I-Flow

[diverdave]

Hi All,

I know it's not strictly Prius related, but did anyone else see the write up for the Nissan I-flow at the Geneva motor show. It's a desiel hybrid that claims to get 80-90 mpg. Only a concept I think at the moment but interesting non the less.

Regards,

Dave.

[Seamaster73]

Filthy fuel.

[cootuk]

There look to be quite a few diesel hybrids in the pipeline,

but then you will also have the complexity of the diesel engine (with DPFs too?).

I can't see the point of keeping manual gears rather than letting an autobox do the thinking.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Diesel today is what steam power was in the 1920's!

[johalareewi]

One advantage of diesel engines is that you can run them on vegetable oil.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

One advantage of diesel engines is that you can run them on vegetable oil.

Which is great in Mad Max post apocalyptic times but not of much use for 21 million vehicles in our country alone. There's hardly enough land to feed everybody let alone run their cars too.

Try the following link.

http://www.woodgas.nl/GB/index.html

This guy runs his car on wood gas. Great if the world has ended and you're living as a hermit in the Canadian Rockies, not so good for rush hour in a modern city.

In the mean time, petrol (as it's much much cleaner than diesel), hybrid and electric are probably the way to go for personal transportation in a city with minimal pollution.

[kithmo]

In the mean time, petrol (as it's much much cleaner than diesel), hybrid and electric are probably the way to go for personal transportation in a city with minimal pollution.

Not strictly true GC, a modern diesel creates far less CO2 than a petrol of the same capacity and with a DPF emits less soot too. The exhaust tail pipe of my previous car, a Mk4 Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Auto, was perfectly clean inside, even though I mainly used it for short journeys. It was the 30mpg and £215 VED that was killing my pocket.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

In the mean time, petrol (as it's much much cleaner than diesel), hybrid and electric are probably the way to go for personal transportation in a city with minimal pollution.

Not strictly true GC, a modern diesel creates far less CO2 than a petrol of the same capacity and with a DPF emits less soot too. The exhaust tail pipe of my previous car, a Mk4 Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Auto, was perfectly clean inside, even though I mainly used it for short journeys. It was the 30mpg and £215 VED that was killing my pocket.

Have to disagree. CO2 is clean (it's just not good for global warming), a petrol car with a cat produces significantly less soot/PM10's than a diesel even with a DPF (assuming the DPF isn't blocking up like they do) and also a petrol car produces significantly less NOx than a clean diesel car (almost to a factor of 10), which again is good news if you live in a city.

I notice you drove a Mondeo diesel auto and was previously getting 30 mpg - which is pretty much what my colleagues get out of one (and similar Passat Auto etc), whereas the Prius in my hard job gets between 45 & 55 mpg. So as I'm using almost half the amount of fuel, I'll be producing almost half the amount of CO2, massively less soot/PM10's and a fraction of the NOx that a Mondeo (or similar) diesel automatic would produce.

There is a government website that shows the emissions of all new (and many older) cars and how they compare. Please be aware when checking this than some figures for the same emission type are in milligrams and others are in micrograms! I wonder if that is why you believe the Mondeo diesel is cleaner than a petrol car. You will find that the Prius is one of the cleanest cars for tailpipe emissions out there!

Prius t3 1.8 - http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/search/vehicleDetails.asp?id=23492

2010 Mondeo 2.0 Diesel Auto - http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/search/vehicleDetails.asp?id=25530

[kithmo]

I take your point GC, the Nox figures are less for petrol, but the point I was making is not that diesels are cleaner than petrols but that modern diesels are not the "dirty things" that they used to be.

In my comparisons of CO2 output, I was talking about say comparing the same cars with different fuels, e.g. 2.0 Ltr petrol Mondeo to a 2.0 Ltr diesel mondeo. You can't really compare a heavy, 2.0 Diesel auto with the Prius, there's no contest.

BTW in your data chart, the 2010 Mondeo seems to be far better than my 2008 was, 2010 - 163PS, 2008 143PS, Urban mpg 2010 - 39.9, 2008 - 29.9, I can only assume that the 2010 model has the new DSG gearbox, not the conventional torque converter as mine was.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

It doesn't matter - you've seen the error of your ways and bought a Prius

I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to diesel now. Take tonight, I've just got in after a night shift and pretty much all my customers commented on how quiet, smooth and comfortable the Prius was.

[kithmo]

True and I persuaded SWMBO to buy one too, I am truly converted and shall continue to preach the ways of the Prius.

I shalt go forth and regenerate.