Toyota Prius is the vehicle which is rarely sold in India, and the condition is almost similar in the most of markets.
What if the salesman at Toyota showrooms conveyed – the Prius Plug-in had set a record at Nürburgring? We guess, it may change the attitude of the customers then, but to be precise the Japanese automaker had set the record with its Prius!
Don’t get excited; the record was for the fuel-economy attained at the Nurburgring after driven the car at 40mph. The automaker achieved an astonishing fuel-efficiency of 698mpg during a single lap of the notorious Nordschleife.
The lap was covered in 20 minutes and 59 seconds. Motoring journalist and Japanese car expert Joe Clifford was behind the steering wheel of a standard Prius Plug-in, which he had recently upgraded with the addition of TRD parts that are purely for the styling and no technicalities upgrade.
Commenting about the record, Clifford said: “We used no special tricks for this test. We simply took a fully charged car, fitted it with low rolling resistance tyres and drove the lap, among all the other public drivers taking the opportunity to experience the challenge of the Nürburgring.”
He further added, “Although the 12.9-mile distance is similar to a typical commuter trip, the difference here is a rise and fall in elevation of around 1,000 feet. In fact it was only on one long climb that the petrol engine cut in, and then only for a short while. Without that, we think we might have even achieved the ultimate 999.9mpg read-out – the highest figure the display can show.”
Under the hoods, the car holds a 1.8-litre Atkinson cycle petrol engine with a compact, rechargeable lithium-ion battery.
