07 May 2009 - 11:00
Seat does 100mpg...
Here’s a cheeky philosophical teaser for you: is it possible for green stuff to be interesting?
We don’t mean ‘green’ as in broccoli. Or algae. We mean environmental stuff. See, this Seat Ibiza Ecomotive has just managed a ridiculous 970 miles on a single tank of fuel, at an average consumption of 97.4mpg, in the hands of renowned eco-driver Gerhard Plattner on a cross-European drive.
That’s absurd. Nearly 100mpg, from a sensible small hatchback with seating for five (well, just about). 100mpg from a decent-looking, decent-driving supermini. Amazing stuff.
But we’re still struggling to be, y’know, excited about it. Maybe it’s because Seat admits that ‘at some points along the way on motorways, Platter brought the Ibiza up to cruising speeds of nearly 70mph’. Doesn’t exactly sound like a wild ride, does it?
Maybe it’s because headline figures like ‘1.4-litre turbodiesel’ and ‘79bhp’ don’t really grab the imagination as much as, say, ‘800bhp’ and ‘twin-turbo V8’.
We’re not quite sure. What do you reckon? Can green ever be truly interesting? Or is it inherently just a bit more boring than bad, evil, fun, polar-bear-strangling stuff? Let’s settle this one right now...
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For everyday commuting, yeah. Very interesting. For the weekend... well... no, not a bit. Although I'm far more interested in small cars that do a lot with not a lot, than in those 800 bhp bullies. They seem outdated somehow, like dinosaurs. Jezza already said it: a 500 Abarth is more fun on public roads than any Ferrari, to be honest.
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Everyday and weekend? Interesting. For one we have the technical convergence of public and individual transport (you know, driverless cars, telematics and stuff gradually integrating..). In addition we might get an even broader divergence of everyday bread and butter vs. sex at the weekend. Dull transportation (efficiency) vs. explosion-based motoring (lust). The Seat appears as an example not of extreme but at the crossroad.
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Brilliant but boring, I mean who cares, and if you are the one person who does, why are you on the TOP gear site of all places
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'renowned eco-driver Gerhard Plattner' - are you sure? Can you actually be both an 'eco-driver' and renowned? Sounds like a fascinating profession!!
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Quite interesting. One tank fuel for a month ! But, for the weekend, for some crazy stuff, i would love to have the money to give a corolla to Fensport and let them tune it. Small car with great power and good balance equals lots of fun !
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What they don't say is that it took 970 miles to reach "nearly 70mph"
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Koneigsegg CCX-R is green and absurdly interesting!! Also there's the Tesla car and the Lotus Eco Elise and Exige. Green can be interesting depending on how its used!!
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Isn't this just a VW Polo BlueMotion but built slightly worse? BORING
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Hang on, TopGear did a huge eco-drive in a white Seat Eco-Version, didn't they?
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Mikeado, it's built by the same robots, but it's much better styled and it's not boring.
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I know it's less boring than a Polo, but what isn't? Besides, 'eco', 'thrilling' and 'hatchback' are never put in the same sentence without a negative word linking them somehow.
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Yep, guys would love explaining this car to the ladys - Guy: it does 100mpg! Lady: cool (not!), how fast does it go? Guy (mumbles very quietly): it cruises at 70? Then the bored lady walks away! All togather now : aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!
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woops spelt together wrong, the car is just so bad!
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Well this car is utter rubbish but if you'd for example could name eco and say... twin turbo V12 in the same sentence and describing the same car... I think that could be interesting....
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Puma2000 commented on this article
07 May 2009
Got bored after reading the title...
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