We've had a letter from the BBC
and they said what with petrol being £5.50 a gallon
and all the rest of it, what we should actually be doing is giving some advice on fuel economy
and saving money. Unfortunately,
that letter was opened by him. Yes. And I decided the best thing we could do is gather together
five supercars and have a race. These are the contenders. A Ferrari 599. A Lamborghini Murcielago. A Mercedes McLaren. An Aston Martin DBS. And the Audi R8. They will now race round our track,
but to prove we're in tune with the times, each will start with just one gallon
in its tank. There you go!
The sound of the 20th century! God, I love it. 5.4 litre V8 versus this 6.5 litre V12. We're coming side by side... Oh, no! Blocked him out. Lamborghini's in the lead. Whoops-a-daisy.. The sight in my rear-view mirror now,
it's unbelievable! This was turning into one of the most
exciting races ever on our track. And then it turned into
one of the shortest. There's the Ferrari.
It's gone, it's down, it's out. Amazingly, after just 1.7 miles,
the Ferrari had spluttered to a halt. It's going past. There's nothing I can do. That McLaren is so quick.
You forget how quick it is. Shortly afterwards the Aston was out too,
turning it into a three-horse race. Sorry, mate, I'm going to out-brake you. I've got an Audi R8
right up my trumpet here. Then the McLaren
took its last mighty swig. Hear that noise
coming from behind my left ear? That is the sound of money exploding. My Lamborghini soldiered on bravely. Then it ran out. No! No! It had done 4.1 miles to the gallon,
an incredible performance. But the winner, with an incredible
five miles to the gallon, is the Audi R8. So, here's a Top Gear top tip. If you've been affected
by the fuel crisis, this is the supercar to buy. -I honestly think it was a vital service.
-Nice one. Well done. And that was a useful piece
of consumer advice. Oh, well done. But, seriously, that Ferrari,
did it really do 1.7 mpg? Well, there might have been a bit of fuel
left in its pipes, but you'd be amazed how thirsty those things are
when you really thrash them. -It's incredible.
-1.7 miles means... £3.23 a mile just in petrol! Yes. Yes, but the BBC saw that film
and they said we'd been stupid and we had to do something more
for the normal person and well it was him again. Yes, so the Toyota Prius. Now,
to make this as economical as possible, they go to the ends of the Earth,
quite literally. I mean, the nickel
that they use to make the batteries that power the electric motor
comes from a mine in Canada. Nickel mining is a filthy business, lot of
sulphur and acid rain, but no matter. They load it on an enormous cargo ship,
send it to Europe, where it's refined, then onto China, where it's turned
into a sort of foam, then to Japan where it's put in the batteries
and into the car. It's so complicated, in fact,
to make a Prius that a recent study found
that in the long term it does more environmental damage
than a Land Rover Discovery. But... No, it's true. But it is at least economical. Or is it? This is a BMW M3. It is not designed
to be as economical as possible. It is designed to be fast. So, ten laps of the track.
Let's see which one uses the least fuel. Here we go. The Prius would be driven
as fast as possible. All I had to do in the BMW was keep up. Okay, so there's a 1.5 litre,
4-cylinder engine in the Prius. In this, a 414-brake-horsepower,
4-litre V8. You would expect this to use
massively more fuel. It was one of the dullest drives
of my life, but in the interests of science
I stuck with it. Coming up now, ten laps
and we're finished. -Come on!
-I have the results here. The Prius did 17.2 miles to the gallon.
The M3 did 19.4 miles to the gallon. -Hang on! Hang on!
-That was verified. No, seriously. Seriously. -19 to 17?
-Yes. At that speed, the M3 is
more economical than a Prius. So, what you're saying is, if you want
an economical car, buy a BMW M3? No, I'm not actually. Seriously what I'm saying is
it isn't what you drive that matters. It's how you drive it. That is everything. 'Cause there are people
who've got Mondeos going, "I can't afford the petrol.
I'm going to have to get rid." Don't. Everyone's in the same boat.
You'll get 20p for it. You'll end up with a horrid eco box. Much better, don't change the car.
Change your driving style.
