Hot hatchbacks article.

[LDB]

Most of these aren't available in the States but there are a lot of cool cars in the bunch.

The best hot hatchbacks of 2016 | Evo

[Draigflag]

Some really great cars in there, some of which I've driven, and some of which I'm actually considering. I can't express just how fun hot hatches are until you're presented with an empty Welsh backroad and miles upon miles of track like twists and turns. It's like a roller coaster that you're in control of!

[R.I.D.E.]

Yesterday on a short leg of a daily ride, I hit 80 mph indicated on my Mirage, just before a garbage truck pulled out in front of me and killed my momentum. Regularly trashed by auto rag writers, not so much by myself, who has driven Jag XKE, DeThomaso Pantera, a 1967 383 Formula S Barracuda and a few hundred others including a 450 HP 2500 pound 1977 Z car.

That's 96 mpg using British gallon measurements. It was 97 degrees outside, with a dew point of 80 degrees, never touched the AC button.

Fastest vehicle I ever rode was a 1973 Kawasaki 900 Z1, I bought for $1400 with 1400 miles on the odometer. I learned an important lesson about blisteringly fast accelerating vehicles on public roads in traffic. YOU are the problem when you drive-ride something that is so quick people can not comprehend where you COULD be.

[benlovesgoddess]

I have been struggling to understand the best method to maximise hybrid economy. A thorough article on a Prius forum broke down their pulse and glide method for dummies. Totally counter intuitive, as it seeks to bypass the recharging of the battery and the use of EV - the two things you assume are best for economy!
It does require no one behind you, as it is basically accelerating up to 40-60 mph and then coasting with the regen stopped.
By sheer luck, i had the car to myself all day and mainly clear roads. I have an indicated 83 mpg (imp) over 73 miles.
My 25 mile commute i'm lucky to see 70, but got 87 on the way in.
I know the trip computer is only a guide.
Tomorrow i have 50 miles with the missus riding shotgun - shes quick to notice if i'm slowing down to 35 mph every couple of minutes...!
I'm sure those hot hatches are fun to drive - if you can live with the mpg.
I've been in too many near misses with reckless drivers, if i had been thrashing a car rather than slow and steady, i bet there would have been a crash.
The problem is morons talking up more than half of tbe road as they tear round blind corners.
Unless you are firmly in your half and able to stay over, and going at a slow enough speed to hug the verge in time, it could be messy.

[Draigflag]

I am a slower driver now than in my teens/early 20's, but there are still plenty of places to enjoy a bit of spirited driving as it were. At certain times of the year, on certain stretches of road (usually just off the main road) here in Wales there are some simply awesome roads, as any reputable car journalist or Auto magazine will tell you. I dare even the most experienced hyper miler not to put their foot down on these roads

[benlovesgoddess]

As long as you can see ahead, i believe even the police say you should use the full width of the road - take the racing line.
Driving fast when safe, overtaking when safe - i have no problem with that. What i'm talking about is selfish idiots who drive in that manor when they cant see whats round the corner, and the roads are narrow.
We've had some fatalities within a few miles of where i work recently -possibly another today as a road was shut most of the day. One was 4 people in the same car.
I'm pretty confident that it is only the fact i am probably a slower than average driver that i havent been in a collision.
Simply means both myself and the incompetent moron have a split second more reaction to to swerve or brake.
The Prius moves nicely when floored in power mode, i dont mind blowing away the cobwebs - as long as i can see far enough ahead to stop.
The Honda has about the same power and 0-60, it goes well too.

[benlovesgoddess]

Actually, i was in a collision as a van driver - all to do with speeding for the road conditions.
Really icy 6am start on a barely 2 lane hilly rural road. I'm doing about 15 mph firmly in my side in a Ford Transit connect.
An old Peugeot 306 comes charging towards me, i brake and come to a controlled stop hard left. He brakes so hard he spins 180 degrees, and his rear crunches into my front.
A couple of vehicles within the next few minutes, fast approaching brake hard and end up in a ditch or field, despite us waving in advance to slow...
We push our vehicles out of the road, the other two drive off with scratches.
Then a milk tanker, artic, comes - we tell it not to risk the slope where the cars are at the bottom of.
He comes down,jack -knifes, blocks the road!
I'd only just started the job, had to fill my estate car with water cooler servicing gear and crack on.
The guy who hit me had been at his girlfriends and was hurrying for work.
Moral of the story? I guess you drive as safely as the conditions allow. If he had been driving at my speed on a icy hill, we would have politely passed.
If i had been driving at his speed, we d have been in hospital.

[Draigflag]

I can relate to driving too fast for the conditions, I learnt my own lessons had a few write offs during my teens, most kids do here sadly, but my most recent accident was my worse by far, rolling at 50-60 mph and landing on our roof, and that was the fault of another driver, going to fast for the damp road. Was hit and miss whether she was going to survive, she apparently had life changing injuries, they wouldn't say what but from her car, which was about 3 ft tall after the crash, I'm assuming she was brain damaged or paralysed, scary to think that was nearly me, still waiting for compo three years on, but I'm grateful just to be here.

Anyway, let's not be too doom and gloom, life's too short not to throw in a few risks, so long as conditions allow and you don't risk other road users lives, then let your hair down!

[benlovesgoddess]

As we say at work "lets keep it upbeat, lets keep it lighthearted!"

[trollbait]

Originally Posted by benlovesgoddess

I have been struggling to understand the best method to maximise hybrid economy. A thorough article on a Prius forum broke down their pulse and glide method for dummies. Totally counter intuitive, as it seeks to bypass the recharging of the battery and the use of EV - the two things you assume are best for economy!

Once you grok that a hybrid's energy is all coming from the petrol in the tank, it will seem obvious.

A hybrid is just an ICE car with add ons that improve the efficiency of using that ICE to propel the car. Recapturing brake energy in a battery is one of those add ons. But the system hcomes with the inefficiencies of converting kinetic energy to electrical and back again. Like a plain ICE car, driving a hybrid to minimize to use of the brakes is the most efficient way.

It does require no one behind you, as it is basically accelerating up to 40-60 mph and then coasting with the regen stopped.
By sheer luck, i had the car to myself all day and mainly clear roads. I have an indicated 83 mpg (imp) over 73 miles.
My 25 mile commute i'm lucky to see 70, but got 87 on the way in.

That speed differential is needed for the most gains, but you can see some with a narrower differential. So pulse and glide can be done for saving fuel while still keeping up with traffic. Try to time the pulses and glides to to the natural slowdowns and speed ups caused by traffic flow and terrain.