Actually, I would think just the opposite. The Camry and Altima also shut down while stopped. Full hybrid cars usually favor city driving and don't really pay off for a lot of highway driving, since the energy recapture is pretty much nil on the highway. In city driving you are using the brakes more, which allows recapture of energy that you can then use to accelerate back up to speed.

 

it all depends on how long they were stopped.. camry and altima will be using the electric motors only at low speeds, and of course the engine will be shut off at a stop as well.. if they are just driving around at 30mph.. the camry and altima can basically do that on electric only... the aura however can only do electric up to 3mph (according to the article) so it all depends on their definition of city driving..

i think where the aura would shine, is if you had a commute in the morining where it was stop and go traffic the whole way.. you are stopped most of the time and the aura would save you a ton of gas.. as much as the other hybrids, or at least close

since they only got 18 or 19mpg for the aura in their "city driving" i'm assuming they didnt stop and go much, but rather just drove around at low speeds, perhaps a residential area with stop signs every once in a while

 

Agreed...I've never thought and still don't thinnk that hybrid technology is really the way to go; the only reason all the others are jumping on Toyota's band wagon is because Toyota has been so successful with it but that's mostly a matter of "being in the right place at the right time" (either that or Toyota is really that much better at predicting gas prices many, many years into the future and could see the day when the hybrid would be welcomed because it was about the only alternative available).

 

its not about brake regeneration, its about the motor being shut off when you are stopped, which is the case in all 3 of these hybrid cars

here in Chicago at least, the traffic duruing rush hour is so bad you are stopped 90% of the time.. what should be a 20minute commute with no traffic could take 2 hours or more... since when the vehicles are stopped they are on equal ground because all of them have their engines shut off, so they should get similar fuel economy

 

You are correct in that all three cars will not be burning gas when stopped in traffic. However, when traffic begins to move slowly, the altima and camry will still be driving at 5-10mph on electric power, while the aura's gas engine will kick on...resulting in less mpg.

I really liked the aura hybrid until i saw the comparable mpg between it and camry. If im going to deal with a 4 cylinder car it better get close to 40mpg. Otherwise i might as well get a v6.

 

Now I realize that the Camry is a "midsized car" and the Corolla is a small car, But...

The 08 Camry Hybrid is rated to get on average about 3mpg better than the Corolla... The Malibu Hybrid is only rated to get 2mpg better than the non Hybrid...

For the average driver, that's going to be about $100 per year difference in fuel cost...

If you take TVM into account, there is no point where the premium for the hybrid is made up in fuel savings...

I'm really happy that all manufacturers are doing reaserch and development of new technologies to make cars and trucks more fuel efficient, more powerful, and produce less polution. That being said, my guess is that hybrid technology will have to greatly improve before it is the right solution for most consumers. By then, the technology will likely be combined with better battery technology, and possibly alternative fuels...

If battery technology improves greatly and the country makes the move using more nuclear power plants for electrical power, then the purely electric car starts looking a lot more attractive... But if the power is going to be produced by coal plants, then it really wouldn't produce any lower emission levels or lower operating costs for consumers