Autoblog

Of course your wallet hurts every time you have to fill the car up. Nevertheless, in these trying times we must always remember the words of Fernando Lamas: it is better to look good than to feel good. Cars That Matter has put together a list of classic automobiles that get anywhere from 21 to 48 mpg, which means you can look good while you save money.

The heaviest drinker is the Datsun 240Z, just cracking into the twenties. But plenty of cars hover around the 30 mpg mark, like the Lotus Europa, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, and Fiat X1/9. If you want to crack the big four-oh, you've still got choices: BMW Isetta and Honda S800. And the Crosley Hotshot will get you a miserly 48 mpg.

All right, so there are some niggling issues of practicality -- almost all the cars have only two chairs -- unsuitability for winter, plus many of them are mechanical horrors. As such, we must always remember the words of dear old dad: there are no free lunches. But there are choices, and that has to count for something...

[Source: Cars That Matter, Photo by Liftarn | Creative Commons 2.0]

If anyone were to come along and do an updated version of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing," the could change the background vocal from "I want my MTV" to "I want my MPG" or "I want my low Cd." Coefficient of drag, that is. Carmakers are taking every step they can, starting with aerodynamics, to give cars better gas mileage right now while they wait for more substantial technologies to come online in the near future.

But the tweaks don't stop with aero finessing. The 2009 Dodge Ram spent 200 hours in the wind tunnel, and it also received tweaks to its ECU, which means it spends more time in its cylinder cutoff mode. That, plus eighty pounds of weight savings, adds up to one more MPG on the EPA sheet. Said Ford's Derek Kuzak, "We need to treat every joule of energy in a vehicle like a precious commodity."

In fact, that song hook could also be "I want my XFE." The Cobalt XFE, developed over 18 months to offer the best gas mileage in the Cobalt line, is selling six percent better than expected. Fuel economy, instead of design, is the number one reason people buy a Cobalt now. And the XFE has the lowest on-the-lot time of any Cobalt model. That's how important the price of gas has become.

[Source: Automotive News, sub req'd]

U.S. university boffins have hypothesized that you'll get a better idea of how much you spend on gas if you start thinking in gallons per mile. With U.S. gas prices headed for the upper atmosphere, people are paying more attention to fuel efficiency numbers. Europeans already express their fuel usage in liters/100 km, which makes sense seeing that they've been paying $5 a gallon for much longer than we have.

The key is that going from 10- to 20-MPG yields higher savings -- which means less money spent on fuel -- than going from 25- to 50-MPG. The former swap yields $25 dollars in savings over 100 miles, the latter yields just $10 in savings. However, if you know that one car uses 5.5 gallons per 100 miles, and another uses 3.5 gallons per 100 miles... then you immediately know which one will cost you less at the pump.

Of course, this all depends on what kind of car you're starting with in the first place. Researcher Richard Larrick said, "We were trying to decide whether to get rid of a minivan and go for a station wagon versus getting rid of a sedan and going for a really high-mileage hybrid car. We realized in the end we were better off trading in the minivan and only gaining 10 miles per gallon then we would be trying to swap out the sedan for a highly efficient car." Thanks for the tip, Stephen!

[Source: Reuters]

Detroit's sharp intake of breath over the very real possibility of increased federal fuel economy standards apparently doesn't include Chrysler's voice. CEO Robert Nardelli has told The Car Connection that rather than waste lots of time and energy opposing the likely increase to a 35 mpg fleet average, Chrysler will put its head down and get it done. Attaining the goal will not be without pain, however. Cuts will be made, and the books are still in the red.

There is hope, though, if Chrysler and parent Cerberus Capital can stick it out. A new contract with the UAW eases some of the automaker's financial burden, allowing that money to be plowed into development of more fuel efficient vehicles. There's a new two-mode hybrid system, co-developed with Daimler, GM, and BMW, which should help lift the fleet average without Chrysler abandoning their bread and butter moneymakers. With a lineup heavy in less-frugal vehicles like SUVs, trucks, and minivans, Chrysler's acknowledged the holes in their product mix and will set about plugging product into the voids. First up is the new Journey, the company's first crossover vehicle. The CUV segment is red-hot right now, so having a model to sell is a plus. Having a good model that will continue to sell well is an even bigger plus. At this point, Chrysler's facing an uphill climb.

