FUEL ECONOMY IN CAR AND DRIVER AUGUST 2010

The fuel economy story in Car & Driver's August issue can be clearly summed up in two words; five characters: BMW X6. C/D reviewed the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid and found it to be remarkably quick, and so it should be with power levels approaching the absurd: 480 bhp and 575 lb-ft of torque. The problem with this terribly wasteful BMW hybrid X6 isn't its ability to power out of corners. In fact, the X6 ActiveHybrid can't even be wholly blamed for dreadful style since there are other X6 models even uglier (X6M), nor can the X6 be criticized for failing to hold on to the road (0.86 gs on the skidpad). 

Nah, the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid weighs 5,741 pounds. As a result of way too much girth and way too much engine, a hybrid was the least efficient product in C/D's August 2010 issue. 

The Good Car Guy has never been a fan of the BMW X6. Placing it in The Bad 8 Supersize and The Bad 8 Supersize v2.0 was a sign of that. But the X6 ActiveHybrid is the likely victor of 2010's The Worst New Vehicle Of The Year competition. Compare, for example, the dreadfully-named X6 xDrive35i and the X6 ActiveHybrid. The hybrid BMW doesn't improve the 35i's city fuel economy rating of 17 mpg but is 6 mpg worse on the highway. Now let's look at the BMw X6 xDrive 50i. Again, highway fuel economy is worse in the hybrid, although the 50i's city rating is 3 mpg below the hybrid's. Then there's the obscene X6 M. The M has an EPA combined rating of 14 miles per gallon, identical to the real-world figure achieved by Car & Driver with the X6 ActiveHybrid. Inefficient, ugly, and useless: the BMW X6 ActiveHybrid.

11 other vehicles underwent fuel economy testing with C/D for the August issue. There results are below.

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Mitsubishi i AWD 659cc: 39 miles per gallon
Ford Fiesta SEL: 29 miles per gallon
Suzuki Kizashi GTS: 25 miles per gallon (over 5,163 miles)
Audi A6 3.0T: 22 miles per gallon
BMW 535i: 22 miles per gallon
Hyundai Genesis 4.6: 21 miles per gallon (over 40,000 miles)
Infiniti M37: 20 miles per gallon
BMW 750Li xDrive: 17 miles per gallon (over 14,263 miles)
Ford Shelby GT500: 15 miles per gallon
Aston Martin Rapide: 15 miles per gallon
Porsche Panamera Turbo: 15 miles per gallon
BMW X6 ActiveHybrid: 14 miles per gallon

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