Rupert
Rupert
Small is beautiful. And also really fuel efficient. And damn easy to park.
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Toyota Prius proves a gas guzzler in a race with the BMW 520d
The Toyota hybrid is hailed as an eco-paragon, so how does it fare against a big BMW? To find out our correspondents go on a run to Geneva.

The Prius, like the iPod, is more than a piece of clever technology. It symbolises something bigger – a responsible attitude, a healthier way of living. Toyota has sold more than a million examples of the car since launching it in 1997 and it has attracted a worldwide following led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and much of the rest of Hollywood.

It’s classified by the American government as the “most fuel-efficient car sold in the US” and this seal of official approval is reflected in a special status that the Prius and other hybrids enjoy over conventionally powered cars.

For example, you can drive a Prius in American “high occupancy vehicle lanes” – designed for vehicles carrying passengers – even if there’s nobody else in the car. In Britain the Prius has had a similar boost. You can enter the central London congestion zone without paying the usual £8-a-day charge. For road tax purposes it’s classed as an “alternative fuel vehicle” so you pay less tax than you would for a conventional car that produces the same emissions. Road tax is just £15 a year and in last Wednesday’s budget, Alistair Darling, the chancellor, renewed his commitment to preferential treatment for hybrids. Plus, if you drive a Prius as a company car it enjoys a 3% discount (until April) compared with the tax on other cars producing identical amounts of carbon dioxide.

But are transport and tax planners – here and in the US – being fair to the people who drive conventional cars? The official fuel consumption figure for the Prius – supplied by Toyota itself – is 65.7mpg in mixed motoring. That’s a claim not supported by many of the letter writers to The Sunday Times who say they get nearer to 50mpg. If our readers are right and the official figure is wrong it has important implications, not least of which is that people driving frugal diesels are getting a raw deal.

To find out we set a challenge: to drive a Prius to Geneva using motorways and town driving. The direct route is 460 miles but we drove almost 100 miles further to give the Prius the advantage of running in urban conditions where its petrol-electric drivetrain comes into its own.

We took along a conventionally powered car – a diesel BMW executive saloon – for comparison and drove both cars an identical number of miles (545). The test consisted of just over 200 miles of autoroute, about 200 miles of B roads, including winding ascents and descents in Switzerland, and 100 miles of urban driving.
The 5 series, despite being a heavier, larger, more powerful and faster car, got better MPG and therefore lower CO2 emissions over the run than the Prius. We can imagine that a 320d would have done even better.

Vital Statistics

Model BMW 520d SE
Engine 1995cc, four cylinders
Power 177bhp @ 4000rpm
Torque 258 lb ft @ 1750rpm
Transmission Six-speed manual
Official fuel/CO2 55.4mpg / 136g/km
Performance 0-62mph: 8.3sec
Top speed 144mph
Road tax band C (£115)
Price £27,190
Fuel used on test 10.84 gallons (50.3 Imperial mpg)
Fuel cost £54.19 (diesel)


Model Toyota Prius T Spirit
Engine 1497cc, four cylinders
Electric motor 50kW/67bhp
Power 77bhp @ 5000rpm
Torque 295 lb ft (motor) 85 lb ft (engine)
Transmission CVT automatic
Official fuel/CO2 65.7mpg / 104g/km
Performance 0-62mph: 10.9sec
Top speed 106mph
Road tax band B (£15, alternative fuel)
Price £20,677
Fuel used on test 11.34 gallons (48.1 Imperial mpg)
Fuel cost £54.64 (petrol) Read Article



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mplsmpls - 3/17/2008 11:04:26 AM
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Comparing Diesel with Petrol ????

Why don't they do the petrol powered BMW then ??

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johannasjohannas - 3/17/2008 11:13:14 AM
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Toyota's lucky they didn't do that. The 5 door BMW 116i (petrol) gets 48.7 combined MPG.


