Get ready for mileage to drop: new EPA rating system unveiled
For the first time in more than 20 years, the US Government is changing the way they calculate the estimated fuel mileage on window stickers. The changes will be seen starting with 2008 model year cars in the form of a newly styled window sticker and a new test procedure to better reflect the actual mileage customers can hope to achieve.
The test procedure is being changed for a lot of reasons, but mainly it's because the government has realized that people don't drive much like the computer model used in today's testing.
They are going to adjust the procedure to reflect our higher freeway speeds, the fact that people tend to accelerate much harder than the computer, our constant use of air conditioning and the effects of adverse-weather driving. We can only guess that most estimates will go down somewhat in this new formula. And we are not alone.
Scared at the possible backlash when their vehicles appear to be getting poorer mileage, major carmakers have banded together to create a website, www.mileagewillvary.com, to help educate consumers about the apparent drop in fuel economy.
Consumers tend to be pretty savvy and at times ignore the estimates altogether, so we expect most people will adapt pretty quickly. One area that may be a concern, however, is the CAFE requirements, which may or may not be altered to reflect the new measuring procedures.
[Source: Automotive News, sub req]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Professor Porsche 12:10PM (12/12/2006)
There is a 412-page report from EPA FuelEconomy site that describes the above in full detail. I printed out the first 76 or so pages that have most of the tech info and many useful scatter plots and tables comparing the various methods.
This is a long overdue correction. The OLD EPA MPG rules used laughable assumptions, that overwhelmingly favored Hybrids. The speeds specified were HALF or a THIRD of what people actually are doing. They assumed no.. A/C and no cold weather operation in winter, which is a HUGELY UNFAIR assumption making the hybrids look good again, and undeservedly so.
The new rules will drop hybrid economy by 30%, thus bringing the MPG estimates much closer to REAL LIFE, OBSERVED MPG which is typically 44 and not 60 mpg for the PRIUS, which is the most efficient Hybrid (with the exception of the insignificant, 2-seat, science project Honda Insight)
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BLS 12:10PM (12/12/2006)
I will be interested how this will affect cars that qualify for the gas guzzler tax. For example the GTO was a gas guzzler but the corvette with same engine was not. That comparison is mostly a function of the cars weight.
I wouldn't be supprised if some of the heavy powerful luxury cars get dinged. How about the crown victoria?
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Brian 12:15PM (12/12/2006)
Wait, you mean I won't actually get 25 MPG in a Chevy Suburban??...lol...I agree, this is long overdue.
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Oliver 12:24PM (12/12/2006)
My Rover estimates at 18. I never achieve that. 13 is the best I have done. One day I hope to plow into the back of a Prius.
Oliver
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Hondafan 12:23PM (12/12/2006)
The gov has known about this for a long time. Meticulous bean counting car buyers who tracked their mileage have complained for years, especially those who bought a car based on the projected EPA mileage on the Mulroney sticker and then complained they were defrauded.
This will burst the bubble that cars are becoming more efficient. The auto manufacturers play dumb stating it's not their numbers but the gov's numbers yet they know they are selling a product that won't get the mileage as claimed.
It will be interesting to see how car buyers react once this is implement. Will the trial lawyers start lining up to sue manufacturers???
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Ken 12:25PM (12/12/2006)
Very long overdue, but will they be issuing revised numbers for older cars or will this just pertain to cars sold going forward?
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Professor Porsche 12:25PM (12/12/2006)
The comparison is a very detailed one and not a fuinction of the car's weight. I believe you were thinking of the new CLASSES of vehicles that is according to weight, so youc an compare similar designs.
THe Crown Victoria is a very fuel efficient car, gewtting routinely 30 MPG on real Highway trips fully loaded, it is not a StupidUglyVehicle. Despite the fact that it has 70s tech and design. A v8 pulling 4,000 lbs (5,000 loaded) on a flat road at low RPM can be very efficient.
The corvette will NOT be penalized, since its very efficient GESRBOX with the 6 speed manual has a top gear of 0.5 ratio, that allows it to actgually get 28 MPG highway if driven at the speed limit.
The ones that will suffer are mainly HYBRIDS and hopefully SUVS too.
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Kansei 1:30PM (12/12/2006)
the EPA ratings for my car were like 30 highway 25 city I think (Mazda Protege5). I've gotten 36.5mpg highway, and I get 29mpg city (like stuck in traffic all day city).
Some automakers sell cars that do get numbers better than what the government claims.
