Peugeot 308 runs the length of the M25 motorway on less than £10 of fuel
Click image for a photo gallery of the Peugeot 308 range
The M25 is a 117-mile-long motorway that circles the outskirts of London,England. Right now, diesel runs about $8.14/US gallon at Motorway service centers in Blighty. (So if you think we have it bad, well, we don't.) Peugeot decided to do a demonstration of the efficiency of its new 308 S HDi 90 by driving it around the M25. The Ford Focus-sized 308 left with a full tank and accepted 1.99 imperial gallons (2.38 US gallons) when it returned to the starting point. That works out to 49 mpg (US) at an average of just over 50 mph for the trip. The total cost of the trip was just £9.95, which pretty low for a trip in the UK these days. Thanks to a CO2 emissions rating of only 120g/km this model of the 308 gets into one of the lowest tax bands with a annual fee of only £35. Come October, when the revised congestion charges go into effect in London, that CO2 rating will allow 308 owners to get into Central London free of charge.
Gallery: Peugeot 308
[Source: Peugeot UK]
THE PEUGEOT 308 TRAVELS ROUND THE M25 ON LESS THAN A 'TENNER'
- The Peugeot 308 S HDi 90 diesel travels all the way round M25 on £9.95
- 58.8mpg five door 308 shows you don't have to compromise to reduce motoring costs
- The Peugeot 308 S HDi 90 exempt from London Congestion Charge
The day has gone when you can drive very far on a tenner's worth of fuel. With the average cost of fuel going well beyond £1.00 a litre, drivers are constantly reviewing their driving lifestyle and are prepared to make considerable compromises to reduce their annual motoring bills.
Some drivers are opting for an expensive petrol hybrid or are measuring themselves up to see if they can fit inside a two-seat city car, but neither driving compromises make practical or financial sense.
Peugeot has shown that its latest model – the new 308 hatchback – provides the answer to a family's green, fuel efficient motoring without having to compromise.
In a spontaneous demonstration, a five-door Peugeot 308 S HDi 90 has just travelled the 117 miles round the M25 on less than a 'tenner' – £9.95 to be exact. Complete with two passengers and starting with the weight of a full tank of diesel fuel, the 308 returned an impressive 58.8mpg in wet and windy conditions, using just 1.99 gallons of diesel* for the journey. And the car averaged a shade over 50mph into the bargain – showing that this was a real-world test (and not a 30mph economy run).
The 308 S HDi 90 costs less than £15,000, gives you five doors, five seats, a sizable boot and a CO2 emission figure of 120g/km that reduces annual road tax bills to just £35, as well as miserly fuel consumption. And from 27th October 2008 (as announced today) if you venture off the M25 into Central London the 308 HDi 90 will also be exempt from Congestion Charging (just like some 25 other Peugeot models).
"The M25 exercise was a simple demonstration, but our results have a serious economic message to motorists. It shows you can still buy and run a family size car like the Peugeot 308 on a cost-effectives budget, and be environmentally sensitive without having to compromise," said Steve Lambert, Product Manager for Peugeot UK.
Ends
* Just 1.99 gallons of diesel fuel was consumed, which at the Motorway Services cost £1.10 per litre, totalling £9.95.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
M1EK 1:08PM (2/14/2008)
49 mpg highway in a Focus-sized car is not impressive to those of us who regularly rack up >50 on the highway going 65 mph in the bigger Prius. Were I to average only 50 mph, it would not be that hard to hig 60 mpg.
Once again, when the real world gets a hold of diesel, it turns out to be overhyped.
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Karkus 2:30PM (2/14/2008)
Sure, that test isn't particularly impressive (my Prius can beat that), but overall the diesel highway MPGs seem to be comparable to hybrids (especially at 70-80 mph, where my Prius start dropping into the high 40s). The problem with diesels (and regular gas cars) is the city numbers.
BUT, that will be solved with the 308 diesel hybrid. They're shooting for 90 g/km. Unfortunately we have to wait until 2010 for that (and of course Peugeot doesn't sell cars in the US).
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Karkus 2:33PM (2/14/2008)
Also, it says it was wet and windy. That definitely lowers MPG. And they didn't say how the calculated fuel usage. Filling up and calculating the difference isn't that accurate sometimes.
So really, they didn't do a good job of making sure they have good conditions for this publicity stunt.
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Matt 5:39PM (2/14/2008)
It may not be a "good job" but they are typical real-world conditions and tests - after all I dont care about the number that my car technically gets, I care about how often and how much I need to pay to fill it up with fuel!
Anyway - for comparisons with a Prius: HDi 90 is £13295 on the road. Prius is £17777 on the road. £4482 buys you roughly 1000 gallons of diesel, which even at these potentially reduced MPG figures is enough for 58,000 miles of driving on the motorway. The official MPG figures would have that at 62,700 miles.
You can rant all you want about a hybrid being better. The fact remains that this car is approaching prius levels of economy without the batteries or motors. Imagine what diesel can do with it.
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Derek 7:07PM (2/14/2008)
What was traffic like on that day? I have never heard of the traffic near London being described as good. I can average 50mph with a combination of being stopped alot, accelerating to 75mph, then stopping again, but the mileage will be alot different than just driving on an empty road. I expect this car would get better than 49mpg at a steady 50mph cruise on level ground with no traffic.
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mike 7:23PM (2/14/2008)
Seems Peugeot is trying a lot harder then GM and Ford.
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Guenther 7:30AM (2/15/2008)
Every time this congestion charge comes up, I have to laugh (although for many its no laughing matter). In its conception, a congestion charge is supposed to reduce the amount of traffic (congestion), not the CO2 emissions (which one could argue to cause chest congestion). Penalizing a gas V8 Range Rover (EU5)that might have high CO2 emissions, but is otherwise very clean, pollutant wise, more than some EU4 diesel car with the same footprint is just dumb.
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jb 7:37AM (2/15/2008)
hmmm, I tried really hard when I rented a Prius but was never able to go above 46 mpg on average. Then I realized that was what the computer indicated, and that the real world mileage was more like 43 mpg. Don't necessarily believe what the computer says in cars. The refilling methog is generally more accurate.
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M1EK 10:23AM (2/15/2008)
The refilling method with the Prius is actually notoriously inaccurate - due to the fuel bladder. (Over enough fillups this would average out; but on each fillup your error bar is going to be considerably higher than average).
For commenter #4; don't forget that this diesel car is SMALLER than the Prius, and considerably dirtier, and STILL got worse mileage. Why on earth do you guys think that's progress?
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M1EK 11:37AM (2/15/2008)
jb, we typically got about 46 per tank - because our driving pattern is 90% short city trips on a cold engine, which the Prius forces to more gas use for emissions control reasons (if the US had the EV button, we'd be using it a lot on our 1/2 mile 25 mph trips to the grocery store, in other words).
Recently, my wife's been having to drive me to our company's new offices in the suburbs - and our last tank was north of 50 mpg.
My friend who commutes from one suburb to the suburban fringe of my city regularly gets 55 on each tank. His pattern is the ideal - highway followed by city.
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