“In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of updating its fuel consumption testing for the first time in more than 40 years to include real-world conditions. “
The one thing that gets me about this is that there are cars out there that met or exceeded their EPA limits before.
My Taurus has always beaten the EPA estimates. And looking at fueleconomy.gov, I’m not alone. In fact, for every Taurus year and equipment combination back to 1986, owner reports show fuel economy exceeding EPA combined mileage. For my model year (1997), the worst owner report comes in at 23.4 mpg with an overall average of 25.9 mpgThat, on a vehicle that is supposed to get 21 mpg combined, and 26 mpg on the highway alone. Now they say under the new test it gets 16 mpg city, 24 mpg highway.
But real world reports will still show 25.9 mpg combined. The new test is therefore significantly LESS accurate for this model.
That’s my problem - not all models will respond in the same way to a change in driving habits. The old test was overly optimistic for many vehicles, but was right on for some. But testing the vehicle by giving it a more aggressive driving profile doesn’t make the test any more accurate. The only accurate test is real world conditions which will only be reflected through owner reports. And unless you know how those owners are driving, there’s no guarantee that you can’t do better or that you won’t do worse....
Im glad you posted that. My sister is a die hard toyota fan and hates fords. She visited my parents recently and was givin the use of my mom’s old tarus(96 I think). She said she was totally amazed how well it did on gas and claimed the one she borrowed sipped fuel more slowly than a camry. She decided there must’ve been something wrong with it, plugged fuel pump or something, for it to use such small amounts of gas.