Greetings All,
I will stay away from the SUV debate for now; since all positions are
intractable there is no point.
I would however relay my experience with EPA Estimated Mileage results
which in my opinion are worthless. Not only is it worthless for comparing
vehicles (if mileage is important to you) but they are poor and inconsistant
predictors of the mileage a car actually gets.
For example, the last two cars I have owned were a '90 Honda Accord and
a '98 VW Passat. Both 4-bangers and 5-speed manual. EPA stickers on both cars
were similar: the Honda 23 city/28 highway; the VW 23 city/ 32 highway.
Having always driven 4 cylinder cars I knew these numbers were low. In the
real world mix of suburban street/interstate driving I do I average a
consistant 32 mi/gal with both vehicles and a solid 36 mi/gal on long
interstate trips.
On two occasions I have rented vehicles for about a week: one (Chevy Monte
Carlo 3.4 liter V6) while on a trip and another locally (Pontiac Bonneville
3.8L V6). Both cars were fairly new but with about 6-10k miles (presumably
broken in). The EPA sticker for each is similar at 20 city/ 30 highway which
you will notice is very similar to the predicted mileage of my two 4 cylinder
cars. Both were very nice cars that ran flawlessly but got no way near the
advertised mileage. The Bonneville was driven locally and was driven the same
local route as my regular car. For the week it averaged 23 mi/gal. The Monte
Carlo spent most of its time on the highway but could only muster about 28
mi/gal.
Now I realize this is a small sampling, but in comparing real vs. EPA
figures from other peoples cars (who are similarly obsessive/compulsive about
these matters) a pattern emerges. Most imported cars (european/japanese)
which are designed for high mileage because of high local fuel costs are
consistantly under-rated by the EPA test. Domestic vehicles are consistantly
over-estimated by the same test. What is it about the engineering of these
vehiles that so obfusticates the predictions of the EPA test? Are they tested
differently, are cars engineered specifically for the test? Any auto
engineers on the OM List with some insight?
Charlie
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