And Mercedes-Benz understands how to be efficient when it comes to cars, having been one of the world's most ardent promoters of diesel power since Rudolf (not the reindeer kids) invented the oil burner. Yes, you're not alone. I first thought something as wacky looking as the Bionic Car would no doubt f
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| The prototype's 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel makes 138-hp and 121.3 lb-ft of torque, for an impressive 8.2 second sprint to 100 km/h and 2.8 L/100 km highway fuel consumption rating. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
eature hydrogen fuel cell technology or at the very least a next-generation hybrid drivetrain, but no, instead under its guppy-like belly is a very special 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel sporting 138-horsepower (1991 cubic centimetres or 121.49 cubic inches) at 4,200 rpm and 221.3 lb-ft of torque at 1,600 rpm, with an extremely high compression ratio of 18:1, and incorporating Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), a process where a gaseous or liquid reductant (most commonly ammonia or urea) is added to the flue gas stream and is absorbed onto a Zeolite or Vanadium based catalyst before the reductant reacts with NOx in the flue gas to form H2O and N2. Basically, SCR reduces emissions dramatically over conventional diesels.
How clean is it? Well, that information was hard to get, but if a engine's environmental cleanliness is directly related to how efficient it is, which we know is true, how does 4.3 L/100 km strike you? Not bad. Isn't that similar to blue-sky EPA ratings for hybrids, like Toyota's Prius, Honda's Civic and that odd little Insight I mentioned before? True. Their ratings are 4.0 / 4.2, 4.7 / 4.3 and 3.9 / 3.3 L/100 km city / highway, respectively. But wait, the figure used for the Bionic Car is for city driving. It's much stingier with the smelly stuff when driven at a constant 90 km/h, needing only 2.8 litres for every 100 km.
What's more, compared to the Insight, which will take you 11.0 seconds to pass
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| The Bionic car is shorter than Toyota's Prius, but wider and taller. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
by 100 km/h, and the nearly as efficient but much more useful Prius at 10.6 seconds to 100 km/h, the Bionic Car manages it in only 8.2 seconds, topping out at a very impressive 185 km/h (115 mph). Not bad, but then again it isn't officially federalized for crash safety in North America, or anywhere else for that matter, and doesn't feature all the niceties (like air conditioning, despite having a very slick looking automatic climate control interface integrated into its dash) that the Prius does, at least. Then again, its curb weight, at 1,265 kg (2,789 pounds), isn't that far off the 1,310 kg (2,888 lb) Prius, and it's a heck of a lot heavier than the bantam-weight Insight.
