No it was because you quoted me directly in your post, then went on to explain how you are such a skilled driver, which gave me the impression your reply was aimed directly at me. If that isn't the case then please accept my apologies, I do not deliberately set out to cause annoyance.

Forgive my ignorance, I have gotten my wires crossed a bit (forgive the pun too), I though IV was a generation thing, like a Mark4 or some such, rather than a specific hybrid model. There's only one of these for sale locally and I can count on one hand the number of petrols under 3 years available in the country (NI), and pricing is not particularly reasonable. Choice isn't particularly great here at the best of times. How do you find living with yours day to day?

Very interesting point about "flexibility". My 1.9 diesel was fine once above about 1500rpm and the turbo spinning but below that there was a big hole understandably in the torque curve, which needed a downchange. This meant that trickling along needed care The Civic by comparison will pull from absurdly low rpm in 6th, around 1000rpm, smoothly but of course with no vigour. I've also noted the same in my parents 1.0 ecoboost, it's very intolerant of being off boost, in the higher gears, not a problem if one is concentrating but it's there. Of course, once on boost in the right gear it flies but one can tell the difference in flexibility between it and something larger engined non turbo.

On the other hand I have my toy, the MX-5. The torque is actually quite good for an unblown 1.5, but feels negligible when one has just been driving a turbo diesel. But the engine is wonderfully tractable and pulls smoothly between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm, despite the fact that it is only a 30-50hp car in this band even at full throttle. On the flat and not in a hurry, it's very easy to pootle. Reality bites when a proper hill is encountered and when caught out I have inelegantly dropped 3 gears more than once. Maximum power comes at 7000rpm, and peak torque at nearly 5,000

My toy as most will know is my Caterham 7. The current car (had a previous one) started life in 1992 as a road legal competition car and was fitted with a bored and stroked Ford x-flow (1860cc) which maxed out at about 175 bhp and pulled to 8500 rpm (did see 9300 once). Max speed was about 120 mph which equated to about 7800 rpm, at that speed air resistance overcame the power it had.

In about 2001 I fitted a 2 litre Zetec from a Mk 1 Mondeo. Bog standard engine with just a pair of cams to add a bit of top end with fueling through a pair of Webers and a Weber Marelli ignition ECU. Cost peanuts compared to the x-flow and was actually faster over a lap despite being heavier, it did have much better torque. That engine was spiced up when I stopped competing and turned to trackdays. Bored to 2.1 litres, stage 3 head mods and fuel injected, power was about 205 bhp. Still cost peanuts since I used off the shelf parts. Went like the clappers until an oilpump/filter malady which pretty much wrecked the bottom end.

Bought a brand new crate Focus 2 litre Zetec direct from Ford for about £800 and sold the bits I did not need for about £300 on e-bay. Sold the usable bits off the wrecked engine (cams, head, block, pistons) for about £500 so the net cost was £0.00. Fitted it into the car with totally standard internals the only mods being the sump (essential to get it into the car), flywheel/clutch (essential to mate it to a Type 9 gearbox), exhaust (essential for obvious reasons), induction system (as exhaust) and vernier cam pulleys (just because I had them and they look good). All these bits were used on the previous engine so no cost there (this time).

Once in a mapped it felt really strong at the bottom and midrange but was clearly down at the top end when compared to the tuned engine (but it was still b***** quick in a 600kg car). Did eventually get it on a RR Dyno and the figures were pretty much as suggested by several specialists on the web, hardly surprising since they also used bog standard engines from Ford as a base with similar inductions, exhausts etc. At 3000 rpm 70 bhp (122 lbs) peak torque 152 lbs from 4500 to 5500 rpm and at 7000 rpm (where I had set the limiter) it was 177 bhp and still rising (slightly), that is more than the race x-flow. That was more power at a higher rpm than the others on the web but I had bigger throttle bodies (45mm not 40mm) and a bigger bore exhaust 1.75" primaries and 2.25" silencer, they had 1.625" primaries and a 2" silencer.

Its totally tractable down to 1500 rpm and will pull cleanly in 5th with some gusto. At 3000 rpm it starts to really take off, at 4500 rpm its time to hold on.

Then there is the mpg. With the x-flow in on the road I would see about 16 mpg on a good day using 98 octane leaded or unleaded with additives. With the current engine its averaged about 36 mpg over the last 3 summers using boggo 95 RON petrol.

You can have some serious fun on A roads using no more than 3000 rpm and staying legal (3000 in 5th is exactly 60mph)

No wishes to spend more on the engine, purely by luck its perfect as it is for use on the road.

Thanks for the feedback, 55 mpg sounds pretty decent in real world conditions, is that urban or extra urban miles?

My current commute is almost entirely extra urban, 25 miles each way with the first 10 miles on fast sweeping b road and the rest dual carriageway. Hooning along early in the morning when the roads are deserted is sometimes the most fun thing I get to do that day. No harm in chasing the red line from time to time :-) .

However at the risk of sounding like I’m completely contradicting myself from before, a change in job means I will be based in the city in future, with a lot more urban driving. Hence, dare I say it, my shopping list for next time may feature *gasp automatics with turbo engines, as these are almost certainly better suited to this usage profile. This leads to my particular interest in hybrids.

I have had the opportunity to drive a IS300 hybrid before. Very smooth and easy to get on with a satisfying surge of torque from standstill from the electric motor. Naturally this uses Toyotas acclaimed HSD hybrid system which impressed me greatly. Mechanically very simple with no clutch or gearbox to speak of, should stand the test of time even in the hands of a less than sympathetic driver. It looks like the superb hybrid still retains a DSG type gearbox, which is a bit unfortunate as the potential weakness of clutches is still in there. I’m curious as to where in the system the electric motor is fitted in. Prob a research topic for a rainy lunchtime.

With a young family, and all the associated paraphernalia that comes with it, I need a larger car. And large estate car hybrids seem to be very few on the ground. I know of a Mondeo Hybrid (that the press don’t speak well of, yet owners reviews on autotrader say the opposite), I think Kia might do an Optima hybrid, and then there’s the Superb and its stablemate Passat. Not a large selection to choose from. Although if Mazda’s hotly rumoured next gen 6 with RWD and straight 6 engine comes to market (and in particular the UK), I could probably find myself swinging that way again too.

Haha whoops, look at the confusion a lack of capitalisation can cause :-D.

I have a good understanding of how the Toyota hybrid system works and I have to say that I think it is the work of genius. Clever yet very simple at the same time.