Morning Metro: Watershed Plans Buckhead Reopening, No CSD Millage Increase Planned, and One Time Hybrid Buyers
Decatur Metro | April 18, 2012
- Watershed of Buckhead plans to open May 24th [AJC]
- CSD meeting about budget today, no millage increase expected [Patch]
- Decatur High football schedule set [Patch]
- Terrapin to feature unique beer at Decatur Green Fest [Decatur Minute]
- Savannah gets its first electric car charging stations [SMN]
- Majority of ATL hybrid car buyers are not repeat buyers [ABC]
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Have I heard of the Decatur Green Fest before?
The payback period is not the only reason for not being a repeat hybrid buyer. Even more importantly for me is how thouroughly bored I am when driving our Prius. It is such a boring car to drive that I’m afraid it will put me to sleep and that just makes it both boring and dangerous!
Agreed. My in-laws have two Prii, and they’re like driving a toaster (actually, a toaster might be more fun to drive). FWIW, the Leaf is only marginally better than the Prius, but the Volt is genuinely fun to drive. I’m holding out for a Tesla, though…
You and my husband….we talk about getting a new car and all he will talk about is the Tesla. Will it really that great?
Maybe…if it’s not vaporware. They haven’t let anyone other than their staff drive one, and they’ve yet to start deliveries. But they promise 160-300 mile range (depending on the size of battery you buy) and a great driving experience. So it’s still very much “wait and see”.
It’s the Tesla name. If it was called the Humperdinck, you guys wouldn’t be so excited.
The way it is, that’s the way that it goes. Workin’ in the strangest ways.
I checked out a Fiskar a couple weeks ago — great exterior lines and interior looked sharp to boot. I suppose it better for $125 K. And by ‘checked out’ I mean I drooled over it in the parking lot of a restaurant… Looks like a nice alternative for those of you with a few extra bucks to spend.
Hmmm. I’ve tried to post this comment twice, but I guess it’s not appreciating the link.
I’ve never driven a Volt so can’t comment on how fun it is to drive, but I heard Clark Howard last week talking about payback on hybrids on the Volt was horrendous at 27 years!!! How can that be. The Leaf was almost nine years.
Google: “Clark Howard Volt Payback” for the link.
It all depends on your driving habits & really how much time you’re on electric vs gas. See a deconstruction of the analysis here: http://theenergycollective.com/ken-paulman/81849/chevy-volts-payback-period-really-26-years.
But I also think the focus on payback is a bit of a red herring…payback on a Mercedes vs a Hyundai is in the “never” range. People buy cars for lots of different reasons & fuel cost is just one of them. If you like the way a Volt (or Leaf, Prius, etc.) looks and drives, then get it. Saving $ Is just a side benefit.
It all depends on your driving habits & really how much time you’re on electric vs gas. See a deconstruction of the analysis at The Energy Collective (similarly, DM doesn’t like my link, but it’s one of the first links if you Google “Volt payback”).
But I also think the focus on payback is a bit of a red herring…payback on a Mercedes vs a Hyundai is in the “never” range. People buy cars for lots of different reasons & fuel cost is just one of them. If you like the way a Volt (or Leaf, Prius, etc.) looks and drives, then get it. Saving $ Is just a side benefit.
Even though the Prius gets far better mileage in the city than a diesel, we like our Jetta TDIs. I thoroughly enjoy the driving experience from rowing my own gears, the engaging clackety-clack diesel engine and turbo spooling noise, and the handling from the 4-wheel independent suspension. The small VW TDIs are pretty fun to drive.
The thing that bugged me about the Prius’ is the CVT. Yes, it’s efficient, but oh-so-boring. The engine immediately revs to the optimal speed and stays there. Not exactly an engaging driving experience. IMHO, if I’m going to be spending significant time driving a car, I want it be half-way enjoyable.
Have you looked at TDIs?
+1
I put Koni FSD dampeners and higher rate (lower ground clearance, stiffer) springs on my Jetta TDI and it’s one of the best-handling cars I’ve driven or ridden in – very smooth and comfortable with very little roll, pitch, or under-dampening. In other words, very comfortable for passengers who prefer smooth rides over performance, yet tight enough to handle corners and expansion joints without upsetting the suspension – a near-perfect blend of comfort and performance.
I can’t imagine having that kind of suspension potential in a hybrid. I can only speak with experience on the Jetta TDIs, but I’m sure the Golf and Audi A3 TDIs are even more fun to drive given their better (less) angular momentum.
Decatur may be going football crazy soon. Talk about a full slate of games. Hopefully the football and lacrosse coaches will work together. Those 2 sports can easily go hand-in-hand as they do in Upstate and Central NY and LI.
If only the coaches/administration would work with the necessary people to avoid scheduling a game during fall break yet again. It somewhat defeats the purpose of the break for the football players, band members, cheerleaders, etc. I understand the difficulty of making these schedules, but we should be able to scheudle our bye week during the week off.
Or we could go back to a more conventional calendar that doesn’t conflict with other areas, work schedules, sports schedules…….. I really doubt that other districts are going to schedule around little us, although there is the possibility that some of them, like DeKalb may also decide to move to a “balanced” calendar.
The weeks off from the draft DeKalb Calendar are different from the Decatur calendar.
Leading scorer on DHS boy’s lacrosse team is – you guessed it – RB/LB on football team. Hopefully the new coach is more accepting of football/lacrosse dual sport athletes than his predecessor.
if people had to pay for the costs of pollution from their cars, you would see a dramatic shift in the economics of hybrids.
You would also see a lot fewer vehicles idling in supermarket parking lots while waiting for somebody to shop. That particular thing drives me crazy.
It’s at least once per week that I glare at someone for going into my son’s PreK while leaving their car idling in the parking lot. Can anyone explain why people do that? Can the inside of your car really get THAT hot or cold in the 5 minutes it takes you to go inside and back? I realize glaring does absolutely nothing to solve the problem so maybe I should just pull myself together and ask the people why they do it.
Not to mention that it’s not safe to leave the car running if they are leaving it to bring in their child. Isn’t that a traffic violation? I especially don’t like the vibe of unmanned cars idling and generating exhaust in front of a building where young children are running in and out. I would ask the preK administration to prohibit it and to put out signs and announcements plus enforce the prohibition. I know Clairemont used to have a no-idling sign talking about protecting little lungs.
if people had to pay for the costs of pollution from their hybrids, you would see a dramatic shift in the economics of cars.
It has occurred to me that the future result of the trend towards privatizing everything and charging for each element of services may eventually result in us all having some kind of nanobot monitor assigned that measures our every activity, our every breath, pollution contribution, food ingested, road driven, water consumed, heat and electricity used–not just in the home, but everywhere we go, park used, bike path travelled, teacher minute used by our children, etc. In the end, it will be Big Brother but not Big Brother as government but Big Brother as corporate monitor and creditor. Or will the full circle of Republicans-conservtaives-libertarians-anarchists-radicals-liberals-Democrats-independents-Republicans, etc. unite and object?
It’s already in the works. Senate Bill 1813, Section 3406, sponsored by Barbara Boxer, has already passed the Senate. It requires “black box recorders” in automobiles for 2015 onward but I don’t believe for a minute it will be for Big Brother corporate use only. Although the text of legislation states that such data would remain the property of the owner of the vehicle, the government would have the power to access it in a number of circumstances, including by court order, if the owner consents to make it available, and pursuant to an investigation or inspection conducted by the Secretary of Transportation.
Such things already exist are are sometimes used for accident investigations. They are also used by insurance companies to monitor teenage drivers and others who want to get a break on insurance rates.