Prius vs. E250 MPG Battle

[Cobb]

As always I agree with Frankie. This topic title needs to be changed to include the word mercedes, benz or both before the e250. My e250 it would be no contest, I got 9mpg.

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I thought E250 Ford at first...

[Frank Lee]

I thought it was going to be a gallons per passenger per mile thing...

[backpacker3]

Just a case in point thing here. My friend has an old 90s era suburban on a trip I was on with him I was getting a little more than 30 mpg he was getting about half that but we both end up at a half tank at the same time consistently because of the different tank sizes. So they were making such a big deal about having so much more gas in the tank of the merc but that really doesn't prove anything.

[gone-ot]

I came away with: "...even after being high-speed 'thrashed' the Prius was STILL able to pull off a bonafide DRAW..."

[Xist]

Originally Posted by wmjinman

Oh - I finally figured it out: E250! I kept thinking it was "F250" and wondering why they kept talking about a Mercedes and not a Ford. Guess I need to pay attention, huh. drrrr....

Econoline E250 van.

[backpacker3]

Prius gas tank size 11.9 us gallons
E250 gas tank size 21.1 us gallons

Which means if the Prius got 50 mpg the Benz could get less than 30 mpg and still have a longer range than the Prius.

An even bigger issue than that though is that the Benz is a diesel and even though the Prius is a hybrid it's still a gas engine which is almost always less efficient than diesel.

[nathan01xl]

Originally Posted by backpacker3

Prius gas tank size 11.9 us gallons
E250 gas tank size 21.1 us gallons

Which means if the Prius got 50 mpg the Benz could get less than 30 mpg and still have a longer range than the Prius.

An even bigger issue than that though is that the Benz is a diesel and even though the Prius is a hybrid it's still a gas engine which is almost always less efficient than diesel.

Less efficient may not be the correct term. Diesel has a 13% higher energy content than gasoline.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by nathan01xl

[I completely lost faith when they ran the Prius up to its top speed, after earlier in the article they said they would just be driving like normal people...

But that IS normal driving, for a given value of 'normal' - the one R&T readers would like to use :-)

[backpacker3]

Originally Posted by nathan01xl

Less efficient may not be the correct term. Diesel has a 13% higher energy content than gasoline.

Yeah I meant gas engine cars are less fuel efficient than a diesel counterpart. Not that the engine itself isn't efficient.