Motorweek Test

Motorweek did a test to see what was good environmentally, and cost wise. Just broadcast today on PBS.

They had two Mercedes, one gas and one diesel (injected stuff to take care of emissions). Both V6.

Two Honda Civics, one normal, the other hybrid.

Two GMC Yukons, one flexfuel, the other 2 mode hybrid.

I was prepared for more BS, but they did good!

All the hybrids had much lower emissions than the alternatives, cost much less per mile for fuel, and all but the Yukon 2 mode recovered the hybrid premium (they didn't use the term) in three years (per their calculations). The GMC Yukon 2 mode would take more than 5 years to recover the extra cost (yeah GM! ). The flexfuel Yukon had the highest cost per mile of all tested vehicles when running E85 fuel. It did better on "real" gasoline.
Too bad nobody will listen (attention moron Polytisions)!

I was ready to complain that the Prius wasn't in the test, but I suspect the reason was there was no easy way to compare it to a normal version of the car, and comparing it to another car of similar size etc would probably generate controversy! I WAS amazed they got 48 MPG in the Civic Hybrid, as it's supposed to be slightly worse according to the EPA, and the Prius is supposed to get 48.

Great test, and they even had a very nice pollution meter and showed the complete data it recovered. They ran that test on the road, using actual driving, not cooked up methods in a shop.