1/28    My car needs a smog check, AGAIN! If I have a hybrid, will
        I have to go less often?
        \_ Why would you?
           \_ Possible incentive?
        \_ If a car needs to be smogged, it needs to be smogged every 2
           years.  My motorcycle, on the other hand, never needs to be
           smogged.  Niether does my bicycle.
        \_ Hybrid's are a crock.  Old (Insight, Prius, Civic) hybrids got their
           gains with aerodynamics, weight savings (in some cases) and low-
           resistance (i.e. less-safe) tires.  Newer ones get it on engine
           tweaks (and don't gain that much).  All of them win on paper because
           of an unrealistic EPA testing scenario.
           \_ Aren't gas-only cars also tested under the same unrealistic EPA
              testing scenario?
              \_ EPA numbers for cars are always a pseudo ideal that will never
                 be met in the real world but they *tend* not to be too far
                 off.  My last car was rated 26 highway, I got about 20-23
                 depending on how bad traffic was, so that's pretty close.
                 Traffic was bad enough to change jobs, so....
              \_ Yes, but it benefits hybrids more because of the
                 charge/discharge characteristics.
                http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-epa11jan11,1,7644604.story
        \_ You'll have to go "less often" because new cars don't have to be
           smogged for the first few years. And anyway, you have three months
           to get it done -- I've always been able to do it with regular
           service anyway (before this year, when I became Test Only).