Your mileage will vary. On the new MPG estimates coming in 2008
"They should always be viewed as estimates. We don't want consumers to view them as absolute values," Margo Oge, director of the EPA's transportation and air quality division, told the Chicago Tribune about the estimated MPG numbers that each new car sold in the U.S. bears.
No kidding, huh? The EPA has long been criticized (rightly) because their estimates are higher than pretty much anyone gets in real life driving (hypermiliers excluded, of course). Now, 33 years after implementing the fuel economy standards for cars, the EPA will announce new rules (the first since 1985) for the way it calculates this estimate in December. These new estimates will start to be applied to 2008 model year cars. The new numbers will likely be 5 percent to 25 percent lower than current estimates.
This isn't the first attempt to get more accurate MPG numbers. Currently, the EPA offers a Your MPG section of its website where users can report their real-life mileage numbers. In the private realm, TrueDelta is collecting similar data through a type of wiki-MPG project.
I've got lots of questions about the revamped EPA. I want to know if the EPA will take different fuel types into consideration. Will the EPA provide some sort of calculator for shoppers to compare 2007 and 2008 model year vehicles with each other? Will car companies still be allowed to self-report their MPG numbers? What about exterior factors like climate and landscape (hilly vs. flat, for example)? Will there be a combined official test/Your MPG number that averages the EPA's test with user-reported statistics? And so on. What do you want to know?
Related:
[Source: Chicago Tribune via HybridCars]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark_H 9:33AM (11/21/2006)
One thing I would like to see is for them to produce ONE mileage estimate for each vehicle, not two (city / highway). It's insane to see Hummer advertising the H3 as a 20mpg vehicle, for example, when no one will see that in real life. The EPA needs a test loop, 50 or 100 miles in length, with a few hills, a mix of city and highway driving (weighted to reflect how we drive here in the US), run with the A/C on. Make it tough and come up with one number for each vehicle. Consumers should expect the worst.
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Andy 2:38PM (11/21/2006)
I agree. It won't happen because it'll affect the industry in a negative way. The Prius is advertised with 60 mpg, when CR testing shows only 44. The hybrid GS averages a mere 21 mpg in road tests. Not good. Even worse when it comes to bug trucks making only 15 mpg.
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Andy 2:39PM (11/21/2006)
I meant to say big trucks there.
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H. Davis 11:10AM (11/22/2006)
All this fuss about MPG from the EPA. Most folks drive around with under-inflated tires (causing poor mileage)exessive speed, fast starts and these are the same people that complain about MPG estimates that have a vehicle won't fit in your average size garage. Lighten up on EPA, and start taking control of your driving habits, you will see a greater return on fuel MPG.
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MikeW 5:26PM (11/22/2006)
Driving faster doesn't diminish mileage that much.
I have watched the mileage drop from 22mpg@90 to 21@95 to 20@100.
All that with a WAY obsolete 4 speed automatic.
If you putz, 30mpg@70 is do-able, but 25@85 is a realistic HIGHspeed motorWAY speed.
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