"Andy Hall" aka Matt wrote in message
...
On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 15:47:03 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Andy Hall wrote:
On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 13:42:12 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Phil Bradshaw wrote:
Doctor Drivel wrote:

The epicyclical cluster shares power

The gearbox then.

Dribble obviously doesn't understand that cluster in this case means
'gear cluster'. How he wriggles and squirms. If he were more
intelligent he might be a troll.

I suppose that his argument is that the Primus doesn't have a gearbox
of the type that a conventional IC car does - i.e. a box with gears
where the ratio from one side to the other (engine to axle) is changed
by means of of a manual control or automatic mechanism.

But it does have a mechanism which alters the gearing betwixt petrol
engine and road wheels. And this is an automatically varying ratio - it
has to be given their is no clutch. Otherwise the engine would be driven
by the road wheels even when not in use.

Sure. Call it what you like, but essentially it has one speed and
torque on one side and a different one on the other.

Most people, in the context of a car, would call that a gearbox.

Only those who don't understand it.

If he means that the gearbox in a
Prion is not the same as that for
other types of car, then that's
probably true

Ah some encouragement here. Has he grasped the concept? We shall see...

because it has to handle
the electric motor etc. as well as
the petrol engine.

It is merges/splits power between two power source which are in parallel.
The cluster is a control mechanism to merge the two and present to the
wheels an electric motor. Notice that: after the two motors are merged by
the power splitter, there is no in-line gearbox between it and the wheels.
Why? because the power splitter combined the two motors to give to the
wheels the characteristics of one electric motor (electric motors don't
require gearboxes)

OK, so it's fancier than that of a conventional car. So what? As a
user, what I care about is cost of ownership, performance, usability
and perhaps comfort.

I wouldn't buy one of these because I am unconvinced about it in all
of these respects.

You have never seen one.

Cost of ownership: very low
Performance: average and competes with similar sized cars
Usability: size of Avensis
Comfort: Very and joy to drive, being silent to very quiet.