MrClean

In addition to the arguments laid out above, there's the matter of the different test methods for the mileage, which will render the EPA mileage estimates about 10% poorer than they are now. The new test method combined with the elimination of the light truck/SUV exclusion will make for a reshuffling of how the companies meet their CAFE requirements.

V10

It's about time !

Klay

I honestly am having trouble believing this. I have a 93 mustang gt and don't get anywhere near that kind of gas mileage and mine is the year they added all the extra smog equipment and lowered the hp rating to 205hp. I average about 14-15 mpg with mostly city driving and modest traffic. You either had the 4 cylinder model or are exaggerating. I have only a intake and exhaust (just mufflers as far as I know) so I don't see why there is such disparity between are numbers.

As for the cafe standards, they are useless in my opinion. I don't believe it is good to make laws that mandate what type of vehicle people must drive (which this essentially does). The Big 3 will be forced to artificially sell less suv's and trucks so they can offset their cafe numbers. All those things that help gas mileage come with a price too. They can't just add it without adding to the price of the vehicle. The best thing the government can do is provide incentives for alternative fuels and maybe even the big 3 can invest in alternative fuels themselves. This will help our oil problem far more than forcing manufacturers to build certain types of vehicles.

clockworks

I agree with this.

Also, as already stated... it's about **** time to put and end to the stupid SUVs skipping the gas guzzler tax.

tacbear

I know Ford could build a 3200# RWD Mustang with 350 hp and a 6 speed tranny that could get 20 city/28+ highway if they wanted to!!


Believe it or not, I don't really care!! This was my first new car and I kept up with every drop of gas I bought for the first 100,000 miles and I never got less than 27 mpg on a long trip or 23 mpg in the city. The last trip I took in the car was over 400 miles from Huntsville,AL to Gulfport, MS and I didn't fill up until I got to Gulfport (I think it took 13 gallons or so) and the car had over 100,000 mile on it at that time!!

P.S. I suppose you won't believe that my 381 rwhp Superchrged Mustang that I drive now gets 26 to 27 mpg on the highway and I have never got under 20 mpg, even when I race it all day long at the track!!!!

clockworks

You're right, I don't.

MrClean

How cool is that?

tacbear

[HTML]Actually Doug tuned my car before he got his dyno, but he will be Re-tuning my car in his front yard when I install the Intercooler!!

P.S. What is cool is when I go by his house, you never know what he will have sitting on the dyno...sometimes it's a 500 hp Mustang, sometimes its his Mini-van, or his 4 wheeler, motorcycle or his Pick Up Truck. We have been trying to figure out how to dyno his little boys' Electric Mustang car-car

Scothew

You should. My 96 cobra had 4.10's and made 295rwhp and it got 25-26mpg on the free way. Alot of low mpg problems are not nessecarily the car, more is to be said about the foot on the pedal. If you know how to drive ultra conservative, you can get some incredible fuel mileage out of just about anything.

gmichaelj1

I believe this lack of knowing how to drive (that is not knowing how to conserve momentum) is the reason they revised (dummied down) the EPA figures recently.

tacbear

karman

I think the traditional EPA figures gave you a number to try for if you know how to drive.
I have always been able to meet or exceed the highway numbers on any car I've owned if I was just very careful (even with factory big block engines).
(Of course normally I drive with my foot to the floor until I reach the speed limit.)
I agree they just dumbed them down because of whiners and idiots.

AnotherMustangMan

Apparently then "whiners and idiots" comprise the vast majority of America's motoring public. They revised the system to better predict the results most people will get, not those attained by Naderite grandmothers nor stoplight John Forces.

gmichaelj1

Lowest Common Denominator. Sorry I'm off topic.

V10

While I have also been able to exceed the EPA highway #s for every vehicle I've owned, I disagree that the EPA #s have been "dumbed down".

The old EPA #s were very unrealistic. They did not include the use of air conditioning, something that contributed to the insanely high #s hybrids got under the old test.

Also, the old EPA #s did not include any cold starts, they were based on the vehicle being brought up to full temp before the start of the test.

Finally, the EPA city test was so short that many hybrids barely used their engines, so city #s were inflated as the test did not account for recharging the batteries.

A number of other changes were made, all and all a very good and long overdue change to the MPG testing.

gmichaelj1

Well, I appreciate your telling us about the hybrids. I didn't know about those artifically high scores. I'll bet the new owners were a bit PO'd when the actual milage "varied." But, I travel behind countless idiots who ride their brakes down hill then accelerate up to maintain speed. Or accelerate and brake hard in stop and go traffic. That, and the fact that for the last 4 months or so, I've been getting 22.4 mpg with the GT in city driving makes me think that if most drivers (excepting now the hybrids) paid better attention to their driving they could easily get the "old" numbers.

kepfordj

I'll bet you'll find that those getting the decent mileage numbers are the same ones (like me) getting 90,000 miles on a set of brakes. I grew up in the 70's, I know how to squeeze a gallon of gas til it squeals. Lately I've been making about 22 mpg or so ave. Could do better but I love that 5 sec run to 60.

MrClean

I've been able to granny it around to get 20+ mpg average, but the 2 or 3 times a day I get to open her up to 120 mph for a ½ mile stretch, combined with some hellacious 5 mph Houston stop-and-go traffic in the morning drops it to 16 average.....but then I get out and tell my wife (every day) what a blast it is to drive this car everyday, so I don't care....I have thought about converting it to CNG or LPG at some point though.....

V10

It's been all over the news for the last 6 months.
Even made network evening news shows several times. One story I saw showed PO'd Prius owners who were mad that they were getting 15 MPG lower than claimed.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...dmileage_x.htm

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...idwatch01.html

http://www.newsobserver.com/248/story/547737.html

http://www.lemonlawcenter.com/hybrid-gas-mileage.htm

MrClean

I've got to chime in again....I used to have a Honda Insight (the 1st hybrid on the market), and I drove this thing as a DD commuter, and also to Atlanta from Houston twice, and to Orlando from Houston once, and the best mileage I averaged on a tank was 70.7 mpg (there was a lot of drafting behind semi's involved), but on the highway to FLA or GA (going 80 mph to not get run over by semi's), it was more like 50 mpg. In regular commuting, keeping it at 60 mph, I regularly got 60 mpg. In case you're wondering, at the same time I also had a '97 Viper GTS to get my acceleration kicks, but it was a toy, not a DD, and since I drove it like I stole it, I averaged 9 mpg! Now I only drove it 6 miles/day, whereas I drove the Insight 60 miles a day, so the weighted average of my 2 (extreme) vehicles was still a respectable 39.6 mpg!