Autoblog

In an effort to expose the underreported truth behind the government's corporate average fuel economy ratings (CAFE) and to define more accurate fuel economy estimates, the team over at Cars.com has created their own True Mileage Index. The consumer website points out the flaw behind CAFE is that the adjusted calculations misrepresent the numbers posted on new car windows, and the actual fuel economy consumers will realize on the road (e.g., although Honda earned a 2007 CAFE rating of 33.5 mpg, no Honda has a combined mileage of better than 31 mpg). Like the CAFE calculation, the True Mileage Index analyzes a number of factors. However, Cars.com places more weight on actual sales volume, and less on alternative fuels (like E85). Their math places Honda's True Mileage Index at a more realistic 24.9 mpg. In a nutshell, don't get overly excited when you hear that the 2020 CAFE number is going to be 35 mpg -- it's likely to only increase your future vehicle's actual fuel economy by a few mpg.

[Source: Cars.com]

Cars.com has updated its American Made Index, and the list has flip-flopped some models right off, while others have hopped onto the top ten. Cars.com uses the parts origin information from the window sticker, along with the location the vehicle is manufacture at and sales numbers to determine which vehicles have the most US-based content. Ford's F150 and Explorer are the chocolate wafer to the rest of the list's cream filling, sandwiching everyone else between their respective #1 and #10 rankings. General Motors has the most vehicles in the top ten list, with the quartet of Cobalt, Malibu, G6, and Silverado 1500. Not surprisingly, Toyota's Tundra, built in Indiana and Texas, makes the grade at #5. Chrysler's Sebring is that company's only placing on the list, though even the same generation of a particular model can place high one year and fall off the next as automakers juggle OEMs and running changes. If sales of light trucks continue their precipitous fall, the AMI may look radically different the next time around. Four of the ten are body-on-frame trucks, and there's also a pair of minivans, all set to suffer in sales as buyers start to move en masse to more efficient vehicles.

[Source: Cars.com]

Pickuptruck.com, our favorite website about anything with a bed on four wheels that's been owned and operated by Mike Levine since 1995, was just bought out by automotive mega-site Cars.com in a move that we hope made our good friend a gajillion dollars. Levine now joins Autoblog alumnus Dave Thomas, who runs the Kicking Tires blog under the Cars.com umbrella of sites.

The first change that came down from Levine's new corporate overlords was to pluralize the name of his website to Pickuptrucks.com because, well, we don't know why really. We imagine Cars.com already owned the URL, but why it decided to rebrand its new property over one letter rather than just redirecting Pickuptrucks.com visitors to Pickuptruck.com is beyond our feeble minds. Those are corporate overloads for ya. Being owned by AOL, we know all about corporate overlords. Welcome to the club, Mike!

[Source: Pickuptrucks.com]

The definition of what makes a car "Made in America" is always up for debate. Nevertheless, Cars.com takes a stab at determining the Top 10 vehicles made in America every six months with its American-Made Index. Vehicles that make the list are judged on three criteria: sales numbers, domestic parts content (DPC) and the location of their assembly. Only vehicles built inside our borders with a domestic parts content above 75% are eligible, and the more domestic parts the better.

You would expect vehicles like the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado to rank high on the list, and they do grabbing the No. 1 and 3 spots, respectively. The Dodge Ram, however, was not eligible because its domestic parts content is less than 75%. The Toyota Tundra, meanwhile, improved from 10th place to 4th place thanks to higher sales and a DPC that increased to 80% for the 2008 model.

What's more interesting, however, are the models that fell off the list, which include the Toyota Camry and Ford Focus. In the past, the Camry often occupied the No. 2 position on the AMI. The two-door Camry Solara, however, sales for which are grouped together with the sedan, saw its DPC drop to 65% for the 2008 model, thus making the Camry itself ineligible. The new 2008 Focus, meanwhile, carries a DPC rating now of 65%, again below the threshold of eligibility.

