got a link?
“Orders were taken for large scale manufacturing but somehow (yes, interestingly “somehow”) the production was stopped. Detroit was certainly not interested in having competition from somebody that could propel the car by air.”
Do you have a link for this?
me too
In my prius, with 2 kayaks, 2 people, and a lot of junk in the back, we get about 45 mpg. Add the dogs and a couple bikes and it drops to 42 mpg. You can stuff a lot of stuff in a prius–our last trip included 2 people, 2 pit bulls, one husky, 2 pairs of skis, and winter gear for a week. No kayaks on top for that trip, however.
Arizona! I love Arizona, can’t wait
to move out there. Then we can meet and go out new car shopping, right after we paddle Apache Lake or Roselvelt or Paridise or the Marina or dozens of other places I’d like to come back to… AND STAY THIS TIME!
Modern diesels
Modern turbo diesels aren’t really slow, I bought a Mazda6 diesel wagon last year and have been happy with it as a paddling vehicle. Unfortunately I don’t think they are available in the US.
A smaller vehicle is also more economical, my 1995 Nissan Micra has about the same mileage as the diesel. There are more small diesels appearing on the market here in Australia eg: Hyundai, Mazda3 so they may get to the American market in coming years.
Kelvin
Thanks for all the info
The Subie has only 107K on it, so I’ll be keeping it for now, but all these comments give me lots to investigate. I used to get in the mid-30’s with a VW Rabbit and an 18’ canoe on top - we’ll see what VW does with the new tdi’s.
For those with the Prius - are we talking sea kayaks on top? What kind of bar spread with the rack?
Alan
Diesel or Hybrid
Is the only way you gonna break the 30 mpg barrier at any reasonable speed IMO. May be the smaller cars like Yaris or Fit may do it as weel, but it will be too close to your current to warrant an upgrade.
In my '02 Prius I manage to stay at or just above 40 mpg on the highway with a kayak on top as long as I do not go faster than 60 mph or so. Even a few miles faster and it drops below 40 into the high 30s. A few miles slower and it goes up. Take the kayak off and you gain 5-10 mpg on top of whatever you were doing with it.
The Camry may get you in the low 30s IMO at decent speed but costs a lot of money - not reasonable from a $$$ prospective, but yes for a whole lot of other reasons.
I’m actually looking at a Honda Fit to replace an aging Camry but after driving a Prius for a while, a fuel efficiency in the low 30s looks bad to me - I’m getting mid 40s with the beat-up Prius without trying too hard (gets me above 50 if I am careful).