RupertRupert - 3/17/2008 11:20:26 AMView My AgentSpace
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Hybrids and diesels are both fuel efficient measures - it's natural to compare them.


w209w114w209w114 - 3/17/2008 2:20:01 PMView My AgentSpace
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Hey rupert I just got the R-171


RupertRupert - 3/17/2008 2:28:53 PMView My AgentSpace
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Nice. 350? Auto or manual? As long as it's not a 200k I'll be happy :)

On a side note there should really be a PM function on this site...or a proper forum.


w209w114w209w114 - 3/17/2008 3:10:03 PMView My AgentSpace
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I got the 280 (save on ga$$$) Im no racer and its just fine at 228hp and 0-60 in 6.1(manufacturer) could be at 6 seconds or less maybe. Youre the only one I like on this site and care to tell :) lol

Red Exterior
Automatic Transmission (a must in Miami traffic)
Beige and Black Interior
Appearance pkg (Rims, Wood steering & trim, and Smoked headlights)

I can e-mail u some pics


w209w114w209w114 - 3/17/2008 3:27:33 PMView My AgentSpace
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<a href="http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/ljsg13/?action=view¤t=Ext.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/ljsg13/Ext.jpg" border="0" alt="SLK exterior"></a>


<a href="http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/ljsg13/?action=view¤t=interior.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/ljsg13/interior.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>




w209w114w209w114 - 3/17/2008 3:29:56 PMView My AgentSpace
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Hmmm, well that didnt work... Try these

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/ljsg13/Ext.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a207/ljsg13/interior.jpg


RupertRupert - 3/17/2008 5:11:38 PMView My AgentSpace
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Love the interior combo, and the 280 is a great engine, it's the one I'd pick - 6.1 is bloody quick. I like the SLK, I feel that it has a bad rep for being a boulevard cruiser - but I like boulevards!
"Youre the only one I like on this site and care to tell"
*Warm fuzzy feeling*
I'm touched. :P


w209w114w209w114 - 3/17/2008 5:23:21 PMView My AgentSpace
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The interior combo is what sold me the car. I wasnt too thrilled with the Mars Red but Im starting to like it a lot. I cant wait to take it to the South Beach with the top down down Ocean Drive :) As to the warm and fuzzy feeling LOL. I got your back on Autospies. I know its tacky but do they use Myspace or Facebook in England?


RupertRupert - 3/17/2008 6:47:32 PMView My AgentSpace
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We're English, not philistines!
If you want to add me on facebook (searching for Rupert will bring up a lot of results!) my last name is Dickinson, and my picture is of me singing with a balloon and 3 other people. It is a terrible photo - it was my birthday, and I was perhaps slightly (very) tipsy (drunk).


Htay7500Htay7500 - 3/20/2008 7:26:16 PM
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I just typed you in and you look like ****.





j/p :D


kthorkthor - 3/17/2008 11:52:51 AM
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The great news is that BMW is bringing the diesel 3-Series and X5 to the USA. BMW's diesels will be 50 state legal as well.

reply to this comment
hatepussshatepusss - 3/17/2008 12:23:13 PM
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Why not try driving both cars only in L.A. (California) traffic for a month. And, see which car is more efficient and cheap to own. Prius are meant for city driving and occasionally long trip.

reply to this comment
GreenPleaseGreenPlease - 3/17/2008 9:12:27 PM
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A long road trip will really bring out the difference in a 33% TE Atkinson Cycle engine and a 42% TE Diesel. European vehicles don't have to deal with such stringent NOx emission standards and therefore don't have to deal with fuel economy penalty of an LNT.

The primary reason this comparison isn't really fair is that there is a substantial difference in the energy content of a gallon of diesel compared to a gallon of gasoline: 132,000BTU compared to 112,000BTU.

Perhaps they should have used the metric BTU/km?


