Projo Cars Blog

TO finish first, race-team crew chiefs remind their impatient young drivers, you must first finish. This is another way of saying that a tortoise could have better odds against a hare than a bettor might otherwise presume, according to The New York Times' Jerry Garrett.

Recently, I pitted the most fuel-efficient new compact car sold in the United States against one of the thirstiest gas guzzlers on American roads. I wanted to see just how much difference there really was — not in the mileage, which anyone can learn by simply reading the window sticker — but in dollars and cents under typical driving conditions.

My decidedly unscientific test consisted of taking a Honda Civic Hybrid on a 300-mile trek, followed by a drive over the same route in a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, an Italian exotic with three fewer seats but nearly five times the horsepower.

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