New Tech vs Old Tech, which yields the best FE?

[krousdb]

This was sort of an accidental experiment, but I will post the results anyway. Today is take your kids to work day, so I had to take the Prius.

In one corner, the 1993 Honda Del Sol, 2400 lbs with passenger and cargo, $5000. In the other corner, a 2004 Prius, 3200 lbs with passengers and cargo, $24,000.

Conditions were mid 40'sF and dry, the route was my daily route to work, no one on my tail, and made all of the critical lights, exactly the same conditions for my drive to work on 4/18/06 with the Del Sol.

The results......

1993 Honda Del Sol, 71.1 MPG
2004 Toyota Prius, 72.5 MPG

One note of interest, the Prius is much more sensitive to ambient temps than the Del Sol. If the temp was above 70F, the Prius would have been 10 MPG higher. The Del Sol would only get 1 or 2 more. So for approx 8 months of the year, the Prius and Del Sol would get nearly the same FE. During the other 4 months, generally during the Summer, the Prius shines.

Now if I need to carry more than 2 passengers, well, my choice would be Prius at 72.5 or the Outback at 33. No brainer.