When representatives from both Toyota and Ford were asked by Cars.com about the parts content of these vehicles and why it changed, neither could give a definitive answer, but we can say what they can't. The fact is that automakers have to buy components from suppliers that meet their needs, which includes a good price. They're free to shop around the world for those components, not just in the Stars and Stripes section of the store. So while interesting, this list shouldn't be regarded as casting judgment on any particular vehicle for its DPC unless you believe that every vehicle sold in the U.S. should be built in the U.S. using components from the U.S. Now that's not very realistic, is it?

[Source: Cars.com, Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/Getty]

Starting Wednesday, February 21st, the entirety of GM's certified used vehicle inventory will be promoted for sale on Cars.com, which is one of those online classified sites for selling cars. In all, there's about 60,000 GM certified used vehicles in the U.S. To be one, a GM vehicle has to be 6 model years old or newer, have less than 60,000 miles and go through a reconditioning process. Cadillac, HUMMER and Saab have their own programs for certified used vehicles, so this will only affect Chevy, Buick, Oldsmobile, GMC and Pontiacs.

Cars.com hosts about 2 million vehicles for sale at any one time from both private parties and dealers, so the site will be making separate pages for dealers who subscribe to Cars.com that set their inventory apart from the crowd, while those dealers that don't subscribe to the site will still get a GM Certified Logo on their listings. This isn't the first time Cars.com has buddied up with an OEM to sell certified vehicles, as it has similar partnerships with Toyota, Honda and Chrysler, among others.

[Source: Automotive News]

Automotive consumer site Cars.com has peered into its crystal ball and been analyzing exhaust smoke patters in order to claim what the latest and greatest technologies will be down the road (or down the air if we ever get the flying cars we've been promised). Its predictions include:

• Flexible Fuel Systems (...one car that could run on gas, diesel, hydrogen, E85 and electric power.)
• Active Tires (...change to handle different road conditions with the push of a button.)
• True Autopilot
• Lane Changer Warning
• Camless Engines
• Self-Repairing, Self-Cleaning Paint
• Navigation Systems With Real-Time Traffic Information
• Self-Parking Cars
• Electric Window Tinting (...clear to tinted to even opaque with the push of a button.)
• Keyless Entry and Ignition
• Adaptive Brake Lights
• Computer Center (...in-dash computer that can manage navigation, phones, email, CDs, a PDA and every other new techno-gadget...)
• Collision Mitigation Systems
• Automotive Black Box
• Economy Mode (...car turns off non-essential systems, turns down the A/C and even engages cruise control to conserve fuel.)

A full explanation of each technology and when they will be commonplace can be found at the link. Is Cars.com the next Nostradamus or should we be shaking our own Magic 8 Ball instead?

[Source: PR Newswire via finanzen]

On the heels of yet another movie promotion for Pixar's Cars, Cars.com (natch) has gone and selected what it considered the ten best movie cars of all time, along with five it figures should've been earmarked for the compactor.

The envelope, please ...

Best:

1. 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, "Back to the Future"
2. 1961 Ferrari 250 GT, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (for completists, that's a 250 GT California Spyder SWB, guys)
3. 1974 Dodge Monaco, "The Blues Brothers"
4. 1964 Aston Martin DB5, "Goldfinger"
5. Batmobile Tumbler, "Batman Begins"
6. 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390, "Bullitt"
7. 1959 Cadillac Ambulance, "Ghostbusters"
8. 1958 Plymouth Fury, "Christine"
9. 1973 Ford Falcon, "The Road Warrior" (pictured)
10. 2003 Mini Cooper S, "The Italian Job"

Worst:

1. 1983 Ford LTD Country Squire, "National Lampoon's Vacation"
2. 1974 Dodge Tradesman, "Napoleon Dynamite"
3. Winnebago Chieftain, "Spaceballs"
4. 1984 Ford Econoline, "Dumb and Dumber"
5. 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, "Herbie: Fully Loaded"

Technical details, unique features and an explanation as to how they ranked the vehicles are at the link. Apparently, we've got more love for the Griswold's metallic pea-soup Wagonqueen Family Truckster than the folks at Cars.com. C'mon... where's your sense of humor, guys?

[Source: Cars.com]