Word: hybrid
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Bill Maher, host of Politically Incorrect, also drives a hybrid car. So does Seinfeld creator Larry David. Leonardo DiCaprio likes his hybrid so much that he bought three more, for his mom, dad and stepmom--and took time out from a Steven Spielberg set to boast to TIME about his high-tech wheels. "People are always impressed," he notes, "with the way it drives, the gas mileage and how quiet...
...auto industry wants to take another crack at it. A hybrid version of the Honda Civic, the best-selling compact car in America, started rolling into dealerships nationwide last week. Next year Ford, which has produced a string of electric cars, is expected to be the first U.S. manufacturer to introduce a hybrid vehicle. I took the politically correct version of the six-cylinder Escape for an exclusive spin earlier this month. Meanwhile, Toyota, General Motors and Chrysler have all promised a new crop of hybrid vehicles by 2004. J.D. Power & Associates, which tracks consumer tastes for the auto industry...
...excitement? "Hybrids are the first viable alternative to the gasoline engine," says Prabhakar Patil, the chief engineer for Ford's hybrid program, who notes that cars that run on fuel cells--widely expected to be the next technological advance in automotive power--are at least 10 years off. Hybrids still have a major hurdle to overcome: sticker shock (more on that later). But for car buyers who want to do their part for the environment and are willing pay a few grand extra to do it, hybrids are the only game in Motown...
...hybrid Civic uses a smaller electric motor and a more powerful gas engine than the Prius, so it's always burning gas, except when it's braking or standing still. Even so, it gets 47 m.p.g. in the city and 51 m.p.g. on the freeway, approximately a 25% improvement over the gas-only version. Aside from a small hybrid logo on the trunk, it looks just like a regular Civic. About the only drawbacks are the higher sticker price ($19,550, roughly $2,500 more than a similarly equipped standard Civic) and slightly slower acceleration...
Ford, for its part, claims that when its hybrid Escape SUV goes on sale next year, it will have all the zip of the regular Escape, even though it will run off a smaller four-cylinder engine. The extra horsepower is supposed to come from a state-of-the-art electric motor. The company is promising an impressive 40 m.p.g. in city driving, vs. the 23 m.p.g. the gas-only version gets today...