The new VW Polo Bluemotion is out and has just been tested by Autocar: VW Polo 1.2 TDI 75 Bluemotion - Road Test First Drive - Autocar.co.uk It uses a 1.2 litre TDi engine and manages 72 mpg (US) on the combined cycle, for 87 g/km CO2 emissions.
I think you mean 72mpg (UK). The CO2 figure is virtually the same as the 15" wheel Gen3 Prius. It's worth noting though: 1. This is a prototype, its not due in the UK for another year. 2. It's a much smaller car than the Prius. 3. It's manual (which means I'd never buy one as I live in central London). 4. It runs on diesal which is more expensive and more polluting than petrol (in the UK at least). 5. However its much cheaper than a Prius (approx 2/3 the cost of the base model).
Clett, you've converted imperial gallons on the EU test to US gallons. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS. It confuses people who compare to US EPA results. The US EPA tests are far more stringent than ours, and the results are correspondingly much lower. The new Prius is believed to be mechanically identical between UK and US, but on our tests it gets 72.4mpg (Imperial) = 60.3 mpg (US), while on the US test it only gets 50mpg. That's a substantial difference. Note also quoting combined cycle. The 'urban' part of the cycle is likely to be substantially worse - the existing 1.4L Polo BlueMotion gets 74.3mpg combined but only 57.6mpg on the urban part. The new Prius gets the same economy in the urban part as combined - 72.4mpg. I'd have to say this Polo's acceleration is extremely slow - 16 seconds from 0 to 100km/h. The new Prius gets there in 10.4 seconds, though of course you won't get the best economy when accelerating that hard.
16 seconds to 100km/h (62mph) I wonder if the Morris 1000 was as slow? A very small car compared to Prius. VW reliability, can I use those 2 words in the same sentence? How much extra do manufacturers charge for automatic transmissions? Have VW left out sound deadening to reduce weight? I bet they have.
Trust me, the Morris 1000 took a lot longer than 16 seconds to 62MPH. I don't know for sure, but from memory I'd say somewhere in the 30-40 second range.
The quoted 0-60 time of 16s is a mistake in the article online, it is quoted as 13s in the print magazine and elsewhere. @Mike, I take your point about the difference between the EPA and EU mileage testing. They were quite similar for a long time, but since the recent overhaul of the EPA figures to be more reflective of modern driving I agree they do differ quite a bit now. Taking that into account, the Polo would probably manage around 60 mpg (US gallons) on the revised EPA cycle.
Clett got it right: VW reported miles/imperial_gallon is 85.6. Diesel has about 16% more CO2/volume than petrol, and the Imperial gallon is 20% larger than the US gallon, so UK mpg diesel results will be 1.16*1.2=1.39 times greater than US mpg petrol results if CO2 emissions are the same. Using this 1.39 factor, a 50 USmpg Prius will emit the same CO2/distance as a 50*1.39=69.5 UKmpg diesel. HOWEVER, as mentioned above, be careful not to mix two different test cycle results. Using the UK test cycle of USmpg 60.3 for the Prius, the equivalent UKmpg for diesel to get the same CO2 emissions is 60.3*1.39=83.82. When all is said and done, the Prius and this car have about equivalent CO2 emissions in combined city/highway driving. I didn't see other pollutants reported. Surprising in a way since this car is the 'blue-tec' version. Reading between the lines, the reporter found it difficult to not criticize the car's acceleration. "let the engine lug" made me laugh. Well, it does show what differences gearing will make in the mpg/performance trade-off: A LOT. The previous Polo was UKmpg 72, so the gearing and a few air drag tweaks have improved fuel economy 20%. I view this car like the US Honda Insight II: it will compete mostly on price, not technology or driver preference. I see nothing wrong with that, so long as other pollutant emissions and VW reliability become competitive.
Clett, the 0-60 times may have been a typo, but I'm a bit more inclined to think that the auto magazine simply changed gears when the car instructed the driver to do so rather than revving each gear to maximum before switching. My crude arithmetic suggests this car will be rated ~ 100 UKmpg on the extra-urban test cycle. That's pretty cool, at least as a bullet point.
But even more remarkable, we feel, is the fact that on a 25-mile route in Sardinia, driven at normal traffic speed with no exaggerated effort to save fuel, we were able to return an awesome 78.5mpg according to the fuel computer. Even if that were 10 per cent wrong, as some fuel computers are, it would still be an awesome performance. ok...interesting statement from the article here, just wondering if anyone here has any information by brand, make or model as to which fuel computers are usually "10%" off. and i am glad they feel that way. i personally dont.
Different countries tend to have wildly optimistic fuel economy ratings, that are rarely achieved in real world driving As an example, my 2007 FJ Cruiser is officially rated at getting 21 miles per Imperial gallon city, 28 miles per Imperial gallon highway That is a fantasy The EPA rates the FJ Cruiser as getting 15 city and 19 highway, miles per US gallon. Much more realistic, though the city fuel economy is still very optimistic
I find this very interesting: "The engine stops when the car is stationary in traffic, then restarts when the driver selects first gear. There’s a smart alternator that does most of its battery charging the when the car is slowing......" I sounds like this Polo has a system very similar to GM's BAS hybrid accept they don't use the alternator to move the car like GM does. I would also like to point out that the OP never compared this Polo to a Prius. The OP simply linked a review of the Polo Bluemotion in the "Other Cars" section. It is the rest of you that immediately started comparing this Polo to a Prius and bashing the Polo. The Prius isn't the perfect car for everyone.
They probably tested the FJ Cruiser on a flat section of #401 near Toronto, on a mild day, at 75 km/h (Thus risking getting rear ended by every other maniac Toronto driver out there, blasting down the #401 at 130 km/h I've driven Yaris in Europe that had the 3 cylinder engine. I could live with such a motor, but I doubt the average American or Canadian driver would put up with it. The Polo diesel is a 3 cylinder I noticed an estimated price of 12,000 pound sterling. Not sure what symbol to enter to make the British Pound mark. By todays exchange rate, that works out to a bit over $19,000 USD
considering the performance, size and price, i think its a great option for Europe...as for here... we already had it, the Chevy Sprint, etc. and it failed.
For those who purchased a 3 cylinder Geo Metro, a Suzuki product, and understood what they were getting into, the car returned good fuel economy. It was small, underpowered by current standards, and not up to modern safety standards Did I mention I recently took a 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 for a spin? Local dealership was all but begging folks to take their vehicles for a spin. I parked on the street in front of the dealership, as the bank I sometimes deal with is right across the street For giggles, I took the Challenger for a spin. It was black, had a 6.1 litre V8, and a 5 speed auto. Very, very scary-quick, but surprisingly docile ride characteristics If only Chrysler put the same engineering and attention to detail, into producing a desirable small car
