Fiesta smokes Pruis!!!

We were in Italy this xmas and our host had a 5 door Ford hatchback that was a small diesel, twin turbo, I believe with a stick, it got around 45mpg average, better on the slower back roads. It would seat 7, but almost impossible for an adult to sit in the very back. They have a scale for EPA and he said his was the highst rated as of when we were there.

It wasn't bad for four adults and some room in the back for cargo, but at $4.71 who in the H wants diesel!

 

Any competition in the fuel economy segment of the market is good, so bring it on.

However, again I just see another concept at another car show. We already have a wide collection of those "concepts". I'd rather see cars on the dealer lots instead.

We need solutions now, not in 2010-2015. The more competition, the better it is for the consumer.

 

I HAVE read through this whole thread.

i see many constructive posts by the other members here, but i have to admit that i feel the OP was done by a TROLL.

i'm out

 

Ford and GM aren't the only ones to make assumptions about what the various markets will buy. In Europe, Toyota (together with Peugeot) builds and sells the little AYGO, which is smaller than the Yaris. It has a 3-cyl 1.0 liter gasoline engine and actually gets better mileage than the Prius on the road (albeit not in the city). Prrice ? You get three AYGO's for the price of a Prius. You can also get it with a Peugeot diesel engine, if you buy it from Peugeot (in which case it's the 107). The diesel doesn't get better mileage than the gasoline, though.

 

Fortunately, we PriusChat members are smart enough to view the article, figure out the facts, and see how meaningless the comparison is. I don't consider the post to be a harmful troll.

Diesel costs 20% more than regular gas here in Virginia. I'll keep my Prius for now, thanks.

 

I'm sorry but IT UGLY

 

I am at 66.5 mpg US right now, after 230 mi since my last fillup, which is about 1/3 of the vehicle range. And my fuel cost $4.29 a gallon, not $5.10 here in Chicagoland.

 

I drove an Opel Astra in Ireland in March for 10 days, the gas mileage was awesome,,, however, now that GM brought the Astra over here and it is being sold by Saturn, they drastically changed the car. The Astra in Ireland has the electronic shifting just like our Prius does, even has the same shift knob, but NOT the Astra here, it has the regular gear shifter like the regular automatic cars have here, big turn off, and the gas mileage here with the Saturn Astra is nothing compared to the gas mileage I experienced with the Astra in Ireland.

So even if GM brings those cars here, they will change them and the MPG will probably not even compare to what they are in Europe.

 

Seems like a viable alternative......some complain about how diesel is more expensive but diesel has a long track record for reliability and low maintainence. Not having to deal with batteries and electronic motors and the weight disadvantages posed by those is good. For most people a diesel might be a better option especially with potential biodiesel subsidy in the pipeline

Don't worry though, Toyota will likely eventually release a prius diesel with or without a hybrid drive drivetrain....or risk being routed.

 

What about learning a little something while you're here?

 

Ford vs. Toyota is no comparison when it comes to quality and resale value.
Nor when it comes to being clean.....

 

Really, that's enough for me.

... Brad

 

What is are the mileage estimates under the new 2008 EPA guidelines so we can make a fair comparison? VW already tried to seek one by on us by using some wildly optimist estimates that were not even close to correct.

What kind of mileage will it get when tuned/cleaned up to meet the current US BIN5/LEV II emissions requirements?

What kind of mileage will it get when tuned/cleaned up and reengineered/modified to meet the current US safety requirements?

What kind of mileage will the Ford that is in the same, or even close to the same size class as the mid-sized Prius get? Not some mini-car like the Fiesta but an honest mid-sized car.

When can one purchase these cars in the US. Hmm, that's what I thought.

What will happen first? Ford files for bankruptcy protection or the new Fiesta comes to the US. My bets are on bankruptcy.

 

I'd like to see resale value for the teenie car.

I just did BB on my 2005 Prius 30,000 miles. It's pretty much 100% of what I paid for it three years ago. Not bad.

 

Bill,

you're right. Five posts now, all of the same type.

He claims to be here to spread "knowledge," vitriol would be more correct.

It's time to dispose of this irritant.

*

 

I'm going to provide some data for you and let you think about it

In the EU, indeed the rest of the world outside the USA - except for Japan - official fuel economy figures are stated in litres per 100 km, often presented as l/100km. Furthermore, in countries like the UK when fuel economy is stated in mpg, it is ALWAYS in miles per IMPERIAL gallon

Now pay attention

1 Imperial Gallon = 4.54 litres
1 US Gallon = 3.78 litres

Just like at suv and truck boards, where everybody pisses and moans about what "great" fuel economy some car or ute gets overseas, and what s*** fuel economy a similar car gets here. Because you are NOT comparing apples to apples

The UK Prius fuel economy is rated similar to the Fiesta you mentioned. If you don't believe me, look it up yourself:

Welcome to Toyota GB

Ford :: home

Much like how FJ Cruiser owners want the turbodiesel from the Prado, thinking it will somehow double their fuel economy. After you compare the Prado V6 to the diesel, the difference is under 7 miles per Imperial gallon. Hardly worth it when you factor how much more diesel fuel is

 

This reputation is because diesels in the past have been big heavy slugs of cast iron producing about half the power of a similar size petrol engine. The reliability of these lightweight high speed diesel engines is an unknown quantity. They all have turbochargers which although proven reliable in heavy haulage have had a somewhat checkered record in light passenger vehicles.
Have you ever seen the price to replace the high pressure fuel pump in a diesel? Let me tell you maintaining a diesel isn't cheap. This new bread of common rail injected engines have high tech electronic injectors which have tolerances measured in microns, 1.5 to 3.0 microns, and electrical windings perched on top of a vibrating diesel engine or worse buried within the hot cylinder head. This is a whole new, relatively untested engine technology.

My question to anyone who thinks diesel is better than Prius is, what steps does a diesel take toward a zero emission vehicle which doesn't use fossil fuels? And before you say used chip oil, would there be enough for everyone? And if you mention commercially grown oil seed like canola would that displace food crops in a world where food is becoming more scarce? I guess we can take Prince Charles' approach and run our cars on wine, only takes 8 litres of wine and plus 0.15 litres of petrol to make a litre of E85 this way.

 

Hi Jayman,

Thanks for the links. Lets see. Prius - 65.69 mpg UK combined, Fiesta Diesel - 64.2 mpg UK combined. Hmm, I see no smoking going on. What are they talking about? Converting these to US Gallons, we get Prius - 54.69 mpg US (UK combined), versus the Fiesta Diesel 53.45 mpg US (UK combined).

Hmm, I wonder if this is why VW has anounced its going to be making a gasoline electric hybrid car ?

 

Whenever a diesel engine vehicle "smokes" a Prius I can only imagine one thing: The dark gray cloud emitting from the diesel vehicle in front of me.

I know the new diesels start out clean (except for NOx) but will they / can they really be maintained that way? One would hope so, but the old diesel fleet smokes my optimism.