Hybrid Sports Car Faster Than Porsche, BMW And 1/4 The Price

[133724]

For a while there I was scared hybrids and "green" cars would be weak, girly little cars with slow engines. But what I'm seeing from Toyota has made me a happy man. Imagine having a car that is much faster than a Porsche, Mercedes AMG and any M series car from BMW and still cost 1/4 the price! Well Toyota plans to sell the FT-HS somewhere in the mid 30k range which, if correct, has me sold as I type this down. The goal of the rear wheel drive(thank god!) hybrid powertrain is to produce 400 horsepower and achieve 0-60 mph in around 4 seconds. This is accomplished with by combining a 3.5-liter V6 and an electric motor in a similar manner to the Lexus GS450h. What else does Toyota have in store? Well, for starters the 2+2 vehicle features a unique retractable roof similar to a targa top, but most likely will cancel out any use of the backseats when down. There still is no final word if the Toyota FT-HS will make it to production, but they haven't had a sports car since the Supra in 1997. So if anyone from Toyota reads this article, be sure to get this car onto the production line, I will surely be your first customer!




http://www.trendpimp.com/article/162/The_Toyota_FTHS_Rocket.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Nothing funnier than having my little

Honda Civic go for all its glory around your local porche, on a seep ramp of the local highway,

Oh the faces from the drivers are FUNNY

And yes it does whine, that is the electric motor... but hey, it has quite a bit of git up and go... and for god sakes it ain't a sports car!

;-)

[Vexatious Ape]

2. I hear you.

I love pulling out in front of SUV's, sports cars and such in my Prius.

[Billy Ruffian]

6. Don't delude yourself

Vexatious Ape, and nadinbrzezinski, do not fool yourself that your Civic and Prius can beat a Porsche, or really, any performance sedan or coupe.

Before I get into that, I do want to make it clear that I like hybrid technology, think that hybrid cars are a good idea that will help develop better technology and better economy performance across the board, and will I certainly consider a hybrid whenever I buy a new car (a rare event. We keep our cars for years and years, and our last car was at 208K when we sold it). I also fully recognize that a hybrid vehicle gets much better fuel economy than a high performance car. (I read in a Prius newsletter about very high mileage runs, in excess of 100mpg, in Prius. That's the high performance competition for hybrids)

However, the Prius has a 0-60 time of about 10 seconds. My 2002 Maxima has a 0-60 time of about 6.4 seconds, will do the quarter mile in about 15 seconds, at nearly 100MPH through the traps. A Porsche 911 is in the low 5 second range, IIRC (don't have the road tests at hand). There are some street legal high performance cars that will do 0-60 in under 5 seconds.

If you are pulling away from a sports car at a light, or passing them in a curve, it's because they're letting you, for whatever reason.

In order to accelerate quickly, it takes power and torque. The Prius & Civic hybrids just don't have the power and torque that a Porsche, Mustang GT, Corvette, etc. have.

An electric vehicle CAN have lots of power and torque, but the consumption of battery charge will be quicker. If it's a hybrid high performance vehicle (see the Lexus hybrid SUV), the gas engine will have to run more to keep the battery charged. Others have posted of electric or hybrid vehicles that can certainly be called high-performance vehicles. Those vehicles have a lot of horsepower and torque.



Hybrid vehicles do NOT repeal the laws of physics.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Never underestimate the potential of DC power..... check it

Please do click on the video, you won't believe your eyes....


2006 Dragster Motorcycle Killacycle Electric Pictures & Mods
1/4 mile data
8.760 seconds
145.000 MPH trap speed


http://www.dragtimes.com/Dragster-Motorcycle-Timeslip-7621.html

[htuttle]

4. Anyone who thinks electric==slow should see NEDRA

http://www.nedra.com/

[BlooInBloo]

5. Concept car. Vaporware. Doesn't exist.

[Poiuyt]

7. The Tesla is real

http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php?js_enabled=1

[BlooInBloo]

8. Oh really? Where can I go right now, pay $30,000, and drive off in one?

[BlooInBloo]

9. Oh - you're talking about a different car - lol - my bad.

[gravity]

10. This isn't really a green car

The hybrid drivetrain is used to boost the power of the already high performance 3.5L V6 engine. This makes the car accelerate as fast as a porshe, but doesn't make it environmentally friendly compared to the average compact car.