In this weeks Autocar magazine, six fuel sippers took part in our one hour, one gallon challenge.
We took a Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Ford Fiesta, BMW 116d, Vauxhall Corsa and a Smart CDI to Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground to see which car would travel the furthest on one gallon of fuel in one hour.
See the hi-res one hour, one gallon challenge picture gallerySee the challenge on video here
Unlike other mpg tests which reward slow driving, the winner of this one would be whichever car traveled the most miles in an hour on a gallon of fuel, regardless of whether or not it ran out before the end of the challenge.
The full results are in this week's Autocar magazine which is on sale now.
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Re: One hour, one gallon challenge
This test, whilst not scientific, does present an interesting point - the balance between driving economically and getting somewhere in a reasonable time.
It was interesting that all the cars delivered between 50-60mpg despite the different styles of driving and car. Clearly this test suited the diesels more than the hybrids, but another test might swing the favour the other way.
In reality trying to complete a fair test to allow an even comparison is almost impossible. The MPG marathon mentioned earlier is just another PR stunt, and is no better at determining which car is better in the real world than the Autocar test.
Now, if you give 100 ordinary people 100 Honda Insights and tell them to drive from London to Birmingham, that would be an interesting test of real world economy.
Equally, the data obtained from all the company fuel cards in the UK must give a pretty good indication of real world economy.
Re: One hour, one gallon challenge
As related to to the real world as a Sunday night programme is related to motorig.
Re: One hour, one gallon challenge
For the Toyota Prius maybe they were scared of dodgy mats
God rest the souls of the unfortunate family that were killed (in a Lexus) - buy a Toyota and get killed by a floor mat - not good at all -