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Mercedes Beats Prius on Fuel Economy

(Credit: © Mercedes Benz)

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Mercedes Beats Prius on Fuel Economy

2014 Mercedes E250 BlueTEC

2014 Mercedes E250 BlueTEC (Credit: © Mercedes Benz)

Toyota Prius owners are usually quite smug believing that they drive what is obviously the most fuel-efficient vehicle to have ever pressed rubber against asphalt. The only problem is that they are wrong, which was recently pointed out by Road & Track. The publication pitted the Prius and the Mercedes-Benz E250 Bluetec against each other to see which was more efficient.

The Mercedes packs a 2.1-liter four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine. The exterior shape of the car is what most people would find more attractive than the funky design of the Prius, and the interior is more luxurious by far. Unlike the Prius, the E250 Bluetec is not a car people drive just to save on fuel, since the car offers some nice interior amenities as well as the brand cache that will impress everyone at the country club, or even at Sam’s Club.

To test the two vehicles, Road & Track settled on a fair contest that would not favor one car’s abilities over the other. A route through the San Francisco area was chosen, one that was a mixture of surface streets and highway, with few hills and even some rural areas mixed in. The drivers of the cars were given instructions to just keep up with traffic, avoiding mashing down the accelerator or driving so slowly they were a hindrance to other drivers.

The course the two cars ran measured 410 miles long. In the end, the Mercedes achieved slightly better fuel economy than the Prius, so Road & Track gave the victory to the Germans. Predictably, Prius fans threw their lattes in a rage, kicked off their Birkenstocks, and vowed to continue to be a thorn in the side of drivers everywhere. They are also pointing out that the Prius is less expensive (and also cheaper, thanks to nice hard plastics) and that in some areas diesel costs more than gasoline and so makes operating the Mercedes more expensive.

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