. Even a mild hybrid would be a big improvement.

They do in my '02 Prius.

You run the heat? I have been too much of a cheapskate to do that. I feel cheated if I don't make it all the way home on battery. I will either run the fan directed to the windshield and temperature and fan set to low or get really lazy and crack open the window a bit. As a side benefit, i found the car is less likely to fog if the heat never comes on. Also the exterior stays cold so snow doesn't freeze onto it so it is easy to clear off.

Good idea. I only got the extended warranty once. The car was a lemon, but it the problems were never covered by the warranty. At least you are sure of getting some value out of it. I always count on the free loaner car, which also seems to never be available.

Ever notice they always need it for the day no matter what you bring it in for?

My fillups have been dictated by convenience rather than necessity so far. Predicted range should be a better metric if you like to run the tank down, as I do, because most fuel gauges are not linear and you could get caught short without a reliable estimate. I have a friend who used to have a 280Z that had a second gauge that accurately read out the last quarter of the tank.