BMW Beats Prius in MPGs

BMW beats Prius in mpgs

"A diesel-powered BMW 5-series posted better MPG stats than a petrol-based Toyota Prius hybrid. The BMW 520d with a 2.0-liter diesel engine and regenerative braking posted an impressive 41.9 mpg - about 0.9 mpg better than a full hybrid Prius."

Of course, what this article doesn't mention is that in emissions the Prius beat the BMW.  By roughly 15% in CO2, not to mention NOx and particulate emissions associated with diesels.

Nevertheless, it's good to see more diesel hybrids being made.

Who did the test and where was it reviewed?

I'll suspect it wasn't a hybrid, just a modern BMW diesel.

The 520 one of their larger models. Look to the 118d. Just got "World Green Car Award".

From Wired:

"In the 118d, this engine makes 141 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque. It will prod the car to 60 mph in about 8.8 seconds, returning 59 mpg on the (foreign) highway and spewing only 118 grams of CO2 per kilometer into the (non-US) atmosphere. Not bad at all"

Huh. I thought for sure when I saw the title of this thread that it would be about BMW's regular cars having higher mileage than the Prius.

I don't know that they do, but when my girlfriend was looking for a new car, she found that the Volkswagen Jetta, for one, got better mpg than hybrid gas-electric cars. Which raised the question for me: is there anything that makes the Prius better than a gas car that gets higher mpg? I don't know how their emissions compare....

Sidebar: WHY do I always get BMW and Volkswagen confused?

No, there isn't.  But there also isn't a gas car that gets higher mpg than the Prius.  Some small diesels do (so I'm sure she was looking at the Jetta diesel).

However, there are reasons that gas/electric hybrids can be better than diesels which get comparable mileage.  Those being:

1. Diesel emits 15% more CO2 per volume than gasoline.  So a 50 mpg diesel emits as much CO2 as a 43 mpg gas car or hybrid.
2. Diesel is also higher in other emissions than gasoline, like nitrous oxides (NOx) and particulates.  The former is a greenhouse gas and also causes smog and acid rain, among its many negative effects.  The latter causes health problems like asthma and lung cancer.

But of course you can negate those effects by using biodiesel, though that's an entirely seperate discussion.