Corvette vs Prius Gas Mileage Challenge

Imagine a future where instead of racing for speed we race for fuel economy. This video shows something like that. A Prius and a Corvette both run the same route on a normal highway. The highway crosses normal, somewhat hilly terrain and has curves. It is not a straight and flat highway. In other words it is what most people drive all the time. The two cars both top up their fuel tanks and then cover the same route to the same destination, where they top up their tanks again. The car adding the least gas at the second fill is the winner.

In the video the Prius wins, but the Corvette has a good showing. As the video points out, the Corvette has a streamlined shape with low drag coefficient. Note that the driver of the 'Vette is using hypermiling techniques, like taking corners as fast as possible (to avoid having to slow down and speed up again) and coasting down hills. The driver of the Prius takes no special measures to increase fuel economy. Hypermilers can do much better with a Prius than the gas mileage the video shows.

One thing the video shows is that fuel economy is not always directly opposed to other things you could look for in a car. In the case of the Corvette, both performance and fuel economy are helped by its low, streamlined shape and light weight. The high performance cornering characteristics of the 'Vette enable the tactic of taking corners at speed.



If you have a lazy weekend with nothing to do, why not organize a gas mileage challenge between you and a group of friends? Pick a start and a destination separated by a hundred miles or so. All the competitors top up at the start, drive exactly the same route and then top up again at the end. Lowest final fill wins. If you trust each other, you can even run the race different days and report back the final fill amount. Leave a comment here at Save on Gas if you do it!