“The car has made our cities uninhabitable. It is also the best way to escape them. Hurry and take the road to the roadless area, because it won’t be roadless long. Too much demand. The gas pump doesn’t know the beauty which it helped to see; and so the gas tax comes pouring in the the pavement comes pouring out. And so we push that Big Wheel nearer the edge. The land of the free and the home of the auto dump. But man was born to wander.”
–Terry and Renny Russell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W_J6UhQP6s
Different cars for different purposes ... Not sure if I'd want either as a daily driver.
The Toyota Prisus' transmission is much more fascinating then you might think.
A constant velocity transmission or and a traditional transmission increases the gear ratio at lower speeds to allow the wheels to turn a smaller distance in comparison to the engine speed. This provides more torque to wheels help the engine overcome inertia of the car at low speeds.
The Prisus takes a different tack. The engine operates at a constant gear ratio, but to provide the additional torque needed to get the vehicle moving at low speed, it uses an electric motor to assist the gas motor at spinning the wheels.
It's a very cool concept!