I don't buy into the EPA bullshit. Yeah, it's nice to be able to compare on a relative level.. but hell, just by looking at the car you can usually tell if it'll get good gas mileage. No, your Suburban won't.
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bad blooooood 12:28PM (12/12/2006)
#3 First of all the least powerfull Suburban gets 17MPG
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm
I love this law, now consumers will see that Prius gets about 40 MPG, but they'll also see that GM doesn't make any cars that get better than 30 MPG.
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DCWF 12:29PM (12/12/2006)
I’m not sure whether the “old” (i.e. current) rules favored hybrids, or whether hybrids where designed to do well under those rules. Remember, we manage what we measure. It will be interesting to see how the marketplace adjusts.
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VW-Guy 5:52PM (12/12/2006)
I think the only people who paid intense attention to those numbers were the hybrid people anyway. Very few people who truly put a priority on fuel mileage buy SUV's.
Professor Porshe is right. I'll say here in Canada the way vehicles are tested is a bit of a joke. And I'm amazed the hybrids do so 'poorly' on the test, since the way it's setup should have a hybrid running on batteries for 80% + of the test.
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BLS 12:39PM (12/12/2006)
Good call on the Crown Vic. For some reason I thought it was sub-20 mpg on the highway.
Anyway, having worked for the government and seeing what pushovers they really are. Any car that was not a gas-guzzler in the old system will probably be 'grandfathered' in the new system as not a gas-guzzler. (See medicare Physician reimbursments)
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Gale 12:53PM (12/12/2006)
I applaud the efforts. The 2005 Maxima I now drive is the first car I've owned that got the mileage the sticker said it would get (it says 19/28 and I get 23-24 in mixed driving and 26-28 highway).
I've found the average American driver is too competitive to get good mileage. We have to keep up with the person next to us. Anyone who has set the cruise control on 70 and drive the Interstate knows how many folks speed up when being passed. How many times do you see jackrabbit starts at lights, even with high fuel costs? Driving like boy racers never will get us good fuel economy.
On the other side of the argument, my buddy drives his Prius like a grandma and still doesn't nearly get what the sticker said. Some level of standardization would be a welcome change from the BS we see on the stickers today.
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bad blooooood 12:37PM (12/12/2006)
Hondafan, i hate lawyers, but you do make an interesting point, manufacturers KNEW that the numbers EPA provided were false, and they actively lobied the government not to change them. In other words, say we have a pill that all(all cars get below EPA) people in USA say gives them diaria, but drug companies lobby FDA to say that the pill infact does not cause diaria...........that is agains public good, and in that situation there's a posibility to win money.
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Bob King Neverland III 12:52PM (12/12/2006)
I don't think this will make any difference in people's decision to buy a car. Aka my dumass ex-wife and her new fiance (a prick) bought a Ford Expedition last month. They didn't tell me, I just drove by to see what was going on.
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Accordsforall 12:58PM (12/12/2006)
This just turns me on...
SUVS not getting their assumed miliage?? Suburbans not getting better than 17mpg? And that ROVER about to plow into the back of a Prius.. All that Rover needs to do is get a nice flat tire and watch as it does "The Donut".. ROLL BABY... ROLL!"
This is.. EXTREMELY LONG over due. About damn time. Maybe the SUV market can go to where its supposed to go.. right down the crapper.
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Brian 12:50PM (12/12/2006)
#8 Thanks for the update, I was being sarcastic. And actually some Suburbans are rated at 21 highway.
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Richard Warren 1:03PM (12/12/2006)
Who cars? You get what you get. The keyword here (and always has been) ESTIMATES. Gee, it even says that on the sticker.
Estimate:
to judge tentatively or approximately the value, worth, or significance of
to determine roughly the size, extent, or nature of (Got that? roughly)
implies a judgment, considered or casual, that precedes or takes the place of actual measuring or counting or testing out.
If you ever believed this the Dr. will examine you now.
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Will 12:48PM (12/12/2006)
I heard that CAFE will NOT be affected by this change. The article indicates MAY. Anyone have more info?
BTW my '02 Z06 routinely gets 17.5mpg while driving in suburbia. Even with my lead foot.
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TerpMZ3 1:17PM (12/12/2006)
DCWF - Good Point.
Automakers have been tweaking gear ratios to optimize vehicles for the best mileage according to the old city/highway driving models whether or not that had a benefit to real world fuel economy. With the new system, automakers will most likely adjust designs to score better numbers on this more realistic test and actual observed fuel economy should increase (in the next development cycle).
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