Blake Jennings
How do you place EPA mileage numbers to the check? You possibly can purchase a wind tunnel and a lab and begin doing an enormous science experiment. Or you possibly can discover 20 auto writers, put them in 20 completely different vehicles, and inform them they’re in a contest of effectivity the place the winner will get bragging rights.
Yearly, the Car Journalists Affiliation of Canada does the latter. About 20 of the nation’s prime journalists come to participate in EcoRun, an occasion the place automakers are invited to carry their most effective fashions to 1 place for 3 days of combating to make use of much less.
Prior to now, it was all gasoline and diesel, however because the market has modified, so has the EcoRun lineup. This yr, each car had some type of electrification, and about half had been totally electrical.
EcoRun 2023 had 10 legs. Every driver swapped to a different automobile on the finish of every leg. Consumption of gas and electrical energy had been recorded. Rotating 18 drivers by the 18 autos (every driver drove 10 vehicles) cancels out a lot of the affect of 1 driver who would not care about successful. However all these auto fans care about successful.
Driving each car on the identical days and the identical route in the identical situations ranges the enjoying subject nearly in addition to a check cell. That is why I am calling this the easiest way to point out how among the most effective autos in the marketplace examine to their official estimates. Right here they’re, ranked from worst-performing to greatest, in relation to their EPA mixed estimates.
Oh, and the entire PHEVs began every day with no battery cost. It was the easiest way to make it truthful and was additionally essentially the most consultant of the lengthy highway journeys this occasion is supposed to simulate.
Toyota Prius Prime: 48 mpg
When Toyota redesigned the Prius, it lastly made the automobile fashionable; there isn’t any denying the brand new automobile turns heads. Toyota additionally determined to emphasise efficiency over outright effectivity and gave the Prius Prime 220 hp (164 kW) and a 2.0L gasoline engine.
The Prime has a powerful EPA gas financial system determine of 52 miles per gallon (4.5 L/100 km), one of the best of any car on this check. However on the highway, the automobile delivered 48.1 mpg (4.9 L/100 km), 7.5 % beneath its window sticker. Prime’s greatest single phase was 62 mpg (3.8L/100 km), and its worst was 33 mpg (7.1 L/100km).
Hyundai Tucson: 34.5 mpg
Blake Jennings
The Hyundai Tucson gives typical, hybrid, and PHEV drivelines, giving consumers loads of selection. We had what was in all probability one of the best one for highway tripping, the Tucson Hybrid, with a 1.6L turbocharged engine and 59 hp (44 kW) electrical motor. The mix makes for 226 hp (169 kW) and 258 lb-ft (350 Nm) of torque. Hyundai makes use of a standard six-speed automated (minus a torque converter) for its hybrid drive system, and that makes it really feel rather more like a gas-only car than the standard considerably mushy CVTs utilized in different hybrids.
Pairing a turbocharger with a hybrid motor is unconventional because it provides complexity and value to the system. Right here it may also take away from the car’s gas effectivity. In opposition to an EPA score of 37 mpg (6.4 L/100 km), the Tucson hybrid returned 34.5 (6.8 L/100 km). At 6.7 % beneath estimates, it was the second of simply two autos that did not beat the official score. Tucson faired worst within the uphill climb sections the place gas financial system dipped to 24 mpg (9.7 L/100 km), a determine extra consistent with the larger SUVs. On flat floor, it dropped to round 47 mpg (5 L/100 km).