Audi And Germans Lead The Way On 2009's Most Fuel-Efficient Vehicles List

Impossible! Toyota has hybrids! Lexus has hybrids! This article is so biased!

Sarcasm intended.

Just because it is a hybrid does not make it the most fuel efficient. Diesel technology has advanced to the point that the 335d sedan has the power of a V8 with a smaller carbon footprint than the 335i and has the fuel effciency of a 4 cylinder engine.

BMW3forMe...

"Sarcasm intended."

The biggest, most powerful and most fuel efficient cars in it's class. How can you go wrong?

You guys are accustomed to hearing ToyoLexus topping all charts with the most fuel-efficient cars that's why you guys are in shock that German's are making the lists this time around. Don't forget diesel technology has been very good over the years as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXPCckjTMVg

"its not what you drive its how you drive it" makes sense.

i have a prius in my family. should test it out against our jaguar sedan.

yep...the German's long list of diesel options easily help increase their brand's overall fuel-efficiency.

Lexus hybrids have encouraged users to take advantage of the power rather than just the efficiency, btw.

Now all the Germans have to do is improve the efficiency of their new clean diesels, which, btw, are rather gas-guzzling when compared to their predecessors.

P.S.: Many, if not all, engines with a direct-injection system have that annoying diesel sound; am I right?

Hey Lexurious,

You have a point. I recall a "Top Gear" segment which pitted a Toyota Prius against a BMW M3. (Keep reading. It's not as crazy as it initially seems.)

The Prius driver was instructed to drive his car as fast as he possibly could around a racetrack. The M3 driver was instructed to drive his car as hard as was needed to keep up with the Prius, but not pass it.

The Prius and thed M3 "raced" each other for 10 laps around a racetrack. (Jeremy Clarkson said the "race" was quite boring). The "Top Gear" crew then compared the fuel mileages achieved by the two cars. You would think that the Prius would win handily, right? Wrong!!

The M3, loafing along at a fraction of its considerable around the track as fast as its modest engine, tires and brakes would allow, managed only 17.2 mpg during this "race".

Does this mean that the M3 is more economical than the Prius? No. Clarkson summed up the point of this test with a line very similar to yours:
"It's not what you drive that matters, it's how you drive it."
You (and Clarkson) have a point. You don't necessarily have to buy an econobox. You can keep your larger, nicer, more-fun-to-drive car, but don't drive as agressively as you normally would, and your fuel economy will improve.

Hey Lexurious,

You have a point. I recall a "Top Gear" segment which pitted a Toyota Prius against a BMW M3. (Keep reading. It's not as crazy as it initially seems.)

The Prius driver was instructed to drive his car as fast as he possibly could around a racetrack. The M3 driver was instructed to drive his car as hard as was needed to keep up with the Prius, but not pass it.

The Prius and thed M3 "raced" each other for 10 laps around a racetrack. (Jeremy Clarkson said the "race" was quite boring). The "Top Gear" crew then compared the fuel mileages achieved by the two cars. You would think that the Prius would win handily, right? Wrong!!

The M3, loafing along at a fraction of its considerable performanced potential, achieved 19.4 mpg.

The Prius, driven around the track as fast as its modest engine, tires and brakes would allow, managed only 17.2 mpg.

Does this mean that the M3 is more economical than the Prius? No. Clarkson summed up the point of this test with a line very similar to yours:
"It's not what you drive that matters, it's how you drive it."
You (and Clarkson) have a point. You don't necessarily have to buy an econobox. You can keep your larger, nicer, more-fun-to-drive car, but don't drive as agressively as you normally would, and your fuel economy will improve.

Agreed, let's blame Obama and the gawd damned liberals (or are they Socialists?).. ;)

Why? In a couple decades there won't be anything but diesel cars. Gasoline will be illegalized (due to poor efficiency and pollution). Its already coming in airplanes. 100 octane Aviation fuel is going away, and diesel aircraft are already flying on most continents, including US designed and built engines.

When I see that the new Audi TTS has 265hp, 4.9 sec 0-60 and still gets 29 Hwy MPG... that is really cool!!

They offer 4 cylinder engines with turbos. Instead of 4 cylinder engines that are rough, loud, and underpowered for the weight they must pull around on a typical US car. So instead of making a chinsy underpowered 4 banger, add a turbo, keep your fuel efficiency and get people moving.

Oh and diesels would not hurt, not sure why the US is so against them, and why they need to cost sooo much more in the states to own.

If the big 3 go under, I will likely buy a Passat or Phaeton Diesel.

Hopefully they can be mass-produced here in the US to make them more affordable.

Here`s a good comparison of REAL fuel consumption reported by owners in Europe , most fuel effecient diesel and petrol cars :

http://www.spritmonitor.de/de/die_sparsamsten_autos.html

Volkswagen Polo Diesel ( the size comparable to Toyota Yaris ) is as effecient as a lot bigger Prius .
Owners of the Golf ( Rabbit ) 2.0 TDI are doing average of 6,3 liter per 100 km ( 37-38 mpg ) and their cars haven`t as many catalysts as this sold in US which are also increasing consumption :

http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview/50-Volkswagen/452-Golf.html?fueltype=1&power_s=100&power_e=115

OK , maybe Audi A2 is almost as spacious , but it`s a lot lighter becouse of aluminium space frame , which is very costly for such a small car and becouse of this the car was selling badly . If Prius would be made from aluminium it would also be more economical but to expensive .

And Audi A2 3L accelerates to 62 mph in 15 s ! This thing almost isn`t going even with such a low weight .

I think the most important part of the article is at the begining where they`re saying : " Sponsored by MERCEDES-BENZ " . This is explaining everything .

TurboSpyder , the article is clearly an advertisement , it has many expressions advertising German cars . But good thing is that Forbes is honest and informed that the article is sponsored by MERCEDES-BENZ , you can`t say this about some automotive magazines e.g. auto motor und sport that I read sometimes .

he knows that he's talking a load of crap. he does this for the fun of it.

"or the real ones where they consistntly lose to BMW in performance and cachet?"

like what amazin? enlighten us, please.

StarSearch adds no factual information to any posting. He's just here to stir up the pot. He'll throw things out like Audi being consistently better than BMW, and BMW is stupid they should produce the CS that everybody in America is going to run out and buy with no credit. GM's is going bankrupt, people won't have jobs in the US, but BMW are idiots for not producing a $150,000 USD car.

As for the Japenese Automaker Fans your bell has rung. It's time to step into the German classes for engineering lessons. Hands down the Germans (Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz) produce far more efficient cars for the power they provide. Thanks to points like Lexurious post and Jermey Clarkson you can see that if I had an Audi RS4, A BMW M3, or a Merc C63 AMG we could drively properly and get phenomenal fuel consumption or I can hammer the pedal and blow the lids off of most cars on the road.