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The whole talk about the Prius being more efficient than a diesel got me thinking. Here is the comparison I came up with to put things in to perspective.
My dad drives a 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab longbed 4X4 with 5.9L diesel Cummins engine. The truck gets as much as 22 mpg hwy.
A 2005 Volkswagen Jetta Wagon TDI gets 43 mpg hwy. A 2010 Toyota Prius
gets 48 Hwy.
I compared the Hwy mileage of all three vehicles because in city driving the Prius heavily uses the hybrid system which makes it not an equal comparison to the other vehicles. Also I picked a 05 Volkswagen Jetta Wagon TDI because its the same year diesel as the Dodge and weighs almost exactly as much as the Prius. Also this is the fuel economy from all three vehicles that are automatic.
First off the Dodge's engine is a little over 3 times the size of of the TDI and the engine weighs approx. 1,150 lbs that's 376.5 lbs short of weighing half as much as a Prius. The Dodge's Curb weight is 7500 lbs. That's about about 2.5 times heavier then the Prius or jetta.
The 05 Volkswagen Jetta Wagon TDI curb weight is 3,053 lbs. and has a Drag coefficient of .32
The 2010 Toyota Prius Curb weight is 3,042 lbs and a Drag coefficient of .25
The Dodge is ugly when it comes to aerodynamics and to make things worse it has a shell that sticks up over the cab.
The Volkswagen gets pretty close to the same fuel economy as the Prius for being less aerodynamic and not a hybrid. The Dodge gets half the mpg of the VW and slightly less then half of the Prius not bad considering the difference in aerodynamics, vehicle weight and engine size. To sum things up I don't see why a diesel with a properly sized engine and aerodynamics like the Prius wouldn't get as good if not better fuel economy. Also wouldn't the Dodge get as good if not better mileage then a Prius if it did not weigh 2.5 times as much and have an engine over 3x has big?
On a side not the new Volkswagen TDIs have a bigger engine and more hp then the older TDIs but still get about the same fuel economy.
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