Tommy Kaira hybrids

Japanese car tuning and manufacturing firm Tommy Kaira have now turned their attention to hybrids, it seems, in a break from their normal line of hot Nissans. In contrast to the wild GT-Rs, Skylines and Z-cars that usually benefit from Tommy Kaira's body and engine upgrades, the Toyota Prius 3 and Honda Insight might seem a little tame, but the big wheels, beefy exhausts and squat stance used rather suits the shape of each car - especially the Insight.

Of course, one has to question the motive for performance tuning on hybrids. When manufacturers have spent so long perfecting aerodynamic shapes in wind tunnels and choosing low-rolling resistance wheels and tyres, it seems nonsensical to take several steps back by increasing drag and resistance with kits like these.

You also have to wonder who'd actually buy the kits. I certainly can't see them being popular with the Ecomodding crowd, and many car "enthusiasts" seem to take a dim view of hybrids, expecting they'll spell doom and gloom for performance motoring, so there doesn't seem to be an obvious market there earlier.

But of course, the main market is in Tommy Kaira's native Japan, where customers aren't beyond tuning tiny Kei cars, let alone relatively powerful hybrids. Perhaps there, where aerodynamics have little effect in inner-city traffic, the draw of a tuned hybrid is much greater.

And of course, a belated happy New Year to all Tarmac's readers. Best wishes for 2010!

(Images: Tommy Kaira)

Prius (Priuses? Prii?) breaking the 300k mile mark

I was going to use this post to mention the new eco-star from the LA Auto Show, Volkswagen's Up! Lite, with it's headline 70mpg/84mpg (US/UK). Though the regular Up! will go on sale in 2011 however, there is still no confirmation that the Lite, which looks very much like the L1 concept +2, will make the cut. Until we find out for sure, I'll leave the speculation to the bigger motoring blogs and simply furnish you with a few photographs of the Lite:

Of more current interest is the discovery that, contrary to popular belief, some people are attaining stratospherically high mileages from petrol-electric Hybrids like the Prius. One owner managed to get 349,531 miles out of his first-gen Prius before it was unfortunately written off. The mileage isn't the most surprising aspect though - this is reserved for finding out that the mileage was achieved on the original battery set. This will no doubt upset those who believe that big off-roaders like Hummers and Jeeps are greener over their life-span than a Prius because they last longer (even though this was disproven, unsurprisingly, not long after).

It seems like hybrids can last for a while, which is reassuring news for those wishing to buy one second hand, now that used prices are quite tempting (in the UK, early Prius and Civic IMAs seem to be going for little over £3k now). Of course, you should always buy on condition, but it appears that a well-maintained hybrid can easily last as long as any other car - and it's worth bearing in mind that hybrid drivers aren't likely to work their cars too hard...

(Images: Volkswagen & Toyota)

Most frugal car in the real world? Autocar finds out with a race...

Manufacturers make big claims about their fuel economy figures. Occasionally, even these claims can be bettered, as Toyota's now closed blog for the iQ managed back in January, extracting 72mpg when Toyota themselves only claimed 65mpg. Often though, real-world driving prevents us from extracting the optimum economy from our cars.

Autocar's test then perhaps sheds a little more relevance on achieving high miles to the gallon. Armed with a Ford Fiesta Econetic, a Vauxhall Corsa Ecoflex, an Insight, a Prius, a BMW 116d and a Smart ForTwo CDi, they each hit the track at Bruntingthorpe with a single litre of fuel and a driver trying to achieve as many miles in the hour as possible. By working to distance rather than outright economy, it avoided the whole race becoming a slow eco-trundle.

The most efficient at the end of the hour? Ford's Fiesta Econetic. It achieved almost sixty miles at the hands of Matt Prior, equivalent - unsurprisingly - to roughly 60mpg. A little way short of Ford's 76mpg combined figure perhaps, but much more representative of what drivers can expect in their daily grind, and a long way from shabby.

The other cars in the test all managed to average around 55mpg, including the diminutive Smart despite being driven pedal-to-the-metal until it spluttered to a halt after 53 minutes.

The full story can be found in the 30th September issue of Autocar, out now. Alternatively, you can watch the video:

(Picture credits: Tarmac)