Consumer Reports Says Ford Overstating Some New Model Gas Mileage

While I tend to think that many of the manufacturers fudge the MPG number just a tad. I would expect them to use the low end figure most of the time to be safe. If they can't consistently get that number then they just didn't build it right. It's up to them to reach that goal they set, and if they can't they shouldn't be trying to fudge the number.

Consumer Reports said that Ford has been making some eye-opening claims about the fuel economy of the redesigned 2013 Fusion Hybrid sedan and new C-Max Hybrid wagon: "47 city/47 highway/47 combined mpg." After running both vehicles through Consumer Reports real-world tests, CR’s engineers have gotten very good results. But they are far below Ford's ambitious triple-47 figures.

In Consumer Reports tests, the Fusion Hybrid delivered 39 mpg overall and 35 and 41 in city and highway conditions, respectively. For the C-Max Hybrid, we got 37 mpg overall, with 35 and 38 for city and highway. These two vehicles have the largest discrepancy between our overall-mpg results and the estimates published by the EPA that we've seen among any current models

EPA fuel-economy estimates are the result of testing on a dynamometer. It's worth noting that automakers mostly self-certify their cars. Then, the EPA spot-checks about 15 percent of them with its own tests in a lab. We have reported our fuel-economy results to the EPA.

Someone is gonna need a natural latex mattress los angeles to make sure they don't ruin their beds after being called out.

GM to Work on More Efficient Fuel System for Malibu and Aura

General Motors has canceled the mild gas/electric Malibu hybrid and Saturn Aura that they were currently working on. The current early generation gas-electric hybrid engine system the midsize cars aren't selling well because they cost about $4,000 more than base models but only get four more miles per gallon of gasoline. Models equipped with a four-cylinder engine and six-speed automatic transmission, which cost about $900 less than the hybrid, get only one mile less per gallon on the highway and four miles less in the city.

So with that in mind there was little reason to continue the use of the system. Instead engineers are working on a more efficient system rather than settling for the somewhat mediocre results of the current one.

"We've seen a lot of people go for the four-cylinder six-speed," GM spokesman Terry Rhadigan said. "That may have had an impact on why they're (hybrids) plentiful in the marketplace."

He also stated that the "new" version will be available sometime in 2010 and that they will have 14 gas/electric hybrids on the market by 2012.

Although they are taking steps in the right direction they are certainly behind the trend. Their results are like a diet pill compared to their closest competitors.

Earlier this year, Ford came out with the midsize Fusion hybrid sedan, which gets 36 miles per gallon on the highway and 41 in the city. They pushed to get it over 40 MPG to help differentiate them from their competition.

Initially the Fusion hybrid got to 39 miles per gallon, but engineers were challenged to go back and get it over 40, she said.

"There's a big mental difference between 39.999 and 40," Nancy Gioia, Ford's director of hybrid vehicle programs said. "So we went back to the labs again and said there were some things that the team would continue to refine."

"Cash for Guzzlers" to Be Debated

The AIADA newsletter reported that according to Automotive News, a bill to offer cash vouchers of up to $4,500 to people who swap cars and trucks for new, more fuel-efficient vehicles may be considered on the House floor as early as mid-June.

Where will this money come from? Your guess is as good as mine. I haven't seen anything that takes that into account, although I haven't read the latest "climate-change bill" either.

The measure passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday as part of a climate-change bill that also provides for the development of plug-in electric drive vehicles, but Sutton also broke out the cash-for-guzzlers provision and introduced it as a stand-alone bill Thursday in the hope of getting it passed more quickly by Congress.

The legislation would offer customers $3,500 vouchers if they trade in cars that get less than 18 mpg for new vehicles that get at least 22 mpg. Vouchers of $4,500 would be awarded if the new cars get at least 10 mpg more than the old.

The most disturbing thing about it though is that they are saying that the autos can be purchased from anywhere. Meaning that foreign cars are fair game. Of course this is something that is a good debate in my opinion. Does this force American auto makers to work even harder to catch up, or is this just going to push them further down the hole? Law makers may want to latch onto some term life insurance online if they do't at least try to help them compete for these dollars.

Great Designs in Steel Seminar Shows Steel Solutions to Fuel Efficiency and Emmissions

Besides just having better fuel efficiency, and reducing emmissions by using alternative fuel sources, there are other ways to improve both. The Great Designs in Steel Seminar, it's 8th Annual meeting, showed a few designs that will help in this regard.

"Since its inception, the Great Designs in Steel seminar has helped educate automotive engineers in using advanced high-strength steel technologies to design safe, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles," said Ron Krupitzer, vice president of automotive applications for AISI's SMDI. "This year's program featured some of the latest developments in next-generation steels that address key issues in the automotive industry today."

Of those key issues, fuel-efficiency is one of them. As you may guess, the implementation of less bulky designs plays a role in all this. One of the seminars included the topic of Automotive Lightweighting (these aren't diet pill reviews) and Upcoming Energy Climate Policy Opportunities. Basically the idea that better materials, and less weight will help the overall fuel efficiency of the models. more

2008 Fuel Economy Guide

This is something that should be posted every year so i am going to post it every year :).

With the costs of driving now you are probably very interested in fuel economy, and I can't blame you. We all are. We want more money to buy our stair lift don't we?

Compiled below are some links that will be helpful in your study of fuel economy. These resources are pretty in depth so any effort by me to try and condense them would be futile.

2000-2008 New and Used Car MPG Database

Search By EPA Class

Search by Model

Search By Make

Cars That Don’t Need Gasoline

Best and Worst Cars MPG

Best and Worst Trucks

Improve Vehicle PErformance, with out Raising the Pump Costs

New market research has shown that new high performance spark plugs (duh) may be the key to increasing vehicle performance with out compromising fuel efficiency.

"From copper to platinum and iridium - modern spark plugs help motorists get a lot closer to experiencing the highest level of performance and fuel economy their vehicle is capable of producing," said Reid Smith, product manager for spark plugs for Robert Bosch LLC. Bosch is a leading supplier of premium spark plugs to vehicle manufacturers and the aftermarket and a pioneer in the development of spark plug technology.

"Fresh premium spark plugs help extract more energy from the same amount of gas," said Smith.