Paul McCartney's Lexus Hybrid

Balfa

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iqeFEaBVfQJdLMu9YbQFlv1sJC1gD90LGFIG1

Someone thought it would be a good idea to send Paul McCartney his new Lexus LS600 hybrid by plane, from Japan.

Which supposedly emits the same carbon dioxide as "driving the car 300 times around the world".

So much for the greenness of hybrids

Tabnabs

Balfa wrote: »

So much for the greenness of hybrids

You do realise that the car itself emitted zero carbon on the journey over and that either by air (a hugely expensive undertaking) or by sea (and we're not talking about a sailing ship here) it has to be transported by a carbon belching metal box...

Mickk

With claimed mpg of 29mpg and real world trials showing around 20mpg who is he kidding? I hate that if you want a nice big car just get one, dont try and claim you are doing your bit with a gas guzzling hybrid...

Mickk

Dyflin wrote: »

You do realise that the car itself emitted zero carbon on the journey over and that either by air (a hugely expensive undertaking) or by sea (and we're not talking about a sailing ship here) it has to be transported by a carbon belching metal box...

Its a case of the lesser of two evils, i imagine a plane or a ship would emit about the same amount of carbon on a trip, a plane could carry 2 container loads, a ship over 200...

E92

Auto Express did a test of one of these against an Audi A8 4.2 TDI(now both are supposed to be as economical in the EU tests) and they found that the Lexus did 19 mpg while the A8 did 29 mpg.

We all know that hybrids are a marketing gimmick and never match the EU test figures. I posted before about the 520d vs a Prius in a test by the Sunday Times where 80% of the time was spent in conditions that would clearly favour the hybrid Toyota and the BMW STILL won, even though the 520d is 10 mpg less economical in the EU mpg test.

If you want to cut your carbon footprint buy a diesel, if you care about other peoples' health then stick with a non hybrid petrol and if you believe in gimmicks then buy a hybrid.

Acutally Auto Express did a test recently, it featured the Civic IMA, the GS450h, Prius, MINI Clubman Cooper D, Polo Bluemotion, Ibiza Ecomotive, Focus ECOnetic and the Fabia Greenline. 3 hybrids vs 5 diesels. And the worst 3 cars were hybrids. The Prius officially beats the MINI Clubman for CO2 by 5 g/km yet in the real world Auto Express found the MINI with BMWs EfficientDynamics system to pollute 24 g/km LESS CO2 and it also made a mockey of the supposed fuel economy of the Prius, doing 57 mpg rather than 41.5 mpg, making the MINI 38% more economical. Indeed all the other diesels beat the Prius too, in some cases by quite a margin.

Anan1

E92 wrote: »

if you care about other peoples' health then stick with a non hybrid petrol.

Ah come on now, Ted.

VH

The purpose of a hybrid luxo barge is to look opulent and green, instead of just opulent. And I don't really blame him. If I had his money I'd do the same. A dirty noisy diesel is not an option.

@E92, from what I've read on the web there are plenty of people who get decent economy from hybrids. The ones who don't are more vocal. Since the cars are all made the same, I can only assume those that don't get good economy have bad driving habits.

E92

VH wrote: »

The purpose of a hybrid luxo barge is to look opulent and green, instead of just opulent. And I don't really blame him. If I had his money I'd do the same. A dirty noisy diesel is not an option.

A BMW 530i is not a hybrid and yet it does 37.7 mpg, which is better than the Lexus' 35.8 mpg. Now that really is a green executive car, and as the MINI's EfficientDynamics system shows in the test i linked above, it is also much more likely to deliver on it's promises.

Eoin

VH wrote: »

The purpose of a hybrid luxo barge is to look opulent and green, instead of just opulent. And I don't really blame him. If I had his money I'd do the same. A dirty noisy diesel is not an option.

And if you drive around London, you are exempt from the congestion charge, while someone in a much more fuel efficient (but non-hybrid) car isn't.

Tipsy Mac

Doesn't say what other cargo was in the plane, perhaps there was room for it and they loaded it on rather than be criticised for flying a plane half empty.