[Source: TCC]

So we read over this report by the Civil Society Institute that polled U.S. citizens on their support of a federally-mandated increase in fuel efficiency, so that vehicles in the U.S. would achieve over 40 MPG. A mind-boggling 78-percent answered "yes" when asked. However, the questions posed struck us as a little odd, so we though we'd enlist the help of our sage-like readership after you've come out of your tryptophanatic comas to give us your opinion.

The report also claimed that 45-percent of Americans would be more inclined to purchase either a "hybrid or other fuel-efficient vehicle" and that 76-percent believe that the Big-Two-Point-Five are to blame for their current financial and marketplace predicaments.

We're not saying that the information presented is flawed, but we were mighty surprised by the results. So we'll pose the question to you. The poll is below, vote away.

Polling is closed and the results as of 7:30 PM EST are below.

There are a myriad of ways to reduce fuel consumption when driving, the most obvious being what type of vehicle you choose. However, one of the most crucial factors in saving dino-juice is the way in which the vehicle is piloted. Heavy acceleration, doing an unnecessary tap dance between the brake and gas, not looking far ahead and anticipating traffic slowdowns, all contribute to burning through fuel at a more prodigious rate.

With that in mind, the UK is considering adding an eco-friendly driving section to their L-test (beginner's exam) that would grade the student on everything mentioned above, including shutting off the engine when stopped in hold-ups. All these skills are currently required of driving instructors in the UK, so it would seem to be a reasonable skill expected of novice drivers.

If and when these new criteria are enacted is up in the air, but considering the deplorable state of driver's testing here in the States, we'd like to see similar requirements put on new drivers as well as people renewing their license. Then again, if we were kings, we might include an IQ test before allowing people to get behind the wheel.

[Source: AutoExpress]

Beginning this month, ToMoCo will begin outfitting automatic transmission-equipped vehicles in its home market with what Toyota calls the "Eco Drive Indicator." The dash-mounted display informs the driver when they are operating the vehicle in an ecological manner by monitoring acceleration, engine/transmission efficiency and speed, all in an effort to raise fuel efficiency consciousness in Japan.

Toyota's research shows a four percent increase in fuel economy with vehicles equipped with the Eco Drive Indicator. Naturally, the results are dependent on traffic congestion, frequent starts and stops and other variables that have an effect on overall fuel efficiency.

The introduction of the Eco Drive system is part of Toyota's three-prong effort to facilitate a more sustainable motoring environment. Eco Drive seeks to address driver awareness and from there Toyota aims to make more developments in commercial transportation and also plans to expand its research into intelligent transportation systems.

[Source: Toyota Motor Corp.]

In this episode, we find Top Gear's inimitable Jeremy Clarkson attempting to squeeze every last drop of derv out of an unmodified diesel-powered production car in an effort to travel 800 miles on a single tank.

This is a challenging enough proposition as it is, but Clarkson isn't messing about in some oil-burning microcar, he's doing it in an Audi A8 motivated by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 diesel... not exactly a thrift-minded machine. In fact, it's a torque-monster lashed to a gigantic luxury car... something of a middle-finger to the Prius set.

Given that Clarkson doesn't resort to NASCAR-style bump drafting, aero fairings, or weight-stripping, he resigns himself to trundling about with the engine never turning over 1,200 RPM (that, friends, is discipline). In fact, Clarkson's forced to be such a skinflint that he runs around with virtually all of the A8's considerable creature comforts off, and even answers nature's call with a plastic bottle in an attempt to avoid having to stop.

So.. can he eke out 800 miles? Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of his magical miserly tour to find out.

[Source: TopGear via Youtube]

OnStar will begin a service in June that can locate ethanol refueling stations for customers with E85-compatible flex-fuel vehicles. OnStar subscribers will first get an email detailing where E85 pumps are in their area and if they venture outside the comfort zone a quick push of OnStar’s blue button will dial up a representative who can help with directions. Inside Line is also reporting that OnStar is planning another new service that would let vehicle owners know when their tires are underinflated, a minor maintenance issue that can have a large negative impact on fuel economy.

In a short-but-sweet press release Nissan announced that it is revising downward the estimated EPA combined city/highway gas mileage for its Xtronic CVT-equipped Versa sub-compact. The original estimate was 38 mpg, which has now fallen to 33 mpg. Nissan offered no explanation for the adjustment. All Versa models are powered by a 122-hp, 1.8L four-cylinder engine.

 [Source: Nissan]