In U.S. units, this is 41.88 mpg for the BMW and 40.05 mpg for the Prius.
And my two year old Corolla gets 35mpg (mixed conditions), and I'm not particularly careful about fuel efficient driving.
Huh? The units in the story are mpg. What did I miss?
Normalizing for the cost of fuel, the BMW costs 9.19 cents per mile. The Prius costs 7.81 cents per mile. That is based on your MPG figures and the current cost of fuel in my town today. 85 octane gas at $3.13. Diesel at $3.85. The Prius still wins on lower initial cost of acquisition and lower cost of fuel. As a former owner of a couple Porsche cars and a Toyota pickup, I'll lay bets that the maintenance costs for the BMW (parts & labor) will be much higher than the Toyota product. A fine German car is a joy to drive, but you really have to be prepared to pony up the $$$ for maintenance to keep it that way.
Hybrids do shine IF they are driven in city conditions in relatively nice weather. Once the temperature extremes require use of the heater or air conditioner, the advantage is lost in the need to operate the internal combustion engine to provide the heating or cooling. The Prius driver knew enough to avoid using either in the story. The BMW driver opted for comfort as there is only a small penalty for a vehicle that has to run the internal combustion engine full time anyway. My 2008 Mariner Hybrid can achieve 32 MPG in mild weather and city conditions. On the road it will average 28 MPG. Winter temperatures can drop the MPG to as low as 21.8 MPG. As Spring is approaching, our long term average is running around 25.7 MPG.