Motortrend: Top 10 Most Efficient Non-Hybrid 2013 Cars (By Combined Mileage)

Mazda 3 seems to have made a nice 4 1/2 MPG jump in one year due to skyactiv ... 28.x to 32.x
That's nice work.

Mazda 3 MPG Reports | Fuelly

 

I went to check out the Mazda 6 with Skyactive. I walked away the moment he started the car. Sounded like a can of marbles being shaken up. What a racket it made!

 

And that Mazda3 didn't even get the full skyactiv treatment. No use of lighter materials over the previous year, and the skyactiv exhaust headers wouldn't fit under the hood so they had to detune the engine.

I'm waiting to see what the skyactiv diesel returns, and whether it will have their regnerative braking system.

 

Wait until you hear it. They are pretty noisy.

 

Neighbor has one...manual. Sounds like an older car on startup..the guy down the street with the Duramax has a quieter startup.

 

How long is start up though? Is it only noisy on a cold engine? How loud is it when warmed up? Will it be noisy using the auto start/stop system?

Hybrids make compromises in the pursuit of efficiency. A noisy start up might be more acceptable than smaller trunk space for some shoppers.

 

Wow that is quite interesting.
I was expecting Cruze @40 given Pres Obama's speech a few years ago: "we have 50 MPG cars rolling off in Detroit"(approx quote). Prius advantage is at least around 15 MPG over the next best. Corolla is no where to be found nor Civic. Toyota needs to unviel the non-Hybrid Prius so I can calculate tax savings for VA politcal arguments. If Prius ICE came in at 40, they'd have something. Something like Versa or Sentra I would think have to be considered over Prius (if cost of ownership rules) in a Virginia scenario where they want to tax hybrid owners.

 

CAFE

 

Irony, in the wiki article I posted this graph



is posted with the caption 'CAFE reaches Prius in 2022.' The graph is using customer EPA mpg of the Prius instead of it's CAFE value of about 80.

 

^^^good catch!

 

I have to correct an error of my own though. The 2008 Prius CAFE is 65.8. I estimate the current G3 Prius is about 70 mpg.

 

It is loud at idle as well...he says it is at least louder than his old 328i. He noticed it quiets down when he uses 91 vs. 87.

 

87 is sub par gas. Mazda had to lower the compression of the engines in order not to have the premium fuel marketing penalty here.