Honda Civic Hybrid

AdrianHi

Have look at this graph (link below) from August 2006 featuring the Toyota Prius and several other cars in a more realistic fuel consumption (but still not real world) test. Forget speeds 70mph to 140mph which I'm sure you'll never do, but 50mph to 70mph results are interesting.
The Prius starts out well with 48mpg at 50mph (and the official EU test says 65mpg for a 2006 Prius) but still not as good as a few diesels.
By the time you get to 70mph it's sucking down fuel at 32-33mpg. I've owned 1998 built 2.5L V6 engines that do better than that at this speed.

http://www.metrompg.com/zoom_image.htm?H=437&W=640&ZoomFile=gcc%2Dautobild1%2Egif&Caption=%28%3Ca%20href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egreencarcongress%2Ecom%2F2006%2F05%2Ffuel%5Fconsumptio%2Ehtml%22%20target%3D%22%5Fblank%22%3ESource%3C%2Fa%3E%29&title=GCC%20AutoBild%20graph

I wonder if with the official tests these hybrid cars start with a fully charged battery giving misleading good results when in the real world the car will soon need to charge the battery with more than it can get from regenerative breaking - using fuel.

The battery packs on these hybrids are heavy which takes energy (fuel) to move.

The_Money_Saver_2

Thanks very much for the graph and info. Am more confused now!

AdrianHi

The_Money_Saver wrote: »

Thanks very much for the graph and info. Am more confused now!

It illustrates the point that the EU official testing methods are not representative of real world fuel consumption so should not be used to inform your buying choice if fuel consumption and cost is high priority for you.
For open road motoring you still cannot beat diesel for fuel economy - in the real world.
Around town driving a small petrol or hybrid starts to makes sense.

emmell

What about servicing and repairs, can these be done at independent garages. What will happen to the batteries when the car is getting on a bit (how long are they expected to last).
We have a Lexus hybrid (company car), I would have no inclination to buy one. It is not economical compared to our previous Rangerover Sport, does about the same mpg but petrol instead of diesel so a little bit cheaper.
I am in the process of trying to persuade him indoors not to get another Lexus.
ML.

tomstickland

The_Money_Saver wrote: »

Thanks very much for the graph and info. Am more confused now!

It shows that a TDi can easily achieve better mpg than a hybrid.

The_Money_Saver_2

Thanks very much for the replies.