Recently I ran across a post on an auto enthusiast forum about how the lacking of the fold-down rear seat in the HS250h is the deal breaker. The poster argued about how other hybrids like the Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Insight, Nissan Altima, Saturn Aura, Toyota Camry and Toyota Prius all have it so it appears Lexus is “cutting back” for not including the feature. Well, I did some “googearch” in my own spare time and found out the following…

Toyota Camry Hybrid:

In a closer look, this is the amount of access room (or the lack of…) that one gets from the fold-down seat with the batteries in the trunk:

Nissan Altima Hybrid:

According to about.com, in the Altima hybrid…

Hybrid battery eliminates a fold-down rear seat

Chevy Malibu Hybrid / Saturn Aura Hybrid:

The Malibu Hybrid is a mild hybrid, which means it’s a joke comparing to Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD) system… Saturn Aura Hybrid uses the same system as the Malibu hybrid.

Sure in the picture it appears to be the Malibu hybrid has tons of access with the fold-down rear seat but the reality is that the battery pack is much smaller comparing to the Toyota/Lexus systems. The reason is due to the GM’s hybrid battery pack only powers the motor/alternator for engine assist as well as restarting the engine from AUTO STOP mode and does not independently driving the wheels like the Toyota’s HSD.

Toyota Prius:

Toyota Prius is a hatch back, which allows it to have more room in the trunk area. As you can see from the picture, in that area of interest, the cabin is also much taller comparing to the Camry hybrid.

Honda Insight:

Honda Insight almost has the identical shape as the Toyota Prius, so the reasons above can also be applied here.

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Image sources: [ About.com: Hybrid Cars and Alt Fuels ]

It puzzles me everytime when people say Passat is the “driver’s car” of family sedans and other aren’t… I mean, all the sedans are products of compromise, some are compromised more than others, that’s it, to say that the Passat is a “drive’s car” while others aren’t is just ridiculous in my humble opinion.

I understand that most of us can only afford one car so we want the best balance of comfort, practicality and performance (I am in the same boat). Then my question is, if that’s the case, why would I want to get a VW? There are true RWD sports sedans out there that costs less than a comparable VW and performs better, for example:

VW CC VR6 Sport FWD: $39,015
VW CC VR6 4Motion AWD: $40,115

(I picked VR6 because that’s the only model that comes with the V6, VW doesn’t offer V6 for Passat anymore)

Infiniti G37 Base: $33,250
Infiniti G37 Journey: $33,700
Infiniti G37 Sport: $34,250
Infiniti G37 X: $35,750

BMW 335i: $40,300
BMW 335ix: $42,300

Lexus IS350: $37,295

MB C350 Sport: $39,750

Then there are those who just want a comfortable and yet reliable A-to-B commuter. Based on the simple comparison I did they have even less reasons to pick VW over the other family sedans:

VW Passat: $27,600

Toyota Camry SE: $25,840
Honda Accord EX: $26,805
Nissan Altima 3.5 SE: $25,680
Mazda MAZDA6 S Sport: $24,330

(I picked the V6 models to compare with the turbo-charge 4 banger Passat just for giggles, we all know that the I4 models cost even less than the prices shown above…)

So… Can anyone tell me what’s the point of VW?

Recently GM rolls out a new series of commercials called “May the best car win”, in those commercials pretty much GM is comparing their vehicles to their competitors and trying to convince the consumers that they are the better car. One particular commercial caught my eyes because it is just full of deception which will easily paint the wrong picture for those people who aren’t too “savvy” about the automotive industry.

Long story short, here are what GM claimed in the commercial:

• Camry – 32 MPG Hwy / Malibu – 33 MPG Hwy
• Corolla – 35 MPG Hwy / Cobalt – 37 MPG Hwy
• Tundra – 18 MPG Hwy / Silverado – 22 MPG Hwy
• RAV4 – 28 MPG Hwy / Equinox – 32 MPG Hwy

For the record, GM did not use any incorrect data when comparing to the competitors but they also didn’t paint the whole picture because they are trying to swing the advantage to their corner. In my opinion that is a very bad thing to do in commercials so please allow me to clear things up:

1. GM claimed that Camry returns 32 MPG on highway to Malibu’s 33 MPG

What GM failed to mention: The Camry has a combined city/highway cycle of 26 MPG which is the same as the Malibu. Also, the FE of the Camry hybrid is 33/34/34 which is much better than Malibu hybrid’s pathetic 26/34/29.

2. GM claimed that Camry returns 35 MPG on highway to Cobalt’s 37 MPG

What GM failed to mention: The Corolla has a combined city/highway cycle of 30 MPG which equals the Cobalt’s most fuel efficient XFE model. The Cobalt XFE is pretty much a stripper and an extra fuel efficient model in the Cobalt lineup but Toyota does not offer such a thing for the Corolla. The regular Cobalt returns 24/33/27, which is inferior in every way when comparing to Corolla’s 26/35/30.

2. GM claimed that Tundra returns 18 MPG on highway to Silverado’s 22 MPG

What GM failed to mention: GM did not state that only the Silverado HYBRID returns 22 MPG on highway, the regular gasoline versions return 14/19/16 for the 6.0L V8 and 15/20/17 for the 4.3L V6. The Silverado V6’s FE numbers is just down right pathetic when comparing to Tundra 4.6L V8’s EQUAL 15/20/17. The Tundra 5.7L V8 does return 1 less MPG in the city than the 6.0L V8 Silverado (18 vs. 19) but at the same time the Tundra also has 14 more HP and 26 more lb-ft of torque.

2. GM claimed that RAV4 returns 28 MPG on highway to Equinox’s 32 MPG

What GM failed to mention: GM actually has a case here because the 4-cylinder Equinox is hands down better than the 4-cylinder RAV4 is almost all aspects when comes to FE (22/28/24 for RAV4, 22/32/26 for Equinox). However, the V6 RAV4’s 19/27/22 has the Equinox V6’s 17/25/20 beat in city, highway AND combined cycle.

So GM… SHAME ON YOU.

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