Real World: Prius worse MPG than BMW 520D

Not that I'm keen on defending it but isn't the Prius' main point CO2-Emission rather than MPG anyway?
 
CO2 emissions and MPG are the same thing really. Whenever you burn a litre petrol (or diesel) you emit a certain amount of CO2, the Prius can change the laws of physics and it is particularly bad at trying to do so. :D
 
Ok, dumb question here: we know the Prius is today's overhyped equivalent of snake oil, but aren't the BMW's diesel emissions still worse than the Prius and contain more toxins anyway? I don't know much about the new slate of clean diesels, but I'd imagine the pollutants coming out of the back are still worse than the Prius's.
 
Particulate filters reduce the emissions by burning up all the particulate matter in the exhaust a.k.a. the soot that comes out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particulate_filter

And the really clever thing is that some of them use the other pollutants in the gas to burn the soot, rendering all of them harmless. Audi and Peugeot both have them on their Le Mans cars, and apparently all that comes out the back is water and carbon dioxide; no soot, no nothing else.


And if you read carefully, the 520d had a particulate filter installed.
 
Damn I wish we could get decent diesel cars here in the US. I'd love to own a diesel BMW or Audi. As it is I'll probably get one of GM's diesel 1/2 tons at some point, and that may be useful; but it's a poor substitute.

argatoga said:
I suspect the BMW doesn't encourage fuel efficiency like this, and in every day driving wouldn't beat the Prius, but I am sure it wouldn't be off by much.
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Well that was the whole point of this little test, wasn't it? ;) The BMW went the 545 miles with the AC on, cruising ~80mph on the freeways. The guy driving the Prius kept the AC and the stereo off, and from the sound of it, drove like a grandma on her way to Bingo night. And the Prius lost. Certainly it was close, but how would you rather drive?

hansvonaxion said:
More than anything this highlights the lawmakers' poor decision-making abilities. Rather than applying tax benefits to cars based on their actual performance they give benefits to cars based on the name "hybrid" alone. Don't hate the Prius, hate the fools that made it out to be the holy savior when in fact its just a fairly fuel efficient car. (or at least it was when released over a decade ago)
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I'm glad they put that in their article. Politicians took the easy way out and decided to give breaks to anything with a 'Hybrid' badge; nevermind that there are cars with conventional powertrains that are more 'eco-friendly'. It's bad policy (and probably the result of the crack lobbyists Toyota employs), but I'm sure it's hard for politicians to stay informed on all the stuff they legislate :rolleyes:.
 
Blind_Io said:
Check out the top speed for the two cars, I don't think they were putzing around at 55 trying to nurse the cars along.
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Nonetheless, it cruised happily at the French autoroute limit (dry conditions) of 78mph towards the champagne region.
As I did so, I noted with slight satisfaction that Jason was having difficulty keeping up, so I cut my speed.
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It looks like he did have to cut his speed.

tigger said:
Well that was the whole point of this little test, wasn't it? ;) The BMW went the 545 miles with the AC on, cruising ~80mph on the freeways. The guy driving the Prius kept the AC and the stereo off, and from the sound of it, drove like a grandma on her way to Bingo night. And the Prius lost. Certainly it was close, but how would you rather drive?
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Again it looks like the BMW was going the same speed, but Jason did have to turn off the AC and radio (I don't fully understand the radio part if he was on the freeway and the engine was running).

I am fairly confident that the BMW gets better fuel economy, but I still think the Prius will beat it for most people. The Prius has the distract-o-meter that encourages the driver to get better fuel economy, whereas the BMW does not. The BMW driver was trying his utmost to get the most fuel economy, most people will not be of the same mindset in that car.

hansvonaxion said:
The Prius will get no support on car enthusiast forums. I drove one for 2 days (without a MPG indicator) with 4 occupants for the majority and got about 80mpg imp. Thats on the higher end of the Japanese models claimed MPG. I think there must be some differences between the domestic and export models, but still I don't know what they are doing to get such poor figures. Mind you, driving to Geneva isn't really "everyday" driving.
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How much freeway driving where you doing? The Prius gets worse millage on the freeway as it has to keep the engine running.
 
