Did you know that Toyota has sold over 1 million Prius hybrids here in the U.S. over the past decade?  Go ahead and up that number to 2 million worldwide.  So with such great success why not create a whole family of automobiles around the Prius.  There is still no match for the Prius when talking hybrid gas mileage figures.  Sure the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are out there, but these cars not only cost thousands more, they are inconvenient for most of the population.  So the Prius remains the old standby and has grown larger with the release of the 2012 Prius V in an effort to attract more buyers.  But Gas Mileage has gone down from 50 MPG combined for the standard model to 42 MPG for the Prius V.

With 50% more cargo room than the standard Toyota Prius, the V stands for Versatile.  But while the PriusV has grown, the fuel economy has shrunk.  Earlier in the year when the Lexus CT 200h, I could not figure out why a car with the same drivetrain as the Prius gets much lower gas mileage.  It’s the same conundrum for the Toyota Prius V.  The car has the same shape and the exact same drivetrain as the standard Prius but the gas mileage is lower by 15%.  Let’s take a look into the reasons for the loss in fuel economy.

1. Weight – the Prius 5 weighs over 230 pounds more than the standard Prius.  This may not seem like much but coupled with the other changes; weight does play a role in Gas Mileage loss.
2. Size – the Prius V is 6 inches longer and 3 inches taller than the standard Prius.  The wheelbase is a tad longer and by stretching the Prius V out, much was changed in the Prius V suspension to make the car more like a nice sedan.
3. Drag Coefficient – the 2011 Toyota Prius has a Drag Coefficient of 0.25 while the changes to the exterior of the Prius V have caused the Drag Coefficient to drop to 0.29.

While these changes may seem minor, they reduce the gas mileage on the Prius 5 by 15%.  Estimated figures put the Prius V gas mileage figures at 44 on the Highway and 40 in the City.  The standard Prius gets 52/48 respectively.  This goes to show that the Prius is so perfectly engineered for getting the best fuel economy possible that even a few little tweaks can drastically reduce those figures.  Good news is the Prius V will only cost a bit more but will offer you 50% more cargo room and should be a great buy for those looking to increase gas mileage without losing utility.

I crunched the numbers and if you drive an average of 15,000 miles per year; it will only cost you $200 more to drive the Prius V over the standard Prius (with gas costing $3.50).  This actually seems like a drop in the bucket considering how much more interior space you get.

Despite the Fiesta ECOnetic’s definite potential to compete with the other US manufactures, Ford has only sold the recent generations of the Fiesta in Europe. The America Ford President reportedly stated that there were business reasons as to why they can’t sell it to the US and left it at that.

The main reason for the selective selling is that the Fiesta runs on diesel fuel and the US remains to detest the fuel. America’s opposition to diesel fuel is because it still often reminds us of a loud and stinky truck or trailer pouring out black junk, smog, and smoke into our environment.

Diesel fueled cars are now introduced in the market with pollution fighting technology that is as clean as or even cleaner than gasoline with 30% more fuel efficiency. So why can’t the US have this 65mpg car on our market? Ford doesn’t think that North and South America would buy any diesel cars. The Fiesta ECOnetic is comparable to European diesels but Ford can’t make a business case for bringing the car to the US.

In addition, the Fiesta is made in Britain and importing the car to the US would cost too much money without a profit and Ford doesn’t believe they can charge enough to make any money.  With that said, the main question is: will the US ever embrace diesel fuel to allow automakers and manufactures to achieve sufficient scale to make money on those vehicles? All Ford needs to do it look towards Volkswagen and their TDi Jetta.  The Jetta costs about what the Fiesta would cost, gets only 41 MPG on the highway as compared to the Fiesta’s 65 MPG, and finally the Jetta has received numerous accolades for being an ultra green car.  Ford is missing out on all this publicity the Jetta is enjoying.

But wait!  It seems that ford will bring the Fiesta over tho the US sor the model year 2011.  Wonder what this car will consist of.  Stay tuned for more information.

The little engine that could is a 1.4L, 3-cylinder, direct injected, turbo-diesel. This bad boy pumps out a staggering 79-hp. But when combined with LRR tires, special aerodynamics, and a manual transmission; the Polo can easily obtain the 60 MPG advertised, eat that hybrids. And the little 12-gallon tank will take you well over 700 miles. Sounds good to me!

