Is it possible? Can I beat the Toyota Prius with a Corolla?
Saturday Jul 28, 2007
Working at a company that offers one of the most energy efficient servers available today, I have one more reason to save energy (the other reasons are well-known).
The question was: Is it possible to drive a standard Toyota Corolla Combi (Station Wagon) 1.6 l, 81 kW (110 hp) (Engine 3ZZ-FE) more fuel effectively than a Toyota Prius?
Well, it depends. Depends on what and how you compare, of course. Let's see: If you look at the average fuel consumption of the Prius as documented here, you can see that the average fuel consumption of the Prius (models I and II) as entered by about 270 users is about 5.2 l/100 km which equals to 45 mpg.
I was pretty sure that I could never drive more fuel effectively than the best Prius driver (once I hit the break, I lose). But I wanted to know how much fuel I could save by driving as good as possible, which is:
- use your bike for short distances
- don't drive fast (at most 100 km/h = 62 mph)
- avoid using the breaks: When you have to slow down, declutch or lift the gas pedal (if traffic allows)
- switch off the engine when stopping for more than 20 seconds
The result was pretty amazing: 5.26 l/100 km = 44.7 mpg. By the way - the average fuel consumption of similar Toyota Corollas as entered by about 40 other drivers is about 7.7 l/100 km = 30.5 mpg.
If only my Corolla had a gearbox which would allow me to drive 100 km/h at just 1800 rpm instead of 3000 rpm as of today, I am sure I could bring it down to 4.5 l/100 km (52.3 mpg).
Posted by Adam Khel on July 29, 2007 at 01:09 AM CEST #
Posted by auto on July 29, 2007 at 02:26 AM CEST #
Posted by artem on July 29, 2007 at 09:55 PM CEST #