Article: Tested - Speed vs fuel economy

[JimJohnD]

FYI:

Tested: Speed vs fuel economy: Consumer Reports Cars Blog

Sort of interesting to see who didn't make it to the party. While they went out of their way to say the Insight showed the biggest difference they didn't mention it was tops in all ranges.

[wstander]

Interesting; living on the West Coast and commuting almost 100 miles round trip, I can attest to the fact that cruising at the posted limit and exceeding that limit by 10-15 MPH gets me there in about the same time....I have been passed by people who are cruising at 85+, only to actually arrive at the same destination at the same time!

I drove my Prius similarly and returned the same results, comparatively.

As to the article, make sure to read the reader's comments....

[jpleong]

Originally Posted by wstander

I have been passed by people who are cruising at 85+, only to actually arrive at the same destination at the same time!

Or they get pulled over and you arrive before they do... lol...

I can only ever see speed(ing) as an advantage if you have a multiple-hour journey where the cumulative effects become significant or you're (late) trying to beat stop lights in the city. Other than that... plan ahead, leave early and give yourself plenty of time. Ever since I got the Insight I've ceased having high-stress, mirror-checking driving experiences.

Thanks for pointing out the comments, by the way... those were more fascinating (and insightful) than the original article.

JP

ps- I just re-read the article... there's no mention of methodology whatsoever. My results at those speeds aren't the same but I'm sure my driving is very different from their driving.

[buglermcd]

Yet another flawed report.

The non-linear MPG rears its head again. The one guy in the comments section got it right.

But still, the average Joe still doesn't know that the difference between 45 and 50 MPG is a lot smaller than 15-20. A LOT smaller.

[MN Driver]

Originally Posted by buglermcd

Yet another flawed report.

The non-linear MPG rears its head again. The one guy in the comments section got it right.

But still, the average Joe still doesn't know that the difference between 45 and 50 MPG is a lot smaller than 15-20. A LOT smaller.

Yes, you are correct, I was talking about this with someone else the difference between my rough 35mpg at 75mph pure highway and 38-43mpg daily commute driving(including weekend and misc. driving) at 55mph with 95 Prizm. I can go 25% more distance at 43mpg versus 35mpg or in other words use 81.4% of the gas I would be using by going fast by slowing down. I once over 40mpg on every tank except for 1 when traveling from Minneapolis to Toronto and back traveling at the interstate speed limit(70mph) the entire time.

Is the Insight Gen2 seriously only getting 36.5mpg at 75mph?

In this case the Toyota Yaris did the best in terms of percentage of least loss of fuel economy by driving faster and the Insight had the worst, but this makes no difference at all and seems completely irrelevant because the Insight is going to use the least fuel out of all of these cars even at 75mph.

I don't see why they are comparing it this way, whether they are doing it wrong like they are, or if it was being done correctly because it doesn't matter from car to car. It's made obvious that driving faster causes a loss of fuel economy but to compare an SUV to small cars like they did doesn't seem to make any sense. I did appreciate the chart though.

[jpleong]

Originally Posted by MN Driver

...Is the Insight Gen2 seriously only getting 36.5mpg at 75mph?

That's just what CR is getting.

I've taken a few trips where I've maintained "normal" and hypermiling highway speeds and the results are as follows:
Cinci-Indy @ 70mph (speed limit) = 48mpg
Cinci-Indy @ 80mph (+10 speed limit) = 45mpg
Cinci-Indy @ 60mph (-10 speed limit) = 59mpg
Cinci-Chic @ 70mph (speed limit) = 50.4mpg

Now, that's all MID reported so you can subtract 3 from each for the worst-case scenario (I don't actually know how far off my MID is).

My complaint, again, is that there is no methodology listed in the article so I can't reproduce their test cycle. However, anyone can reproduce my test cycle -just go from Cincinnati to Indianapolis or Chicago following a GPS (I'll even give you the exact addresses), on the highway set cruise control to the listed speed, off-highway just follow the speed limit, and bring along someone who needs to take a potty break during the Cinci-Chicago run -there you have it!

Originally Posted by MN Driver

I don't see why they are comparing it this way, whether they are doing it wrong like they are, or if it was being done correctly because it doesn't matter from car to car....

CR seems to enjoy slamming the Insight every chance they get for some reason. Even if you read their announcement of the IIHS Top Safety pick (which was all sorts of glowing for the Insight) they couldn't help but slam it. Maybe this is just another subconscious chance to take a jab at the Insight -this time it's an SUV that's "better" than the Insight.