Idle Cars Kill MPG

A big part of the reason why hybrids like the Civic get such great MPG is because of the ability to run in electric mode and essentially shut-off while stopped, this feature is called auto-stop.  Bringing me to my point: you are getting 0 MPG while you’re idling.  That 10 minutes spent waiting for that monster seven-layer burrito, or all those minutes you spend waiting for your kid absolutely kill your MPG.  Feel free to turn off your car instead of idling next time.

Drive It Like You Stole It

There is nothing like racing the car next to you from stoplight to stoplight. Why accelerate slowly and save gas when you can punch it and blow the doors off of Grandma’s Cadillac? I’m a take no prisoners’ sort of guy….it makes no difference your gender, age, skin color.

Speed is Sexy

Driving the speed limit is for whimps! What really revs up the female libido is driving at a high rate of speed in the most un-aerodynamic vehicle possible. The drag coefficient of a car refers to its aerodynamic efficiency. While the Honda Insight cuts through air like a hot knife through butter; I prefer to drive my huge Hummer which is more like a giant lead brick with a parachute attached. And the faster I drive my Hummer, the worse my gas mileage becomes….but chic’s don’t care about MPG!

Summer Road Trip

Yeah many people have cut back on the summer road trips and car club cruises. But all this talk about saving gas only makes me want to get out there and see what’s what. Oh yeah and waste as much gas as possible.

Get Your Roll On

In an earlier post I talked a little bit about low-rolling resistance tires and how these can improve your gas mileage. Well partner….I go for the stickiest tires out there. Sure they lower your MPG; but the thrill of being able to make your dog puke pulling 4g’s around a corner far outweighs the savings at the pump!

Since Space the Final Frontier has been conquered…might as well solve the gas crisis.  Damn….why did I skip Auto Shop Class!  I could be rich…..maybe not….you can bet that the big auto makers are already on the case.  The Announcement was made at the New York International Auto Show a few months back.  And even the Mayor Bloomberg gave his 2 cents on the prize:  “Development of a super-efficient car would be a major step forward in the fight against global warming – and it would help us reach our goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in New York City by 30 percent by 2030.” Please…..by 2030 we are going to be oil free.

It always seems like America is a little behind the times.  Why shoot for 100 MPG….that seems easily within reach.  I mean we already have Electric cars, Vegetable Oil powered cars, and so on running around.  And a plug in Hybrid can already achieve close to those numbers.  Gas is a thing of the past!  In 2009 a cross-country race will determine the winner of the Progressive Automotive X Prize.  Check out their website for more info. http://www.xprize.org/x-prizes/automotive-x-prize

Ford officially released the Fusion Hybrid recently at the Los Angeles Auto Show late in 2008.  The new Ford Fusion receives some of the best in-town gas mileage, that only a hybrid can get.  Beating out the Toyota Camry by a large margin, and the economical Civic Hybrid by a hair; the Fusion Hybrid is ranked at 41 MPG in town driving.  Thanks to an electric motor, the Ford can go up to 47 miles per hour.  A bunch of Car Publications have used this method to get greater fuel economy than the EPA estimates.

The Fusion can help teach the driver which style of driving gets the best fuel economy.  They have created an ingenious system which is built into the instrument cluster called the SmartGauge.  A couple of different info categories are displayed on two screens next to the gauge cluster.  The first monitor will indicate just how much gas is left and also how much energy is left in the battery pack.  The second gauge tells which mode the car is in; electric or hybrid, and it also shows the RPM’s.  This third gauge displays the output energy of the batteries and the engine.  Additional power consumption and power to the wheels are shown in the last data screen.   All data screens show fuel economy, fuel consumption history, an odometer, trip data, and coolant temperatures.  Best fuel economy can be gauged through real time MPG information showing the driver which driving style is most efficient.

The nav screen shows the Hybrid Energy Flow data.  This display will track the 5 modes of the Fusion’s Hybrid Powertrain which are the; electric drive, hybrid drive, electric boost, idle charging, and regenerative breaking.

Ford not only equipped the Fusion with an environmentally friendly drivetrain; they also used post-industrial yarns which are recycled into the seats of the Fusion Hybrid.  The Prius and the Civic Hybrid are two of the most popular cars out today, its about time Ford designed a hybrid car.

