Does Your Vehicle Really Get The Estimated MPG?
I posted last month about Hybrids not getting the mileage that the manufacturers are reporting they should get.
Well AAA has done a study of popular vehicles on the road today and shows that they are not getting the mileage that the manufacturers are reporting that they should get either.
They have found that:
These driving tests found dozens of examples where vehicle miles per gallon of 2003 and 2004 model years were overestimated because of outdated 30-year-old EPA tests.
AAA is throwing their support behind the "Fuel Efficiency Truth-in-Advertising Act of 2005" that would require the standards be updated.
AAA did state that the testing they did was not scientific or standardized but they did:
put vehicles through a range of driving cycles that included stop-and-go traffic, climbing steep grades, trips to the grocery, and a combination of both highway and city driving.
The EPA tests were established in 1970 and are based on the old 55mph speed with the AC off.
Go here for the full test results, but here is a sample of what they found:
Vehicle - Year - EPA City - EPA Hgway - AAA Est
CHEV TRAIL BLAZER - 04 - 15 - 21 - 13.6
DODGE NEON - 04 - 27 - 33 - 24
HONDA ELEMENT - 04 - 21 - 25 - 20.4
JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE - 04 - 15 - 21 - 14.5
MERCURY MOUNTNR - 03 - 16 - 21 - 14.2
MITSUBISHI MONTERO - 04 - 15 - 19 - 14
NISSAN ALTIMA - 04 - 23 - 29 - 22.3
NISSAN PATHFNDER - 04 - 16 - 21 - 15.2
TOYOTA TUNDRA - 03 - 14 - 17 - 12.9
TOYOTA 4RUNNER - 04 - 18 - 21 - 17.8
TOYOTA COROLLA - 04 - 32 - 40 - 28.9
So it looks like the EPA needs to do some "real world" testing on the vehicles for MPG instead of inflated testing in situations that people are hardly ever in.