AE86AE86 - 3/18/2008 1:50:50 AM
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not fair? please, its not fair that Americans are dumb enough to buy into hybrid technology in the first place.


abcdabcd - 3/17/2008 1:19:32 PM
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this bmw diesel has regenerative braking like the prius . other diesels aren`t as economical . they are also polluting much more (HC,NOx and much more). when they are getting older they are polluting especially bad in comprasion to comparable petrol engines (when they are after warranty few owners service them e.g. changing catalysts and filters) . one liter(gallon) diesel have about 15% more energy than petrol becouse of it`s densier about 15% and that`s why it emit after burn of one liter about 15% more CO2 . So in this test prius needed fewer energy and emitted fewer CO2 even if it burned more litres of petrol than bmw litres of diesel.

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kthorkthor - 3/17/2008 3:26:46 PM
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The BMW diesels coming to the USA meet California's very strict emissions regulations, so while your concern for emissions is respectable, the BMW engines have solved these issues.


mplsmpls - 3/18/2008 6:43:32 AM
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johannas - 3/17/2008 11:13:14

Toyota's lucky they didn't do that. The 5 door BMW 116i (petrol) gets 48.7 combined MPG

----------------------------------------------------

That's quoted figures from the manufacturer. It'll lose to the prius in direct comparisons..

remeber the bluemotion from VW, they claimed 70+mpg, but 5th gear tested and only got around 40mpg..

reply to this comment
JRobUSCJRobUSC - 3/18/2008 12:58:50 PM
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the 116i is a gas powered car. Maybe it will lose to the Prius, maybe it won't. They certainly aren't comparable cars. The 520d, however, while also not a comparable car, is a diesel, and it didn't lose to the Prius. Higher fuel economy, better performance, much bigger car. That's what this article was about - a diesel versus a hybrid. The diesel won. Sorry.


mplsmpls - 3/18/2008 6:45:17 AM
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comparing Diesel with petrol is like comparing apples with bananas, you get more energy in one of the them..

dumb test and no point to it.. sounds like a BMW sponsored test..

reply to this comment
JRobUSCJRobUSC - 3/18/2008 12:55:24 PM
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why? Because the Toyota lost? Believe it or not Toyota does lose comparison tests from time to time (or in the case of Lexus, pretty much all the time), without the other manufacturers having to pay for the results.


AudiphileAudiphile - 3/20/2008 9:20:57 AM
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Actually this contest was unfair to BMW. The BMW 5-series is a much bigger car than the Prius. If they had tested a 3-series or 1-series Bimmer against the Toyota, I think the diesel's margin of victory over the petrol/electric hybrid would have been more pronounced.
Diesel engines are 30% more efficient than gasoline engines, and a hybrid powertrain adds complexity, weight and cost that a diesel powertrain doesn't have to deal with. Now that low-sulfur diesel fuel is available nationwide, modern diesel engines could become as popular as they are in Europe (50% of all new car sales).

reply to this comment
gregsfcgregsfc - 3/26/2008 5:44:02 AM
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The 5-series BMW should have run the test on a 20% biodiesel blend, or one of two other renewable fuel blends (green diesel or renewable diesel)without a single engine modification. Doing so may have lost them one or two percent fuel economy but would have shut up the folks that claim the green supremacy of hybrids. A B20 blend would have reduced HCs and CO by about 12%, SO2 by 20%, CO2 by 15.6%, paHs by 16%, and PM by 9%, yet it could have raised NOx by up to 5% (source: National Biodiesel Board).

A Prius or any other production, gas-electric hybrid cannot run on any more than 10% ethanol. Alternatively, all diesels can run on any blend of biodiesel (1% - 100%), or renewable diesel, or green diesel with absolutely no engine modifications and only a few precautions, with little--if any--fuel economy loss!

Those who complain that diesels are more efficient because the fuel has more energy, I say sorry that your gas guzzler uses a less energetic fuel, but that's a weakness of the engine design. The test is still fair. The cars went to the same place; in the same weather conditions; at the same speed; and included both urban and rural driving. In other words, it was a real world test; not an EPA test on a machine that favors hybrids.

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