New EPA ratings (US)

[hodad66 0]

The new mileage ratings have been published so I checked mine.

2006 Scion xA, 5 speed manual used to be;

32 city 37 highway

now 27 34

My real life average is just under 32 with roof racks & the AC

on a great deal of time. I also drive with my foot in it.

If they are rating the new Smart at 40 then it just might be higher...

LINK

PS. They don't list the Smart

[MikeT 747]

I find that government tests dumb the mileage ratings to the lowest common denominator: Bubba or Granny behind the wheel, left foot on the brake pedal at all times......even moreso with the new, stricter, EPA tests. I believe the test protocol was rewritten because people (John and Jane Doe) complained that their hybrids were achieving nowhere near the advertised (old) numbers. I call it the hybrid correction.....which just means that hypermiling your non-hybrid just got a WHOLE lot easier!Even in my case, I am within 0.1 L/100 km of my car's Transport Canada highway rating and I probably burn half of my fuel in urban traffic.If smart expects the new fortwo to come in around 40 US MPG overall, that's a good sign!

[Dang 0]

It's actually a real shame they've done this. It means people will now think they're driving habits are "OK" because they are close to what the rating is without realizing they could do much better.The site that was linked is interesting, because it lists "averages" reported by people, with many above the new average. That means people are "achieving" the new ratings without even trying. Actually I was surprised the hybrids didn't fair worse. The Prius got killed, with a 16% drop, as did the Civic Hybrid, but the Camry, Highlander, Accord, and Escape Hybrids all dropped less than the "average" drop for all cars. The GM Hybrids dropped less than their non hybrids. It does seem to impact small cars somewhat worse, which I supposed makes sense. If you drive a big V8 6000 lb monster, it's probably going to have less of an impact driving it hard than a small lightweight vehicle. It's also seems the actual reports tend to be lower for the larger cars than the new average, whereas the actual tends to be higher than the new average for the smaller cars. In otherwords, it makes the smaller cars look worse.I think it's just being done so people can justify their Hummers by saying "see, a smaller car doesn't really get that great fuel consumption".Sad..... Dang

[danno 0]

If it did impact the smaller cars more, then people now have less incentive to switch from their large guzzlers. Especially if they remember what theirs was rated at when they bought it and don't realize that there is a new rating scheme.

[runner33 0]

Great link. They did not list the H2 "Dummer" in the list of vehicles. It must be well under 10mpg with the new ratings.