Green Car of the Year

Ok quick question if it doesn’t meet California emissions standards how come you can buy it and drive it in California. I thought if it didn’t meet the California standard you were not allowed to register it or sell it in California. Correct me if I am wrong. Seriously I don’t know how that works.

I agree with you on all the other stuff. It doesn’t make since why they would pick that car over a hybrid.

edit
MB says it gets 26 and 35 mpg based on the epa.

 

http://www.wcoty.com/vehicles/?year=2006&cat=4

I saw one today for the first time. It still had temporary tags. I'm not sure why one would choose it over the similarly priced Lexus GS 450h.

 

Urea, huh? That's a real pisser of a car!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Apr 6 2007, 02:48 AM) [snapback]418663[/snapback]</div>

:blink: :lol: :lol: :blink: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Hi All,

The only E320D I have ever seen was pumping the a black fog of pungent smelling smoke. It apparently had a problem. But it was not that old of a car either. I litterally had to back off 100 yards from it and switch to recirculate to avoid the noxious effects.

Diesel also requires twice as much petroleum per gallon of refined fuel. I wonder if it runs on bio-diesel? That might help. But the amount of petroleum required is not going to help the US petroleum importation at all. This is probably why Toyota, being in the land of 100 % imported petroleum went with the atkinson/hybrid technology. A little better mileage than the diesel concepts, but at half the petroleum consumption (importation).

Also, this looks like a rigged competition, since they limited it to vehicles that were redesigned for 2006. The Prius of course is 2 years ahead of anything in the competition as far as redesign, and many years ahead in terms of real performance. This is a case of the Prius being too far ahead of the competition.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Apr 6 2007, 06:48 AM) [snapback]418722[/snapback]</div>

Well, to be fair, the Prius has already won. Ditto the HCH.

So it really takes twice as much oil? I knew that diesel has 13% more energy/volume but I didn't know that it took that much more oil to make. So diesel's really use considerably more fuel than gasoline cars. What's the point then?

 

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/fuel_...el-dilemma.html

There's much more available there, including the full report in PDF format.

If you compare the Lexus GS 450h and the E320, the Lexus does 0-60 mph in 5.2 secs vs 6.6 secs and has 340 hp vs 208 hp. The E320 has higher mpg but that has to be adjusted downwards. And it's probably safe to say the Lexus will be a lot more reliable.

These are numbers I compiled a few weeks ago comparing diesels and hybrids:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

2006 Jetta TDI

2008 fuel economy (city, highway, combined) 30, 38, 33

greenhouse emissions 5.6 tons/yr
air pollution score 1/10

Cost to Drive 25 Miles $1.77
Fuel to Drive 25 Miles 0.66 gal
Cost of a Fill-up $35.10
Miles on a Tank 496 miles
Tank Size 14.5 gal
Annual Fuel Cost* $1061

Size Class Compact Cars
Engine Size (liters) 1.9
Passenger Volume 91 ft3 (4D)
Luggage Volume 16 ft3 (4D)

0-60 mph 11.6 s

------------------------------------------------------------
2006 Prius

2008 fuel economy (city, highway, combined) 48, 45, 46

greenhouse emissions 3.4 tons/yr
air pollution score 8/10

Cost to Drive 25 Miles $1.16
Fuel to Drive 25 Miles 0.45 gal
Cost of a Fill-up $27.42
Miles on a Tank 589 miles
Tank Size 11.9 gal
Annual Fuel Cost* $699

Size Class Midsize Cars
Engine Size (liters) 1.5
Cylinders 4
Passenger Volume 96 ft3 (HB)
Luggage Volume 16 ft3 (HB)

0-60 mph 10.1 s

------------------------------------------------------------
2006 Golf TDI

2008 fuel economy (city, highway, combined) 28, 40, 32

greenhouse emissions 5.7 tons/yr
air pollution score 1/10

Cost to Drive 25 Miles $1.82
Fuel to Drive 25 Miles 0.68 gal
Cost of a Fill-up $35.10
Miles on a Tank 483 miles
Tank Size 14.5 gal
Annual Fuel Cost* $1089

Size Class Compact Cars
Engine Size (liters) 1.9
Passenger Volume 88 ft3 (HB)
Luggage Volume 18 ft3 (HB)

0-60 mph 12.0 s

------------------------------------------------------------
2007 Camry hybrid

2008 fuel economy (city, highway, combined) 33, 34, 34

Cost to Drive 25 Miles $1.64
Fuel to Drive 25 Miles 0.64 gal
Cost of a Fill-up $39.63
Miles on a Tank 604 miles
Tank Size 17.2 gal
Annual Fuel Cost* $983

greenhouse emissions 4.8 tons/yr
air pollution score 8/10

Size Class Midsize Cars
Engine Size (liters) 2.4
Cylinders 4
Passenger Volume 101 ft3 (4D)
Luggage Volume 11 ft3 (4D)

0-60 mph 8.6 s

 

Green car? Sounds like doublespeak to me. Oxymoronic, even.

 

Good stuff, Squint. Thanks.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Apr 6 2007, 02:28 PM) [snapback]418876[/snapback]</div>

I guess. But it seems like its not the best car that year, in the category. Maybe a more appropriate name would be Redesigned Car of The Year.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Apr 6 2007, 07:48 AM) [snapback]418722[/snapback]</div>

I think you have your facts wrong about diesel - it in fact costs less to produce than regular gas. Look here:

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

 

accord to Squint's links it takes 25% more oil to produce the same amount of diesel as gasoline. The diesel fuel does have 15% more energy per volume, however.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ari @ Apr 6 2007, 03:03 PM) [snapback]419018[/snapback]</div>

He may be referring to the fact that that a barrel of crude oil yields about twice as much gasoline as diesel fuel. I have to question how much of that is because of demand and how much is due to the crude's ability to yield certain amounts. Diesel fuel requires less refining than gasoline so it is true that less energy is consumed and less emissions are produced in the production of diesel.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ari @ Apr 6 2007, 05:03 PM) [snapback]419018[/snapback]</div>

Yea, that's what I'd always heard ... some of the old refinary geezers that are still around tell of the early days, when diesel was refined ... gas was kind of a by-product that was simply burned off. What a waste . . . but isn't that typical.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ari @ Apr 6 2007, 02:03 PM) [snapback]419018[/snapback]</div>

Per http://www.api.org/classroom/tools/upload/oilfacts_rgb.pdf, a barrel of crude yields many products, including 19.4 gallons of gasoline and 10.5 gallons of distillate fuel oil which includes diesel.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Apr 6 2007, 11:05 AM) [snapback]418909[/snapback]</div>

Perhaps ... but I think M-B is deserving of the award, simply because they were the first to engineer a diesel dirvetrain that is capable of achieving 50-state compliance (with proper fuel).

It just gives one more option to those of us in the 5 CA emissions states.

It has opened the door for other manufacturers to follow suit.

Now, how about a Bluetec hybrid?

Muah ha ha ha ha ... <_<