BMW does make very, very good engines so I'm not surprised at all by this result.
 
jayhawk said:
On the other side, who here, when driving on the highway, has been passed by a Prius going 90 MPH? I see more often than not.

AlGore is currently sleeping in a bed full of money provided by the same suckers PT Barnum once described.
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The only time a Prius blazes past me is when I'm in my car stuck in traffic and the Prius is in the HOV lane. That stopped once I got my motorcycle.

I like that reference, jayhawk.
 
I know a guy with a Prius who drives it everyday to work 70 miles on the interstate and he claims that the car is doing...65MPG...
LOL! :D
 
My experience with the Prius has been over about 5 rentals and quite a few mixed mode miles...and I typically see 45mpg out of them. Not bad, but not spectacular.

Steve
 
awesome. to bad diesel over here cots $4.25 A GALLON! while high test is around $3.68 there F3cking raping us
 
tigger said:
Damn I wish we could get decent diesel cars here in the US. I'd love to own a diesel BMW or Audi. As it is I'll probably get one of GM's diesel 1/2 tons at some point, and that may be useful; but it's a poor substitute.


Well that was the whole point of this little test, wasn't it? ;) The BMW went the 545 miles with the AC on, cruising ~80mph on the freeways. The guy driving the Prius kept the AC and the stereo off, and from the sound of it, drove like a grandma on her way to Bingo night. And the Prius lost. Certainly it was close, but how would you rather drive?


I'm glad they put that in their article. Politicians took the easy way out and decided to give breaks to anything with a 'Hybrid' badge; nevermind that there are cars with conventional powertrains that are more 'eco-friendly'. It's bad policy (and probably the result of the crack lobbyists Toyota employs), but I'm sure it's hard for politicians to stay informed on all the stuff they legislate :rolleyes:.
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The diesel GM supposedly is going to start putting in their more "premium" products looks quite promising


Diesel isn't that cost effective in some countries like the US and Aus because our diesel costs as much or more than petrol meaning that to make the money back on the premium you paid from the petrol you usually have to drive something like 150,000km
 
Doesn't matter at all about which car gets better mileage or range or less emissions.

I would rather ride a one speed bike uphill everyday than be caught dead in Prius.
 
jayhawk said:
Doesn't matter at all about which car gets better mileage or range or less emissions.

I would rather ride a one speed bike uphill everyday than be caught dead in Prius.
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I agree, the hippy factor is a bit of a deterrent for a lot of people. You can't just buy a Prius without others thinking you are making some idiotic statement about the environment.
 
I wonder how would the BMW do if the car was the same weight as prius and the driver turned off ac and radio.. :)
 
Didnt even know that 520D exist. Where on Earth did they dig up a rare car like this to compete against the Prius....

hmm... Prius.. hm..
Prius.jpg
 
argatoga said:
I agree, the hippy factor is a bit of a deterrent for a lot of people. You can't just buy a Prius without others thinking you are making some idiotic statement about the environment.
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I'm all for people having the right to buy whichever car they want. But if you want a small, fuel efficient car, Toyota themselves sell the Yaris here. And a Yaris with the highest option package is still $6,000 less than the Prius.
 
argatoga said:
How much freeway driving where you doing? The Prius gets worse millage on the freeway as it has to keep the engine running.
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Mostly mountain road type driving, low speed. A few quick trips up and down a "highway", but top speed about 100kph. Aircon was on most of the time.

Like I said, I think there must be a difference between the spec of Japanese cars vs exports. Heres claimed imperial MPG:

Japan
83.6-100

Australia
64.2

USA

55

UK
65.7

Hidden_hunter is right that in Europe diesels make more sense because diesel is cheaper, they just don't have the same popularity in Oz.
 
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