Hybrid Mileage Comes Up Short

Wired News ^ | 02:00 AM May. 11, 2004 PT | John Gartner

[JOAT]

Hybrid cars are hot, but not as hot as their owners, who complain that their gas mileage hasn't come close to well-advertised estimates.

Don't knock the car companies for inflated claims: Experts say the blame lies with the 19-year-old EPA fuel-efficiency test that overstates hybrid performance.

[JOAT]

Interesting. I've seen full-size domestic sedans get 30 MPG on highway trips at 70 mph. I guess hybrids still need a little 'work.' Heck, my old Dodge Colt got 38 MPG in the city.

[B Knotts]

Get a diesel!

[Fixit]

My VW Jetta TDI diesel (Or as AlGore would call it "Compression ignition technology" equipped car) has averaged about 47mpg over its 75,000 miles or so. This is mixed cycle highway & city, air conditioning used when appropriate, and highway driving at extra-legal speeds.

Oh, and diesel is about $0.20 a gallon cheaper than gas right now.

[Hodar]

Consumer Reports' senior auto test engineer Gabriel Shenhar ..

Kuddos to the author for acutally using an unbiased (IMHO) expert to give an opinion. Consumer Reports has consistently (in my experience) been truthful, unbiased and fair in thier analysis of the products they review. I can't say the same about most 'reviewers' who do the same thing.

Typically, the car with the best reviews comes from the manufacturer with the most ads in the magazine. Consumer Reports accepts no ads; and doesn't allow their logo to be used by products it reviews (for good or bad). Corporate integrity seems to acutally mean something to these people.

[mcg1969]

This guy's results are not typical. Not everyone gets the EPA mileage out of their gas cars, either. I've heard of quite a few people who average 50+MPG with the same car. What may be true, however, is that hybrids are more sensitive to driving behavior.

[sionnsar]

Another downside, I gathered from a family member with one of these, is that the battery needs to be replaced about once a year -- and those batteries aren't cheap.

[Paradox]

Wow, this could be the deathknell for the Hybrid market. All the extra expense for just a few extra measly miles per gallon?

As well informed as I am about car stuff, I had no idea the EPA didn't in fact measure actual fuel consumption, but only derived it. What a friggin CROCK! My 1976 Honda Civic got 35 mpg..

[sharktrager]

"I feel like a complete fraud driving around Cincinnati with a license plate that says MO MILES," says Blackshaw, who claims that after 4,000 miles his car has never gotten more than 33 mpg on any trip.

He should have felt like a dork for having the license plate at all.

[Straight Vermonter]

You drove one of those too? All I can say good about mine is that it did get great mileage.

[JOAT]

You drove one of those too? All I can say good about mine is that it did get great mileage.

**Hangs head in shame**

Yes I drove one of those. But it gets worse...I actually owned a Yugo too.

[Army Air Corps]

A firefighter group in my state has voiced concerns over responding to crashes involving hybrids. Apparently, the battery can be more of a danger than petrol. Also, they are concerned about the sensitive nature of some electrical systems.

[Izzy Dunne]

The EPA ratings have ALWAYS been divorced from the real world - simply because the "real world" is different for every driver.

The ratings should ONLY be used to compare THIS car versus THAT car.
They should never be used as an absolute guide.

[biblewonk]

ping

[JOAT]

This guy's results are not typical.

Actually it sounds like his results were slightly BETTER than the tested average. From the article:

Data from independent product-testing organization Consumer Reports indicates that hybrid cars get less than 60 percent of EPA estimates while navigating city streets. In Consumer Reports' real-world driving test, the Civic Hybrid averaged 26 mpg in the city, while the Toyota Prius averaged 35 mpg, much less than their respective EPA estimates of 47 and 60 mpg.

[Red Badger]

I drive a '95 Ford Aspire (KIA made)and get better gas mileage than he does................

[longtermmemmory]

I have also read that by the time you calculate the cost of the battery you do not come out ahead. Why the push for hybrids?

You can finance a $5000.00 battery. The automaker's finance company will make more money on the finacing than the actual auto. It simply transfers the money the owner would have paid to a gas station to the dealer. The consumer does not come out ahead on this.

Electrics and hybrids will be significant when some punk kid can soup up their car's performance as a shade tree mechanic.

[31R1O]

I know what you mean. My '03 'Rolla consistently gets 38-40 MPG. At about $8,000 less than the Prius.

[Uncle Fud]

Wow, I got 30 mpg on the highway and 25-26 city in my Nissan Maxima, and I'll bet it goes faster in third gear than a battery powered Civic will go flat out.

[JOAT]

He should have felt like a dork for having the license plate at all.

No argument there. Pretty high dork quotient.

Mo Miles

[Dead Dog]

I freakin' love it. I have a couple liberal coworkers, who are also engineers..Mechanical Engineers no doubt! They've bought into this Hybrid crap, in fact one has a wife that owns a prius. Yes she get's 50mpg..in the freakin' city. And he expects the same on the highway....HELLO! Smart folks, but sometimes Engineers lack the ability to think, and those end up liberal.

A Hybrid is for people who hate themselves, their species, and life in general. In short Hybrid=Self Loathing=Liberal.

BTW, my sister has a TDI that gets better than 47mpg...at 80-90mph. Apparently their is a chip out that will provide 800 mile range on a fill up. Cool.

