Consumer Reports Names Prius "2014 Top Pick Green Car"

do not know, never rode in those.

 

Even as CR sings the praises of Tesla, they took a moment to bash Ford quality:
Tesla soars, Ford falls in 'Consumer Reports' study

That caught mye eye in particular because someone on the plugin Accord thread (IIRC) went to great length to sing the praises of ford quality, compared to other hybrids. Oh well ..
.

 

It seems Ford's main issue is what it has been in the recent past, the Sync and MyTouch systems. Which makes Ford switching to BlackBerry not surprising, and isn't a reflection on the engineering of the actual car. Using the MSD to control all but the most basic functions of HVAC and radio in the gen2 Prius was kinda cumbersome. That didn't make the HSD a poorly designed system.

 

That low mileage comes from typical taxi service where there is a lot 'parked-time' with the cabin and engine kept ready. But compared to a regular taxi, the Prius is almost free.

As an experiment, get in the cab and ask the driver to reset the MPG before driving you to your destination. I suspect you'll be pleasantly surprised. <grins>

Bob Wilson

 

All I'd be thinking is how much better mileage he could get if he drove it properly.

 

Ethanol has ~70% the energy content of gasoline. So E10 (10% ethanol, 90% gasoline) has 3% less energy content, not 10% less. 10% less would imply zero energy in the ethanol.

Mike

 

Hi Mike- I am saying 3% from the ethanol + up to 7% from energy content difference in the base gasoline. For example, I measured 0.726 g/cc density in my gaso recently. I am thinking the EPA test gasoline is closer to maybe as high as 0.800 g/cc. In another post a while ago I posted EPA correlation for energy content vs. density. It was an old report but EPA said they see about 7% difference in variation at the pump re: density.

 

there's a nasty lie attached to ethanol. It isn't 70% of gasoline btu's ... not if you count the btu's it took to plant that corn ... the btu's manufacturing that petro chemical fertilizer and petrochemical insecticide ... the btu's to grow/harvest/transport the grain to the distillery ... the btu's to ferment the grain into alcohol ..... yea ... just a few neglected fibs within the industry

Of course for gasoline, it takes a few neglected btu's to run an aircraft carrier (24/7) around the Persian Gulf too - so who knows ... maybe it's a wash. Both fuel sources aren't up front when it comes to describing how many btu's you come out ahead - after you invest substantial amounts of power into getting the surplus BTU's .

All kidding aside I wish I could find some reliable numbers to account for all the nelected peripheral energies ... even though they continuously fluctuate

 

But the question was about the EPA mileage tests vs CR tests. All that matters is the BTUs in the tank per gallon for a valid comparison.

Mike

 

The Accord getting 37 mpg is a little lower than the Camry hybrid, that is to bad. I heard that the accord was going to get 50 mpg. the warm weather of summer will help that number come up, but I would be shocked if it came up to 50.

IMO the steering wheel to the right makes the car more comfortable to drive. It would be intresting to know how many cars of different makes have similar offset. I never noticed that the wheel is not centerd until I read about it on here. I went and looked and it is off center. I guess that type of stuff was off the radar when we test drove it and we were impressed with the performance and great mpg. the price was only 2k more than the prius. We bought it an like it so much we got another hybrid, my prius c, for all the intown driving I have to do. I also like this car. and there are plenty of people who think prius c is a piece of junk. IMO it is far better than the economy cars I had before. a Neon and before that a diesel rabbit. the prius is Light Tight and gets crazy good mpg in town. its safer quieter and I think it will last a long time like most Toyota cars.

 

If only I had a dollar for every time a car is hyped as the 'Toyota hybrid killer,' only to fall far short.

 

^^^^^ For sure, many have tried, ALL have fallen short. HSD reigns supreme after 17 years, nothing can touch it.

 

...another reason to stay away from Honda hybrids...

Honda Civic Hybrid — Shocking Battery Failure Rates | PriusChat

 

So, you'd have maybe $10?

Mike

 

+1

Yep. And Consumer reports has pointed out some problems with EPA testing. Still CR's numbers seem to hold systemic errors much greater than those of the EPA.

Car and Driver has pointed out much better some of the problems with EPA testing. The low acceleration seems to help hybrid numbers, as does the city cycle based on LA driving 50 years ago. The low speeds though helps unairodynic cars, which when fudge factors (EPA math) is used hurts the prius a little. The standard gasoline can be taken in as fudge factors to the EPA test. California summer gas is even different than houston summer gas, and winter gas gets worse milage. You can't test it all. I give CR a F on testing, and the EPA a C+, we should not take the rants of an F student (the prius c gets lousy milage in our tests wah, IIHS comes up with a new test, prius is no longer safe wah)

Measuring Fuel Economy

Why Is the EPA So Bad at Estimating Hybrid Fuel Economy? &#8211;&#160;Feature &#8211; Car and Driver

So while I agree with CR conclusion of "green car" being prius, I think the way they choose leaves much to be desired.

 

I'm not complaining a bit. These dollars.

 

To everyone complaining about CR mpg numbers they are close to the real world. With thousands of owner reporting their mpg on a prius to sites online that track mpg sites like fuelley have yet to have a year of the prius average getting 50 or above they are 46-48 for the last few model years so CR is as close as the window sticker. If you buy a car you can get the CR numbers and better if you try. I like knowing I can AT LEAST get the mpg number CR reports.

I also don't see why when a car fails a new crash test people are mad at CR because they won't recommend a car that fails a crash test.

 

Because not all crash tests are equally important.

 

I am not mad at CR, just think it is rather fickle, shouting results that are not meaningful. It told me my gen III prius would be great as far as safety is concerned. The NHTSA has not noted that it suddenly became less safe, which would support a change, but the IIHS created a new test that affects a small subset of frontal crashes. Suddenly my safe gen III prius became unsafe according to CR (no additional acident statistics were used), and I need to upgrade to the 2014 my to get the safety I was promised. It just means CRs safety ratings are unreliable. oopsy.

That seems like a flaw with consumer reports.

 

When safety is determined by vehicle-fatality-miles, I'm OK with the approach. I'm also OK with injuries, vehicle-injury-times. But I have a real problem with a 'safety test' that is not backed up by credible accident statistics.

Let the real world drive the testing needed and not a test 'invented' without backup requirements.

Also, it is critical that all makes and models should be analyzed from the actual accident numbers. If so, a lot of pickup and SUV vehicles would be subject to significant . . . 'reconsiderations.'

Bob Wilson