Does a hybrid make sense for motorway miles?

No idea about The smaller engined cars but I can tell you that the Porsche hybrid is far from fuel effect. We got a average of 25mpg over 25k miles

It's good if you live and work in london
 
Kenai said:
Is there any room to move those goalposts a bit further? :p
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Well the thing you have to ask yourself is does someone who needs motorway mile muncher do exclusively motorway driving?

I tend not to make a polar recommendation based on one single use, but use that as a bias for the use.

But yeah I get your point ;)
 
I have a C350e and of course the manufacturers claims for MPG are laughably inaccurate.

Fortunately I get the BiK savings whilst not having to worry about the petrol I am putting in as I have a fuel card.

What is awesome in my opinion is the performance, 280 BHP as standard and sub 6 seconds 0-60 is pretty smile inducing, I have had mine chipped to 330 BHP and it's still only 7% BiK :)
 
Dr Who said:
Well the thing you have to ask yourself is does someone who needs motorway mile muncher do exclusively motorway driving?
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It's ok, if you drive a 5 Series or an E Class you can call for a helicopter to move your car to the Motorway so that you don't need to tolerate the marginal handling difference on that 10 mile Nurburgring-esq run to the M5 :D
 
[TW]Fox;29904643 said:
It's ok, if you drive a 5 Series or an E Class you can call for a helicopter to move your car to the Motorway so that you don't need to tolerate the marginal handling difference on that 10 mile Nurburgring-esq run to the M5 :D
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If it was a nurburgring rather than narrow country lanes I would be happier with the Eclass but I still don't like the 5 series.
 
quonker said:
I have a C350e and of course the manufacturers claims for MPG are laughably inaccurate.

Fortunately I get the BiK savings whilst not having to worry about the petrol I am putting in as I have a fuel card.

What is awesome in my opinion is the performance, 280 BHP as standard and sub 6 seconds 0-60 is pretty smile inducing, I have had mine chipped to 330 BHP and it's still only 7% BiK :)
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Do you even plug it in?
 
Well I just compare to the E Class and it feels much more premium to me, the 5 series just feels like an oversize 3 series, I can't put my finger on it really, like the 4 and the 3 series, but the 5 just feels like a bigger version to me.

The 320D's I drove all felt quick and frugal, whereas the 5 just felt like it was harder work to move around, although both had steering that was very light for me.

Maybe it was the spec I drove, but after driving a brand new 2016 old model E220 it just kept surprising me positively and the 2016 520 just left me feeling meh... Haven't driven the new one but love the look of it.

I reckon I am just a mercedes man, I intend to get another soon, but saying that I would have a 320D Auto as an all rounder any day of the week, very accomplished car, easy to get comfortable in with the right seats (they do seem to have many types lol) and pretty quick down the lanes with an easy 70mpg if you choose to drive it sedately.

I like the exterior look of the 5 series, maybe I just felt it lacked the drive of the 3 series and the premium feel of the E class and that has me hating on it a bit :(

I prefer idrive to the mercedes system though :)
 
Jeez bored of this 4 cylinder diesel conversations in a hybrid thread. Is the point your making lost in that Tardis somewhere?
 
Jonnycoupe said:
Jeez bored of this 4 cylinder diesel conversations in a hybrid thread. Is the point your making lost in that Tardis somewhere?
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For a forum that generally hates all things *chug*chug* it seems to have become a little too 'pro black pump' around here! :(

Another benefit I'd forgotten to mention on the hybrid front is the fact consumables last literally forever, thanks to regenerative braking and generally smooth power delivery. My Auris HSD is on 64k as of this morning and the original rears are just dipping below 2mm and due to get rid in the next couple of weeks, I put on new fronts around 15k ago. All the pads and discs are original and should see me well past 80k. :cool:
 
arfoll said:
Seriously go on the owners forums and you'll see a bunch of dissapointed drivers who thought they where gonna get 177mpg...
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Whilst somewhere else someone is enjoying 250mpg+ whilst not needing to moan on a forum about having a car they didnt understand.
 
I didn't say I was. Ask Jay Leno about his Volt. I think he was at 5000mpg.

It's quite a simple concept. Short trips with charging means you rarely use fuel!
I had a vauxhall ampera one night. Got it with a flat battery and got 50mpg. Charged it at home and the next day did 37 miles to work, I used ev hold for 3 miles of motorway to save the battery for the slower part of the top and average was 299mpg.

I personally have a mk1 insight that has averaged 67mpg over 250,000 miles.

The range rover battery is sized for the power demand of the motto, there is no reason to have large EV range if you are not charging from the grid.
 
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Jonnycoupe said:
Do you even plug it in?
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Yes I plug it in, if I'm in the office.

Thing I love about the hybrid is its different facets.

Quiet about town, silent of course if on battery power.

A decent mile muncher on the motorway, the c350e has air suspension and it wafts along.

It's not as frugal as a diesel on long journeys, average 40 MPG, but it's quiet and refined.
 
archerz said:
I have the lexus IS300h, which i find very good for the motorways. only thing i find is in winter the mpg is a bit less as it has to "warm" the batteries first.

70mph cruise control to manchester to teesside got me 60mpg last week which is not bad at all.. if i'm popping to the shops and round 45ish usually.

bare in mind that this isn't a plugin hybrid!
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To be honest I have a k-series astra 1.6cdi sri. My journey is similar - Middlesbrough to Wigan and back set at 70mph (except 50 zones) and my mpg thrashes that at between 76 and 78mpg. My girlfriend does not like cruise control and when she does the run she has beaten 80mpg. Electric cars need to get a better range and hybrid need to be far more efficient before they challenge modern diesels in my opinion
 
Neil Holmes said:
To be honest I have a k-series astra 1.6cdi sri. My journey is similar - Middlesbrough to Wigan and back set at 70mph (except 50 zones) and my mpg thrashes that at between 76 and 78mpg. My girlfriend does not like cruise control and when she does the run she has beaten 80mpg. Electric cars need to get a better range and hybrid need to be far more efficient before they challenge modern diesels in my opinion
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nice thread bump.

electric cars will always have range issues as the long range ones are so expensive. expect this to change in 5 years time as the technology filters into cheaper cars like the leaf, i3, etc.

as for motorway driving. the answer is a diesel hybrid.

city driving then petrol hybrid.

i can get 80-100 mpg from petrol hybrid at times. because you use electric only and regenerative braking and downhill / rolling to charge the battery.

a petrol hybrid isn't built to be a competitor to a diesel mile muncher. it's built to be a clean city car with good mpg. mine averages 50-60 mpg with city and motorway usage. which is on par with the diesel it replaced. however this is at least 10 times cleaner and much cheaper to run than said diesel.
 
unrealrocks said:
Fully agree regarding town driving, I have cracked 80mpg on certain town trips.

I totally disagree regarding economy figures for a 'long cruise' however - I cannot think of one mid-sized conventional petrol that can average 60mpg at a 70mph cruise! And only a handful of diesels.

On the batteries - for Toyota at least, they warranty them for 8 years or 100k (although can be extended to 11 year and unlimited mileage), most people who have high mileage cars have reported they last far longer than this. General specialist replacement is around £600, Toyota probably closer to £800 - which albeit expensive isn't exactly crazy money on a car that will probably have 150k+ miles on it. Most people will never need a replacement battery for the life of the car.
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I have a 56 prius with 230k on the clock, does the same MPG since I had it... real saving is round town short hops motorways you are basically carrying an electric motor and battery as extra weight
 
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