A normal sized car ship would be able to carry about 5000 of them from Japan but that would take a couple of weeks.

VH

E92 wrote: »

A BMW 530i is not a hybrid and yet it does 37.7 mpg, which is better than the Lexus' 35.8 mpg. Now that really is a green executive car, and as the MINI's EfficientDynamics system shows in the test i linked above, it is also much more likely to deliver on it's promises.

Not the same class of cars at all. Could you see Sir Paul being driven around in a Mini or a 5-series? If he wanted an opulent and "green" BMW he'd be like Jay Leno and have a BMW Hydrogen-7, which does what... 5mpg?

E92

VH wrote: »

Not the same class of cars at all. Could you see Sir Paul being driven around in a Mini or a 5-series? If he wanted an opulent and "green" BMW he'd be like Jay Leno and have a BMW Hydrogen-7, which does what... 5mpg?

The Hydrogen 7 may do 5 mpg(when running on hydrogen), but it has no pollution unless you count water vapour as pollution. Of course when it runs on petrol it does considerably more mpg, but then you're back to polluting petrol.

When I said that the 530i is more economical than a Lexus hybrid, I was actually comparing it to the smaller GS hybrid, not the LS600h, so my apologies for that cause I know I didn't say what Lexus it was up against earlier:o.

Anyway, the Lexus LS600h is STILL not the greenest car in it's class, the 730Ld(long wheelbase version) does 212 g/km(the standard one does 210 g/km), while the greenest of all is the Audi A8 2.8 FSI which is clearly in front and no hybrid or diesel technology to help and it manages 199 g/km, while the Lexus pollutes 219 g/km.

Next year's 7 series will have EfficientDynamics as standard which will bring about serious CO2 improvements if the 1,3,5 and 6 series are anything to go by and no doubt will provide BMW with more than 2 models that beat the LS600h for CO2, and again, EfficientDynamics is not hybrid technology.

VH

E92 wrote: »

The Hydrogen 7 may do 5 mpg(when running on hydrogen), but it has no pollution unless you count water vapour as pollution. Of course when it runs on petrol it does considerably more mpg, but then you're back to polluting petrol.

Point is Hydrogen-7 doesn't have any green credentials.

E92 wrote:

Anyway, the Lexus LS600h is STILL not the greenest car in it's class

Opulence doesn't do diesel, and dare I say it the A8 has a small engine (and a bit of an image problem like the 7 series) and again opulence doesn't do small engines. The LS600h would be more comparable to a S600. No doubt if there was a hybrid S600 (or big Bentley etc) there'd be a lot less 600h's sold.

galwaytt

VH wrote: »

........dare I say it the A8 has a small engine ........

Never thought I'd see anyone say a 4.2 was a small engine. How Times Have Changed :pac: :pac: :pac:

Robertr

Am I missing something....since when did MPG equate to how green a car is.

Is it not the emissions that count?

Lord Nikon

E92 wrote: »

A BMW 530i is not a hybrid and yet it does 37.7 mpg, which is better than the Lexus' 35.8 mpg.

Correction...according to bmw.com website, Combined fuel consumption: 7.3 to 8.2 L/100 km...34.4 to 38.6mpg

Eoin

Robertr wrote: »

Am I missing something....since when did MPG equate to how green a car is.

Is it not the emissions that count?

Are emissions not (at least partly) measured per the amount of fuel used?

Here's a quote from breakingnews.ie:

A spokesperson for Swissport, which handled the transportation of the car, says: "We couldn't believe the hypocrisy of flying an environmentally friendly car in from Japan. Everyone was shocked."

Speaking of hypocrisy...

VH

galwaytt wrote: »

Never thought I'd see anyone say a 4.2 was a small engine. How Times Have Changed :pac: :pac: :pac:

He said 2.8. For true opulence a 6.0 or more (real or perceived) is required.

Anan1

Robertr wrote: »

Am I missing something....since when did MPG equate to how green a car is.

