hybrid cars?

[mr. piper]

has anyone tried a new "hybrid car"? they have a petrol engine and an electric one running on cells charged up by the petrol motor. when you are at a junction the petrol engine stops and all is quiet, then the electric motor pulls you away silently until about 25mph the the petrol kicks in . What a concept, i will get one with disabled modifications asap.

I just want to hear from a driver that has tried one.

[Impret-Sir]

I have never driven one, but the only road test I have read for one, the Toyota Prius, in CAR magazine, described it as : "impressivly frugal but utterly insipid to drive and massivly expensive compared to more mainstream turbo-diesel hatches. Big depreciation reflects the motor trade's utter suspicion of this type of car. The Golf PD is faster, cheaper, and has identical economy, well take that every time". Nuff said I think.

[UsAndStuff]

I suppose it's fairly new technology, so it's quite a long way from perfection, my concern would be the extra weight of the batteries & motors would also restrict the economy.
Personally I'd find a nice economical normal fuel car, my 1.9tdi Skoda Fabia does 45+ round town, 60 on a steady run down the motorway, but has plenty of power should I need to put the foot down :)
The only critisism I've got is it's boot is quite small, but you could always buy an estate.
(and it's cheaper than a golf!)

[jimmy654]

I was at a car show in the U.S. and tried something called a Fisker Karma. It's a sports car that can be run on pure battery or hybrid power.
http://www.futurecars.com/reviews/fisker-karma .html
I was impreesed at how much power a fully electric car can have