Fun read:

The Gas Electric Hybrid; Myth or Megamileage?
Show me the gas mileage! Legions of hybrid owners sing praises to a car
that has yet to truly deliver it's dreamy gas mileage estimates.
By John Starr

When gas prices shot up recently, and filling up my 16 mpg (observed city mpg) Tacoma 4x4 got a bit pricey, I found myself eyeballing the new Toyota Prius hybrid automobile. I even started drooling. The Prius EPA gas mileage estimates said the Prius could get 51mpg highway, and 60mpg in the city, for a combined average of 55mpg! "Why, shucks, this car can pay for itself in several years!" I thought.

I ran the numbers.

I drive almost exactly 10,000 miles a year. At current gas prices for premium, with a combined gas mileage average of exactly 20mpg (yes, I really checked my mileage) between my '99 Tacoma and my trusty '84 Toyota 4cyl 2wd pick up. That came out to around $1,200 bucks a year for gas. If Toyota was even close on the Prius mileage estimates, I could trim my gas bill to around $500 a year. That's a $700 annual savings. Hmmm...I went for a test drive.

You can't get something for nothing.

The 2004 Prius I test drove averaged a paltry 36.8 mpg on a 2 mile city loop. Only once did the electric motor actually power the car without the gas engine running; when I was driving at about 10mph in the parking lot -- and the instant I put the accelerator down --even modestly -- the gas engine kicked in. The salesman admitted that, as per his experiences, it was difficult to get the car to accelerate without the gas engine jumping into action. He also said the relatively "poor" gas mileage we experienced (well, 36.8mpg ain't shabby city mileage for a car -- but far below the Prius sticker claims) was because we sat in the car a while, talking, playing with the controls, not moving, and running the air conditioner. And the battery, he said, was also a bit low. Ok. But these are real world conditions! He said most times he took people on test drives, the average came out around 40mpg. OK. But that's a far cry from the 51 to 60mpg claims that have people impulse-buying these cars! I asked him what the word on the street is about the real Prius mileage.

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually isn't true.

He said that all the reports he's seen suggest the Prius typically achieves gas mileage only in the mid to high 40's. The car, as he and certain professional reviewers have noticed, is especially sensitive to head-winds, crosswinds, hills and accessory power drain. It other words, in real world conditions, it's a wimp. Even Toyota acknowledges the EPA gas mileage test -- notoriously off-base with many cars -- is especially misleading for these hybrids*. And it doesn't run particularly efficiently on freeways. He suggested this was a big factor for us California drivers, who rely on air conditioning use, and experience much windy, sometimes mountainous, freeway driving. I suggested that maybe I'd be better off buying an Echo or Corolla for a lot less money, and getting reasonably similar gas mileage averages. He said, "You're one of the few people I've talked to about the Prius who brings common sense to the bargaining table. Most people don't think -- they throw money at these things because they believe the sticker mileage estimates." Then he let out a sigh, looked over his shoulder and confessed to me in a whisper; "I'm about to buy a new car, and I've decided NOT to buy a Prius. If you're looking ten or so years out, and you factor in the car's price, then something like a Corolla will save you more money than the Prius." At 40mpg highway estimated, The Corolla is currently Toyota's third best fuel efficient vehicle (second place is currently held by the Echo; 43mpg highway estimated -- and actual owner reports of mid 30's to low 40s on the highway).

He then swiveled his flatscreen monitor around, logged onto the internet, and turned me onto a spate of websites where Prius owners were comparing notes, and publishing their real-world gas mileage reports. So far, every example I've seen --including a MotorTrend test drive around the California freeways --has not experienced mileage consistently above the mid 40s. The MotorTrend test only averaged 41.2 mpg. Lifetime averages -- even an Edmund.com long term use Prius review -- tend to hover around the low 40's. One guy we found on the Internet has two Prius's, and has a lifetime gas mileage on both vehicles of 47mpg. And yet like most Prius owners, he sings high praises to the Prius. And why not? Forty to forty seven miles per gallon ain't bad for a car -- it's damned good! But Volkswagen was achieving true 40mpg in the 1980's with the diesel Rabbit! (and still is with their TDI diesel Golf model!) OK But the diesel Rabbit was also a noxious environmental nightmare. And you can't buy diesel passenger cars in California -- yet**.

Money talks; pollution walks.

I want to help the environment, but I also have to pay rent and put food in the 'fridge. So I ran the numbers again -- this time I factored in the cost of the vehicles. Factor in that, your annual fuel bill, and project it all over 10 years... guess what? The Toyota Echo came out the winner, hands down -- even if it only gets gas mileage in the low 30's, and even if you project out 20 years. The several thousand dollar purchase price difference easily defeats the gas mileage savings with the costly Prius. Ten or twenty years later if I'm driving the Echo or a similarly priced and performing car, I'm likely to have several thousand dollars unspent. If you want to broaden the gap further, buy an inexpensive used Echo or other economy sedan. (Right now used Prius's are selling for new prices!).

And then there's the worry about the Prius's $4,000 NiMh battery -- maybe the primary reason for the Prius's higher price tag (and a sticky subject if you want to get into HAZMAT and "upstream pollution" arguments). They think it will be good for 150,000 miles, and they offer an 8 year 100,000 mile warranty on the battery and other Hybrid components. But I honestly wonder what the battery's capacity will be in 50,000 miles, and how that will affect gas mileage on the Prius. It's currently estimated that the cost for the battery will drop to around $1,000 in eight years. OK Maybe then I'll buy a hybrid. Maybe then they'll achieve real-world mileage as advertised. Maybe then the EPA test will reflect real-word conditions. Maybe then the Prius will live-up the the hype. Then again, maybe then diesel's will have become EPA friendly.

Then again, I could just buy a motorcycle today that gets 70mpg.

- John Starr, 3/27/2004

http://www.fabulousrocketeers.com/WA4DQS_Myth.htm