Is it not the emissions that count?

CO2 is a by-product of burning fuel.

colm_mcm

Celebrities and politicians fly in private jets all the time. You'd swear he had personally chopped down a rainforest for the craic or something. Some perspective is needed here.

Anan1

colm_mcm wrote: »

Celebrities and politicians fly in private jets all the time. You'd swear he had personally chopped down a rainforest for the craic or something. Some perspective is needed here.

I think the point is the irony. If he'd had an S600 flown over it wouldn't have been half as good a story.

colm_mcm

He didn't fly it over though. Lexus did.

unkel

He keeps proving he's a delusional old fool

Anan1

colm_mcm wrote: »

He didn't fly it over though. Lexus did.

Come on now Colm, I know you understand what i'm saying.;)

E92

VH wrote: »

Point is Hydrogen-7 doesn't have any green credentials.

I'm starting to think you being a troll, I'll stick with reality and facts thank you very much.

VH wrote: »

Opulence doesn't do diesel

Rolls Royce disagree, the forthcoming baby Rolls will feature diesel power as an option. How much more opulent can you get than a Rolls Royce? In case you haven't noticed, the best selling versions of the A8, S-class and 7 series and even the Jag XJ are diesel. Audi even do a V8 diesel too(and Merc and BMW for LHD markets only).

VH wrote: »

dare I say it the A8 has a small engine (and a bit of an image problem like the 7 series) and again opulence doesn't do small engines. The LS600h would be more comparable to a S600. No doubt if there was a hybrid S600 (or big Bentley etc) there'd be a lot less 600h's sold.

Now I know you are trolling. The 600hL is only popular with celebrities who want to be seen to be green. I've seen the grand total of 1.

Balfa

Okay, Paul McCartney is a big rich famous dude, so he needs a limo. Lexus sponsored his gigs, so they're giving him a free one. Lexus don't do diesel limos, so he figures hybrid is the next best bet.

I don't see how we can fault McCartney here, unless we're complaining about him wanting a limo in the first place, instead of a diesel polo. Which is, I'm sure, what we'd all do if we were a big rich famous dude.

Anyway, now he's angry with Lexus:
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=255680724&p=z5568y43x

Anan1

Does anyone else think this is a bit odd? A spokesperson for Swissport, which handled the transportation of the car, says: "We couldn't believe the hypocrisy of flying an environmentally friendly car in from Japan. Everyone was shocked."

bazz26

Slow news day?

colm_mcm

E92 wrote: »

Now I know you are trolling. The 600hL is only popular with celebrities who want to be seen to be green. I've seen the grand total of 1.

I've seen a few. Ben Dunne has one I think!

pburns

E92 wrote: »

The 600hL is only popular with celebrities who want to be seen to be green.

Toyota/Lexus have done a great marketing job in convincing everyone from middle class beardies, to fashionistas, to celebrity zillionaires that their cars are the MOST environmently friendly. I'm sure many are more concerned about the IMAGE of being seen to be green...

It's the same as the myth perpetrated that VWs are reliable:)

RedorDead

E92 wrote: »

Acutally Auto Express did a test recently, it featured the Civic IMA, the GS450h, Prius, MINI Clubman Cooper D, Polo Bluemotion, Ibiza Ecomotive, Focus ECOnetic and the Fabia Greenline. 3 hybrids vs 5 diesels. And the worst 3 cars were hybrids. The Prius officially beats the MINI Clubman for CO2 by 5 g/km yet in the real world Auto Express found the MINI with BMWs EfficientDynamics system to pollute 24 g/km LESS CO2 and it also made a mockey of the supposed fuel economy of the Prius, doing 57 mpg rather than 41.5 mpg, making the MINI 38% more economical. Indeed all the other diesels beat the Prius too, in some cases by quite a margin.

While I agree with the point that hybrids are a bit of a false dawn with fuel consumption and co2 etc etc - its a bit unfair to include a GS450H against the likes of a Polo and Mini. It must weigh nearly double what these cars weigh.