Ethanol is an additive in gasoline that accounts for 10% of its makeup. And E-85 gas contains….you guessed it…up to 85% ethanol. But the debate has gone on about the production of Ethanol using more energy than it produces, also that it takes a large amount of wheat, soybeans, corn, sugar, or rice to produce this fuel. Now that debate can finally be put to rest.

Picture a revolutionary $30 million dollar Ethanol Plant in the middle of nowhere. Well it is coming and will not use food staples for the production of Ethanol; rather it will use biowaste. Grass clippings, wood chips, paper products, and cardboard will all be used by this facility to create Ethanol as an alternative to gasoline! And with the landfill right next door, there should be plenty of biowaste to be had. Could you imagine a country where every landfill not only has a recycling center but an Ethanol plant right next door?

Back in August of 2008 Infiniti got the Automotive Faithful all hot and bothered with news they were working on a g35 hybrid car. Well here we are in 2009 and the G35 isn’t even part of the Infiniti line-up anymore.

Lexus has been ruling the hybrid market now for years.  The RX 400h SUV starts at more than $40k and gets a pitiful 25 MPG.  The GS 450h costs $55k large and gets even worse gas mileage.   Finally the Lexus 600hL costs a mere $100k and…well I won’t repeat the EPA estimated MPG, but lets say it is stunningly low!

So does that mean we will be getting a G37 hybrid?  By the time Infiniti gets around to making a hybrid car, electric vehicles will be all the rage.  So while Infiniti sits on their thumbs, Lexus will gladly rake in all the cash from the luxury hybrid car segment!

Since the release of the Prius into the U.S. in 2000, Toyota have sold over 1 million Toyota and Lexua hybrid cars in the U.S. All of those hybrid car sales have accounted for half of Toyota’s worldwide hybrid car sales.

Toyota released their third generation Prius into the U.S. market earlier this year which carries an sales forecast of around 180,000 sales in it’s first year. A considerable amount more than expected for the new luxury Lexus hybrid.
However, they have have forecasted this number of sales, but whether they will be able to reach that number is a separate matter. Although the amount of car sales in May rose since last month, the amount of car sales since the start of 2009 as dropped by 36% in the U.S. Even more bad news has struck Toyota, the amount of hybrid car sales has slumped recently. This is because although fuel prices rose by large amounts last summer, since the beginning of the year they have dropped considerably.

The price drop has caused a shift in the market, more people are buying gasoline powered cars because a hybrid car will often set you back $4000 more than a normal car.

That aside, Toyota still have high hopes their new luxury Hybrid car because they believe that the car market is improving and the requirement for hybrid cars is coming back.  Prices on the new 2010 Lexus Hybrid begin at around $35,000.  And the gas mileage ratings for this car are expected to be 35 cobined MPG.

Flex Fuel Cars Get Better Fuel Economy – Nope!
Gasoline has a lot of stored energy, but the Alcohol that is contained in Ethanol has less.  Since Flex Fuel is mostly Ethanol the result is less bank for the buck.  Car that use E85 get 10-15% less fuel economy than their regular brothern.  Take for example the GMC Yukon, the Flex Fuel gas mileage is much lower.  And I grabbed this from fueleconomy.gov!

At least E85 is cheaper Right?

Flex Fuel is cheaper yes, but you do get much worse fuel economy so you can go farther on a tank of regular gas than E85.  So at the end of the day you can hope to save $4 every 1000 miles.  Is that enough to sway you in the direction of flex fuel vehicles?

How about the Impact on Mother Earth?

The Environmental Protection Agency says E85gas does indeed lesses Green House gas emissions by over 15%.  According to a Smog Reyes study; Ethanol is the only thig that can be mixed with gasoline to help reduce smog pollutants.

That Corn Should Feed the Hungry Rather than Power your Car!

Ethanol is derived from a strain of corn that is used to feed livestock.  Well the animals need to eat too, and they do!  Ethoanol is made from starch found in the corn and all the byproduct that is left over can still be made into a healthy animal feed.

In conclusion, Flex Fuel Cars have become popular for a few reasons.

-Ethanol is a biofuel which is a renewable source of energy.  So when someday we may run out of oil; corn will continue to be grown….hopefully!

-Going Green has had a major influence in the way we think and if we can reduce smog and harmful pollutants through the use of Flex Fuels than this is a DAMN GOOD THING!

Resources:
http://getbettermpg.blogspot.com/2008/08/e85-gas-separating-fact-from-fiction.html