Heald's Pre-Posterous

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Hybrid Fever!

It's not every day, or every week for that matter, that I have a brace of Hybrid autos to evaluate. But it just happened, and as I am (unlike a substantial number of auto journos who seem to feel threatened by them) a fan of the breed I've really enjoyed interacting with both of these eco-friendly machines. It's been especially interesting to see the evolution of both the Nissan Altima Hybrid and the Lexus RX450h, as they have been tweaked to the point that they are quite improved over their original permutations. They are reasonably quick (both getting to 60 MPH in less than 7.5 seconds) and very refined in terms of transitioning between the gas engine and electric motor. Handling is crisp on both as well, although they are very different vehicles of course and the RX's higher profile means more body lean and less steering response (although it is still quite acceptable). What we have here is a midsize sedan with almost full-size room that delivered an average of 34.6 MPG in mixed driving, and a midsized luxury SUV that got 31 MPG in a similar driving cycle. Costly, yes, but well worth the dinero if you need a vehicle in one of these categories and like the idea of consuming less fuel and spewing less crap into the air.

Posted May 13, 2010