Minivan dream: Peugeot 5008

Not that it is not still astonishing, but they are quoting a UK source, so I bet those are Imperial gallons, not US Gallons. if so it is about 75 MPG in US gallons.

 

90 mpg? Well in that case with diesel here at £1.20 a litre ($6.61 a US gallon) I'm sure we'd see our roads full of these cars, the dealers struggling with demand and my colleagues and I would all have one.

But we don't because 90mpg is a load of rubbish. No way, unless they were going down hill most of the time and not going over 40mph. I'm not saying its not an economical car, but 90mpg (UK gallons) in normal driving - no way.

A good diesel will probably get similar (real world) mileage to the Prius on a highway/open road, but the Prius beats a diesel in town/city driving.

Now the article was showing what hypermilers can get out of a car and using their tactics a Prius hypermiler could get similar or more too.

Peugeot do do a fantastic diesel engine and their cars a very stylish, but when you see these fantasitic mpg figures on these cars - look at their performance times (0-60mph). I had a 2002 Peugeot 406 saloon (sedan) [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_406]Peugeot 406 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] with a 2.0 diesel engine with 90bhp - yes 90! The official fuel economy figures were great but real life was oh so different. It would struggle with more than 2 people in and you had to thrash it to get it to keep up with traffic which ruined the fuel economy. I'd get 28-32 mpg in town and 40 on a run. Compare that with my Prius where I get about 45-50 mpg in town and on a run it gets about 55-60mpg.

We are seeing more and more super efficient diesel cars over here. Each manufacturer has an 'eco' diesel in their line up, and these cars look great on paper but real world experience is different. Take VW for example. They offer a range of diesel engines on their Passat, from 170 bhp down to a 105 bhp eco version. A guy I work with got this 105bhp model to save on fuel and he hates it. Apparantly it's slow, painfully slow to accelerate and again it needs to be thrashed to get it to keep up with traffic.

So bear this in mind when you see these superb mpg figures this side of the pond. You might get 50 mpg out of a medium sized sedan, but could you really cope with a 0-60 time measured on a hourglass!

 

In that case check out pretty much any European model. Even Chrysler and Dodge Dodge - Journey - Specifications
offer diesel options here in the UK that can get mid 40's mpg (US gallons). Why look with envious eyes at the manufacturers who don't sell in the US, when Ford, GM, Dodge etc etc all sell diesel options over here in the UK. If they think there's a market then they might release the models in the US too.

 

I think I've found a few pictures of the last remaining Peugeot sales lot in the USA;

One Of The Last Peugeots In America Faces The Crusher - Peugeot 405 - Jalopnik

 

Was bored yesterday so went for a test drive down at the local Peugeot dealer. I do like the styling of Peugeot cars.

The cars I looked at were the Peugeot 5008 and the Peugeot 3008 . Both were diesels and both were automatics. The Peugeot 3008 is also about to be released as a diesel hybrid later this year too!

They were similar sized cars, one with massive luggage space and one with the option for 6 passengers. The way the seats fold into the floor was impressive as was the quality of the interior - made the Prius look like some plastic interior from the 1980's!

I've dropped a few links in below for those who are interested (be aware the mpg's are based on UK gallons). You will notice that some of the engines and power outputs are quite low for the US but about average for here. I test drove the 110bhp diesel version with an automatic box, except it isn't a normal automatic. In fact if you choose to view the specs of the cars you'll find that the auto on the 110 bhp diesel is actually MORE economical than the manual and by quite a margin. The reason is that it is an automated manual gearbox! So you select Drive as normal and only have two pedals but the car selects the gears and operates the clutch for you! OK it wasn't anywhere near as smooth as the Prius or a traditional auto but was smoother than how you'd operate a manual yourself. Bit weird to start with but you quickly got used to it and it drove ok and returns economy ALMOST on a par with the Prius!

They're releasing a hybrid version later in the year and I really must get myself down to check that out.

Peugeot | Diesel Hybrid Cars | 3008 HYbrid4

New Peugeot 5008 Car Review - Parkers

New Peugeot 3008 Car Review - Parkers

 

For some reason, diesel fanboys in the US always seem to gloss over that part. Fuel economy in the EU is quoted in either l/100km (Litres per 100 km) or in miles per Imperial gallon.

I've had people in the States tell me "oh it can't be that much difference."

1 US gallon = 3.78 litres
1 Imperial gallon = 4.54 litres