Couple travels around Australia and gets 75 mpg in a standard Peugeot 308
When you hear about a "3-liter car," what do you think of? For this story, think not of a car with a 3-liter engine but one that uses 3.13 liters of fuel per 100 km. That's 75 miles per gallon (U.S.) we're talking about a simple Peugeot 308.
John and Helen Taylor traveled 14,580 km in Australia (9,100 miles) using a Peugeot 308 with a standard 1.6 HDI 110 HP diesel engine. The Taylor's 308 was a standard model, just like the ones you can buy it from the showroom (at least in Europe and Australia), including Michelin Energy XM1+ tires. They used 453.94 liters of Shell diesel for the trip, which broke a previous record (with a 307) of 3.49 l/100 km (67 mpg U.S.). The CO2 figures (which Peugeot states include the supply chain) were a mere 90.3 g/km.
This makes it almost unnecessary to wait for the hybrid! But, please, Peugeot mate this powertrain to a hybrid system and treat the exhaust gases.
[Source: Peugeot Australia via Moteur Nature]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 4:17PM (3/09/2008)
Ok, if you drive mostly highway miles and those like your grandmother, you can get CO2 emissions that low. Regular drivers will average at least 130gCO2/km (~47 MPGus) with that vehicle and engine. Still good but not stellar.
As for adding a 308 diesel hybrid, Peugeot has a technology demonstrator that gets 90gCO2/km (~69 MPGus). The gain accrues mainly in city driving, so it wouldn't much affect the result of the highway-centric hypermiling test discussed above.
The big question is how big a market there is in Europe and Australia for a super-frugal diesel hybrid, given that it costs more to purchase. Certain fleet operators may well be interested but private customers would benefit only if they drive a lot of city miles each year. Aggregate CO2 emissions goals are more easily met by selling larger numbers of conventional diesels, perhaps with start-stop functionality.
As for a T2B5 diesel hybrid 308 for the US market: Peugeot is a value brand that has no presence there, diesel has virtually no market share there (yet), diesel engines cost more to produce, T2B5 is expensive to meet for small diesels, hybrid systems are expensive, fuel is cheap compared to Europe, diesel fuel has no tax advantage, the dollar is weak against the euro and, US consumers are extremely sensitive to purchase price. In other words, fuggedabout it, at least until Euro 6 de facto forces European manufacturers to fit NOx aftertreatment systems in 2014.
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Karl-Uwe Strunzen 7:13PM (3/09/2008)
It's no surprise that the Peugeot can do so well in fuel-efficiency and emissions: according to an official EU report, Peugeot-Citroen are the outright leaders in Europe in emissions:
http://www.transportenvironment.org/docs/Publications/2007/2007-11_car_company_co2_report.pdf
at 142 g CO2/km thew narrowly beat Fiat at 144, but very comfortably beat Volkswagen at a mere 166.
Also, in this UK list, Peugeot 207s have the same emissions as the Mini, which is a much smaller car:
http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/information/how-to-use-the-data-tables.asp#petrol
120g CO2/km (the measured value for the standard 308 WITHOUT these tyres) is excellent for a car of this size....
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mike 10:02PM (3/09/2008)
So a hybrid diesel seems to be the best combination for highway driving.
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Furion 4:24AM (3/10/2008)
14000+ km driving for a marketing stunt. So very green..
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Mattias 6:58AM (3/10/2008)
@Karl-Uwe: Mini and 207 use tha same engines and have nearly similar gear rations and tire sizes. The front surface is nearly identical. The 207 is just about 7 inches longer. So the same consumption values are no wonder.
But more Minis have this start-stop system as standard equipment which is a good thing in the city.
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Peter L 8:41AM (3/10/2008)
Car manufacturers will bring in their more expensive diesel models to the USA and Canada to gain better profit margins. Inexpensive diesels such as the Mini Rabbit and Focus are down the road when the market is saturated. Purchase the Fit and Yaris instead in gasoline versions for less money and almost diesel like economy
New Zealand and Australian markets have a wide range of inexpensive diesel cars available just as the UK and Europe have.
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steven 10:34AM (3/10/2008)
@6: Not arguing with your profit logic, but how is 34/36 MPG (2008 EPA HWY) "almost diesel like economy"? My dad keeps telling me the same thing, "Buy a Civic and skip the VW TDI". Sure, if you want to get 20-25 MPG less. Keep in mind too some folks still want to have a bit of comfort and convenience when they're driving, there is more to the argument than saying one car costs some thousands more so we'll never recoup the extra price in fuel savings.
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