Recently, in the Carnival of Wheels, somebody made a comment about the incredible number of Prius’ on the road. I replied that we don’t see them here in the Toronto area. While in Connecticut, I see what they were talking about. These things are everywhere. The funny thing is that while traveling at 80 mph, I was passed by at least 4 of them.

A hybrid at over 80 miles per hour! Why bother you MORONS!

This second part of our review of the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid is more than a little overdue. So why has it taken so long? Well, to be honest, we’ve driven some pretty exciting machines over the past month and I’m just not feeling fired up about the Escape. That’s really not being fair to Ford’s little green machine though, as it performed flawlessly during it’s time in The Garage. It’s just that I get inspired by vehicles that offer up some sort of exhilarating performance, be it on or off road performance and exhilaration just isn’t the Escape Hybrid’s forte. Or is it?
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Part of the fun of writing about publishing The Garage is that I get to refuel all that automotive passion from driving all sorts of exciting cars. It really is all about the passion, so what the heck are we doing in a Hybrid? After all, Hybrid vehicles aren’t exactly known for their stirring performance. Or are they? Early Hybrid vehicles were generally bought by back to the earth, Jerry Garcia disciples who generally had the social skills of someone who had consumed just a few too many bags of grass in the early days. The cars were untried, had oddball styling and don’t even think about taking your clubs away for the weekend.

With the price of gas in today’s world, something had to be done to bring the cost benefits of the Hybrid vehicle to the masses. For Ford, that means offering the consumer a range of Hybrid vehicles, including our tester last week, the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. Now the Hybrid vehicle technology isn’t the only part of the vehicle to make the socially conscious happy. The Escape’s seats are covered in a rugged looking fabric that is constructed of 100% recycled materials, which likely means you’ll be sitting on last month’s pop bottles and Twinkie wrappers. The end result is a comfortable fabric that gives the appearance of being quite durable and is likely easy to keep clean. Fortunately, the kids didn’t manage to spill anything this time around so we didn’t have to test out the stain resistance factor.
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The earliest gas/electric Hybrid vehicles released to the consumer were small, futuristic 2 doors that really didn’t offer much in the way of practicality. Two doors, two seats, not much room for more than an overnight bag in the back. Hybrid offerings have come a long way from those early days and now we see all manner of sedans and even small SUV’s sporting Hybrid technology.

For the next week, we’ll be putting a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid through it’s paces, seeing how modern tech fares in the real world. I can’t wait to see what sort of fuel mileage we can get in the stop and go traffic that makes up most of our driving here in the Toronto area.

Welcome to the Canada Day edition of the Carnival of Wheels! It’s been a busy couple of weeks in The Garage. We are in the middle of three weeks of track action and we’ve picked up a new to us SUV, so our work here in The Garage has been pretty self centered. Don’t worry though, our selfish posting will continue, as there are still tons of photos yet to be edited from the VARAC festival and next weekend is a double header. First we’ll have 2 days in the pits at the Steelback Grand Prix for Champ Cars and then on Sunday, Miss Shelby has her first race of the season. Elsewhere online, autobloggers have been busy churning out all manner of hot content, so sit down, strap in and get ready for a smoking hot lap of the blogosphere while you watch the French Grand Prix.

First up we’ve got another visit from Hello Kitty Hell, with a truly frightening tuner mod. This poor guy’s wife has actually installed this happy feline exhaust tip on their car! Be afraid, be very, very afraid.
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Press day at the Canadian International Autoshow opened yesterday with the announcement of the winners of the AJAC Canadian Car of the Year awards. Beating out the Honda Fit and Mazdaspeed 3 for top honours was the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid.

You can read the full AJAC press release after the break
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Using Formula 1 technology to keep things light, the big brains at French company Venturi have released the Astrolab. With a top speed of 120 kmh and a range of about 110 km, the two seater is now available to European consumers for only 92,000 Euros (roughly $117,000). The entire upper surface is covered in photovoltaic cells that recharge the batteries. There doesn’t seem to be any mention of a roof, so things might be a tad damp on rainy days.
For all the techie details and more pics visit Gizmag

These guys with their big brains just blow me away. Moonbeam is the brainchild of a guy named Jory Squibb and combines a pair of mopeds, a couple of grand and a big freakin brain. The finished product looks like something that NASA would be proud of and gets a whopping 100 mpg on the highway and even gets 85 mpg in town. Jory is even willing to share his knowledge and offers instructions on how to build your own.

Source Gizmodo

Those fun and wacky guys & girls at google want to take over save the world. They have shifted at least part of their focus away from creating cool computer things and towards doing good for the world. The have created a philanthropic arm which plans to curb poverty, disease and global warming. Pretty lofty stuff, but if anyone this side of Bill Gates has the cash and brains to do it, then google may be a contender.

As part of the global warming bit, google wants to develop 100 mpg cars. Apparently they are already working with hybrid engine specialists and automakers to design a platform that will run on ethanol, gasoline and electricity. Soon, we may be lining up to buy a google mobile. Maybe they should call it the moogle!

Source NYT via Kicking Tires

Meet the Aptera, an 850 LB, 330 mpg concept car that should be available soon from manufacturer Accelerated Composites. Powered by a 12 hp diesel and a 25 hp DC motor, this hybrid features a CVT transmission and will accelerate from zero to 60 mph in a respectable 11 seconds. Make no mistake though, this thing is no Tesla on the road.

Time will tell if the public is ready for the look of the space age composite body.

Source Gizmodo