Nah... that can't be it

JP

[jrlnc]

Originally Posted by jpleong

. . .
CR seems to enjoy slamming the Insight every chance they get for some reason. Even if you read their announcement of the IIHS Top Safety pick (which was all sorts of glowing for the Insight) they couldn't help but slam it. Maybe this is just another subconscious chance to take a jab at the Insight -this time it's an SUV that's "better" than the Insight.

Nah... that can't be it

JP

Yes and look at the CR Video review that started circulating today:

CR Video Review of 2010 Insight

It's more of the same . . .

• Completely thrash the car to get 38 mpg
• Show off it's "dangerous" handling in zig-zagging through a cone obstacle course
• Mention it's extreme interior noise level (road noise/engine noise)
• Rear seat uncomfortable and practically unusable
• Rearward view awkward and "dangerous"
• Poor acceleration
• yada . . . yada . . .yada

Very funny that with almost every criticism of the Insight, the reviewer praises the Prius.

However, he fails to mention that the Prius has the same miserable acceleration and the same rearward view.

On his other criticisms -

• I find it easy to get 50 mpg in this car without "hypermiling". I use the cruise and a/c and drive at the speed limits, don't draft, etc.
• Regarding the "dangerous" handling - it was 1 or 2 of the auto magazines who said the Insight's handling was better than the Prius. Their cone test looked much different that CR's
• Regarding the noise - under normal driving conditions, I find it fairly quiet. In fact (when not winding out the engine) I've had multiple passengers say they can't believe how quiet the car is!
• Well, the rear seat isn't too useful for tall people. But I've had 5'6" folks back there for hour-long drives who didn't complain.

There's definitely a bias and an agenda to the CR attitude.

Although the car is not perfect, it does well at what it's designed for and meets my needs. It will take the experience of real-world drivers to show how it really stacks up.

Real owner fuel economy statistics are showing that the Insight is very close (within 1-2 mpg average) of the 2010 Prius. I chuckle when I read about Prius owners stating their HSD system is so "superior". For real-world purposes it doesn't impress me. Maybe in excessive NYC or San Francisco driving conditions the Prius would really shine, but in my environment there isn't much difference.

[MN Driver]

The cone test that CR used was a chicane which they used to test emergency handling. They got through the chicane with no problem but from what I could see the wheel was snapped back a little too late, and therefore too abruptly which offset the balance of the car and caused traction loss. I don't think 0-60 in 12 seconds is that bad and most people don't have a real need to accelerate at a rate that high and with some planning and attention to the road such as where other cars are can avoid the need for sudden acceleration while on the road. I see advantages to the Inight with its simpler design, with less things to break, typically less things do break in my opinion. If you don't agree with me, visit the priuschat forum's Gen I Prius section, their costs related to high mileage problems are far higher than the Gen I problems associated with the Insight and it seems that issues with the Gen I Prius are making their owners more likely to scrap the car than fix the issues which isn't something that I see here.

[bish79]

Ok...

I think it has been well established the CR hates the Insight for whatever silly reason so their opinion to me is useless. But what I hate is the way that they present their MPG vs Speed data as if it is gospel or something. Let's just list a FEW of the factors that will affect the results of a test like this:

1. Wind
2. Air Temperature
3. Humidity
4. A/C on or off?
5. Elevation Change
6. Is the car properly broken in?
7. ECON on or OFF
8. Tire inflation
9. How much weight is in the car?


And that is just to name a FEW of the major contributors to an MPG vs. Speed curve. So unless you are going to carefully control ALL of those factors (and the many others that I have missed) then please don't post your results as if it is some sort of actual useful comparison.

I for one have gotten similar results and much different results.

Example 1: On our vacation in the mountains of Wyoming/Montana @ 80+ MPH with a headwind = 35-38 MPG

Example 2: Driving from Indiana to Michigan @70 MPH with no wind = 51 MPG

Too many varying factors to name for each scenario resulted in totally different MPGs...

[Cobb]

I did 75mph down i295 with 2 passengers, 2 rolling walkers. I got 47.2 as the max fuel economy and I had reset it before the on ramp to include getting up to speed.

I find going 5-10 over the limit over hours really adds up and is worth the fuel economy bite if time is an issue. The use of Drafting makes this a null point as you can do both, speed and get great fuel economy at the same time.

As for city driviing, I love meeting the person who sped away or took a short cut across a drive way to beat a light just to end up behind them again in traffic.