Car v plane. Fight!

by Simon Handby on 29.01.08

We’ve noticed something of a vogue lately for face-offs between cars and planes. Car magazine is reporting a head-to-head race in which Lamborghini engineers were overtaken at 210mph by a Tornado jet fighter. All very interesting, but we’re not sure either would be much cop on the supermarket run.

Meanwhile, housewives’ favourite Richard Hammond recently lost out to a Typhoon fighter in a similar stunt on the BBC’s Top Gear – fortunately only his pride was bruised in this particular brush with drag racing.

Comparing cars and planes seems a bit odd to us, given that most driving isn’t done on a runway and that most air miles aren’t spent trundling around the M25. Granted, neither is cheap to park, but we’re wondering how the two stack up in more meaningful comparisons?

Safety

If we had a penny for every time somebody reassured us that flying is the safest form of transport, we’d probably have saved them up for a holiday. Happily for aviophobes, it’s true when you count deaths per passenger mile, although rail travel compares pretty well on this measure.

Still, many argue that a fairer comparison is on deaths per passenger hour, or even deaths per passenger journey. On the latter measure, the car comes out around 10 times safer than flying, which is probably why car insurance is cheaper than plane insurance, no matter how low your no-claims discount.

Speed

Let’s face it, not even The Stig has a hope of matching a plane’s average speed. A modern commercial jet typically cruises at 500 and a bit miles per hour, almost five times as fast as a Mini in a hurry. Then there’s those motoring inconveniences to think of, such as speed limits, corners, other cars and the like.

Still, air travel isn’t all plane sailing (sorry) either. Transport to the airport, check-in, security, boarding and taxiing can add hours to the point-to-point time for a flight, not to mention customs at the other end. In practice, it’s often quicker to drive than to take an internal flight. Over a longer distance, though, even the new, faster Eurostar service can’t keep up with a plane.

Cost

Cheap flights are great until you need to check in at the airport (£2), put a suitcase in the hold (£5), put a snowboard in the hold (£15.50), book a specific seat (£5*) and add on taxes (often more than the flight itself). Still, for medium or long haul it’s unlikely that the car or train would be cheaper

One great advantage of the car is that, provided there’s room, it costs almost nothing to take passengers with you. In fact, ask them nicely and you’ll probably find they’re happy to chip in some petrol money or help out with the driving. At the very least, they might be up for some eye-spy – more than you can say for the snoring businessman in the aisle seat.

*typical budget airline prices

Emissions

We’ve written at length about attempts to make cars more efficient and less polluting through technology and alternative fuels. The car industry in Europe has been set an emissions target of an average 130g/km by 2012, which would be a 20% drop compared to 2005 levels. Plane manufacturers and operators are also thinking about alternative fuels, though they don’t yet seem as far along.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that journeys by plane average out at 48 miles per gallon per seat, which sounds surprisingly good. However, it’s worth stressing that the figure is per seat rather than per passenger. By the same reckoning, Toyota’s Prius – which can seat five people and cover 65.7 miles on a gallon – manages 328.5 mpg.

Points decision

It’s pretty obvious that planes, trains and cars all have their faults, but they’ve got strengths too. It’s impossible to choose a winner between car and plane travel when the two are best at different things.

The key is probably to remember that all travel has an impact on the planet, and to think about how often it’s necessary to fly, and when you could be leaving the car in the garage and hopping on public transport instead.

IMAGES by Flickr users Adrian DiUbaldo, nahtanoj, Ma1974 and Spiralz.