real world test of hybrid and diesel cars

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Frank Hudon, Jan 8, 2006.

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  1. Jack 06

    Jack 06 New Member

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    I think the one additional productive "barometer" they could've added would have been a standard 4-cyl. econobox, e.g., Corolla or Civic. Other than that, an excellent report.
     
    #21 Jack 06, Jan 9, 2006
  2. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Isn't the Jetta more or less on target for EPA estimates? The Accord Hybrid is a bit off but interestingly enough, the Accord Hybrid tested in Ontario (winter I might add) earlier this year netted an average of 13L/100km.

    I'm surprised there was such a big difference between the Accord EX and the Camry LE. Could it be the weight? I doubt that'll cause that much of a difference. Also, are they saying that the Prius had the most acccurate odometer and the Accord had the worst?

    EricGo, if you ask me, filling up to the filler pipe is probably the easiest way to be fair to all vehicles. If you ask them to do a test when the pump first clicks off, they'll probably have a worst result. I can tell you 5.2L/100km isn't bad considering I'm now at 4.8-4.9L/100km.

    KMO, anything under 100hp is too little for us hehehe. If anything, our Yaris 1.5 may be a tad heavier than your T Sport. Don't forget, you guys get a T Sport Corolla and a supercharged version too.
     
    #22 Tideland Prius, Jan 9, 2006
  3. wilco

    wilco New Member

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    He said it again :lol: "starts on electric, then switches to gas" yet Dagmar got it right. She's more of a "car guy" than he is :p
     
    #23 wilco, Jan 9, 2006
  4. wilco

    wilco New Member

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    Yeah, I'm in Vancouver, and my current tank is going to come in at 5.0, and my total mileage since new (last spring) is around 5.1 (thanks to the cold snap late Nov/early Dec), so I think 5.2 is fairly realistic for someone who doesn't know the car very well. The car may not have been broken-in either. I noticed a change in the car's behavior after the first 1500 kms or so. That said, I'll bet that I could've pulled off a 5.0 driving my car on their test, maybe even a 4.8 in the summer.
     
    #24 wilco, Jan 9, 2006
  5. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    your 5.0 sounds right. I'm at the 4.9/5.0 borderline right now with 250kms into the tank and 6 bars left.
     
    #25 Tideland Prius, Jan 9, 2006
  6. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    we also have to realize that they all took turns diving all the cars so 7 different dirvers and it still averaged 5.2 per hunded for 200+kms That I think is the important thing here. 7 different styles of driving and still comes out on top. Impressive.
     
    #26 Frank Hudon, Jan 9, 2006
  7. driveprius

    driveprius New Member

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    I recall when I was shopping around for an accurate odometer for running the salesperson mentioned that cars were only required to be within +/- 10% tolerance. So for this video we only saw about +/- 3.5% deviation. I think would be considered very good.
     
    #27 driveprius, Jan 9, 2006
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Yeah, Car and Driver did a article on speedometer accuracy. Euro cars were the least accurate and US cars were the most accurate. I assume it's because people tend to drive fast and add larger wheels to their Porsches so it's better to be under than over actual speed
     
    #28 Tideland Prius, Jan 9, 2006
  9. wilco

    wilco New Member

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    Yeah, good point.
     
    #29 wilco, Jan 9, 2006
  10. Potential Buyer

    Potential Buyer New Member

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    In case no one posted it yet, here is the breakdown:

    45.2 - Prius
    34.6 - TDI
    31.3 - FEH
    26.4 - Camry
    25.8 - HAH
    22.0 - Escape
    19.6 - Accord

    I think their results are realistic, given they took 6.5 hours to go less than 130 miles, so that's alot of accelerating and braking in slow-moving traffic. The Prius does get 45 mpg often and the FEH does average low-30's, so that's realistic. 35 mpg for the TDI is actually quite good for all-city driving since it isn't a hybrid. 26 is correct for the Camry and is also a realistic value for the HAH in the city.

    So I think this test was very interesting. It's too bad you don't see tests like this more often.

    EDIT: Regarding the above post, yes, by switching drivers that helped account for different driving styles so no car was unfairly pushed ahead of any other.
     
    #30 Potential Buyer, Jan 10, 2006
  11. Potential Buyer

    Potential Buyer New Member

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    Actually no, it's because it's illegal for European cars to underestimate speed to any degree so the manufacturers just purposely make it read higher than it really is, often to a fairly generous degree since it makes the driver think the car is better (quicker to 60, etc.). It's dumb.
     
    #31 Potential Buyer, Jan 10, 2006
  12. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    #32 Sufferin' Prius Envy, Jan 10, 2006
  13. tripp

    tripp Which it's a 'ybrid, ain't it?

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    Crikey! She's a looker. Squid must be on his way back to MA. He'll be in for a treak when he looks on next. Maybe Maggie or JackDodge can help him out. :D
     
    #33 tripp, Jan 10, 2006
  14. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Potential Buyer,

    what surprises me the most is the economy on the 4-cylinder Accord EX. That looked more like EX V6/LX V6 economy
     
    #34 Tideland Prius, Jan 10, 2006
  15. Astrotoy7

    Astrotoy7 New Member

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    damn....Dagmar is babe-a-licious :(

    *apologies to lady members as this thread creeps towards being a Dagmar droolfest !*
     
    #35 Astrotoy7, Jan 10, 2006
  16. c4

    c4 Active Member

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    Exactly- while an experienced Prius driver could likely have achieved even better mileage, the fact that they swapped drivers throughout the test means that they accounted for a variety of different driving styles..

    The only other factor that wasn't mentioned was the effect of "drafting"- they showed the vehicles travelling in a "convoy" quite often- did they also break out of formation and/or swap positions along the trip to distribute the effects of drafting vs. leading among all the vehicles?
     
    #36 c4, Jan 10, 2006
  17. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    knowing the route that they took I'm sure more than once they got part of the "convoy" caught at traffic lights so I think that a lot of the drafting advantage would be less than one might expect. That was why they were told every one has to stay at the stops till everybody was there. Also here on the left coast everybody's drafting it's part of the westcoast life style. If you look in your rearview mirror and you can see the liscense plate of the car behind you wait 2 seconds and someone will cut in there.

    Edit: by that I also ment the lead car was drafting the car in front of it that wasn't in the test group.
     
    #37 Frank Hudon, Jan 10, 2006
  18. Potential Buyer

    Potential Buyer New Member

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    Their average speed was 19 mph. Drafting does nothing at that speed.
     
    #38 Potential Buyer, Jan 10, 2006
  19. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    19 average but a big wait while the CAA showed up to unlock the one vehicle, then add to that 7 vehicle changes and a bunch of stop and crawl. So not really anywhere 19 mile per hour average. Yes 19 for the whole trip but what was the average road speed.
     
    #39 Frank Hudon, Jan 10, 2006
  20. wilco

    wilco New Member

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    Speaking of Dagmar... she was fired from the local news for using profanity on-air. (Something tells me that this will make her even hotter in Squid's eyes!)

    Here's the story. Before they had the car show, Zack was the local weatherman, and when he wasn't on, Dagmar would be his stand-in. They also did a once per week car segment on the news. One day, while doing the weather report live from the local amusement park/farm fair she swore at some kid (can't remember why, maybe he made a crack at her), while she thought the camera and mic were off. They weren't, and it went out over live TV. Well, that was the last time anyone saw her on the news, and Zack had to get a replacement (not hot, knows less than nothing about cars) for the weekly bit.
     
    #40 wilco, Jan 10, 2006
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