Prius Smiush

[JOE FULTON <piper_pa20@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mr. Swygert wrote:

I was just reading that if the battery isn't charged
at least every two weeks
it could seriously degrade battery performance. A
retired couple bought one
expecting to lock it in the garage several times a
year for vacations lasting
up to a month. They were a little upset to discover
that fact 

AFTER buying!
Toyota customer service told them they should have
read the owners manual
before purchasing. They've been telling friends they
have to limit their
vacation to two weeks or have a car sitter. Many have
decided not to buy
because of the two week deal. You'd think that a
simple plug in battery
maintainer would be available. A 1A motorcycle
maintainer could be connected to 
the auxilliary battery terminals easy enough, but
would that get through to the 
main battery?
=======

And if GM had done something stupid like that you guys
would be ragging on them about it.  Come on guys, give
GM a rest.  They will either survive and thrive or the
won't.  Don't keep ragging on a good company.  My
silverado pickup has never let me down, gets good gas
mileage, 20 -22 mpg with a small V8, has plenty of
power to pull a trailer loaded with a rusty old AMC
and is comfortable to drive.

There's no more corporate greed there than anywhere
else.  When their strategy of basically skipping the
"hybrid" step and going to alcohol power or hydrogen
actually does pan out (with or without government
help) what are you gonna rag on?  Mahoney will
probably say he knew it all along. 

Joe Fulton
Salinas, CA