So, you want a hybrid. Thinking about spending money on that trendy Toyota Prius to be more eco friendly. Like the thought of getting 48 in town and 45 mpg on the highway. But is it really worth it? Have you seen the 0-60 times? At 110 hp and 82 ft-lbs of torque, it’s not what I’d call fast at close at 10-11 seconds to get to 60 mph. Okay, yeah I know with the electric motor you get 295 ft-lbs of torque, but keep up with what I’m saying. The Prius is slow. Now, I’m sure if I told you a BMW beat it, you’d say, ‘yeah, a Ford F350 will beat it to 60, so what?’. Well, I’m talking about a BMW that beat the Prius in gas mileage!
According to Timesonline.com (that would be the London Times), two writers drove from London to Geneva, one in a Toyota Prius, the other in a BMW 520d. Now grated, the BMW isn’t that much faster than the Prius in 0-62 times at 8.3 seconds. Which is better than the 10 seconds for the Prius, but it’s the claimed top speed of 144 mph in the BMW that impress me more. And the d does stand for diesel. Yes, I’m talking about a diesel, that eco un-friendly diesel…or is it?
So how much did the BMW beat the Prius in the 545 mile London-to-Geneva run? Well, not much to tell you the truth. The Prius got all of 40.1 mpg and the BMW got 41.9 mpg. This might not seem like much of difference, but if you think that the Prius is 573 lbs lighter, “aero-dynamic” and 1/2 the size of the BMW 520d, it says something about diesel technology today.
Yeah, I know right now diesel is expensive compared to regular gas (for reason I don’t understand, usually its price close to Premium gas prices). But here’s the math. The a normal equipment BMW 528i gets about 27 mpg, while the diesel got close to 42 mpg. That means the diesel goes 275 miles further on a tank of gas. So, at current prices ($3.15 for regular, $3.85 for diesel), it would take $71 to fill up on diesel compared to $58 for regular gas. But to make up the extra 275 miles, you have to buy an extra $32 worth of gas to equal the same mileage. That’s a total of $90 of regular gas compared to $71 for one tank of diesel.
Unlike the diesels from the past, or the black smoke from semi-trucks or loud large farm pick-up trucks, today’s diesel coming from Europe you can’t till it’s a diesel because it’s running so quite. And technology is making the new diesel 50 states legal, so there is barely a whiff of smoke. Plus with the torque output of a diesel is close to Muscle Car strong, so America’s should fall in love with the new diesels!
Source: timesonline.co.uk
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2 users responded in this post
Rented a Santa Fe Diesel in Paris for a 4 week jaunt around France and Spain great milage and enough power of course diesel is cheaper than gas in Europe, I think the first manufacturer that opens up The US to diesal cars willl have a great start. I know Jeep, Mercedes and VW have diesal at least in Canada, but only on selected models. I say, bring on diesals let the people decide.
A whole list of diesal cars in Europe get 50 to 60 mpg ,Bmw (118d,120d,520d),Minicooper-d,Ford Focus-diesal,Peugot,Honda & etc-with great co2 emissions. Who’s keeping these cars from the US. That would help the consumer and the consumption side. Give my planet a BREAK.