EPA Ratings
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Half a century ago, automatic transmissions had two or three speeds, and progress has come slowly since then. Today, many cars are still sold with four-speed automatics, though five- and six-speeds are the new normal. Next year, Chrysler will introduce eight-speed automatics on its full-size rear-wheel drive sedans, the 2012 Chrysler 300 and 2012 Dodge Charger--giving its mass-market cars the number of gears offered by such luxury marques as Audi, BMW, and Lexus. The payoff is purely in gas mileage. Chrysler said today it expects its 2012 sedans to return an estimated 31 mpg on the highway...
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2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid MPGs Beat Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata
The reviews of the 2012 Toyota Camry mid-size sedan are in now, and the consensus is that it's a competitively priced mild refresh with unadventurous styling. Which may be exactly what Camry buyers are looking for. But on one metric--gas mileage--the 2012 Camry line shines. The 2012 Toyota Camry...
John Voelcker -
Japan Follows Obama's Lead, Will Tighten Gas-Mileage Rules
With agreement among the White House, the EPA and NHTSA, and most major automakers (though not all), the U.S. looks to be well on its way to a corporate average fuel-economy requirement of 54.5 mpg by model year 2025. That translates to 40 to 45 mpg in real-world gas mileage, but it's still a...
John Voelcker -
Outdated Tests Skew CAFE Gas Mileage Ratings: 48-MPH Freeways?
It's widely accepted in the auto industry that all manufacturers game the test cycles used to establish emissions and gas-mileage ratings. Ask auto engineers about the topic, and they tend to get a faraway look and go silent. But the test cycles established in 1978 and used ever since are far from...
John Voelcker -
Fuel-Saving Mazda i-Stop Stalled In U.S. Because Of EPA Tests
Over several years, Mazda's i-Stop engine start-stop feature has helped owners in other markets to save on their fuel budget—and it's helped commuters in some of the most traffic-clogged areas be a little greener.
Bengt Halvorson -
2012 Ford Edge With 2.0-Liter Ecoboost Four Gets 30 MPG Highway Rating
It's taken a very long time to get here, but the 2012 Ford Edge fitted with the Ecoboost 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine may be worth the wait. The website FordInsideNews reports that the Ecoboosted Edge will receive EPA gas-mileage ratings of 21 mpg city and 30 mpg highway, for a combined rating...
John Voelcker -
Reading the news reports, it looks like the White House and automakers may be closing in on an agreement to raise corporate average fuel economy standards to 54.5 mpg. Consumers are all in favor of raising gas mileage requirements for new cars, according to a new online poll of 1,100 U.S. drivers from LeaseTrader.com. Fully 72 percent want to see higher fuel efficiency rules enacted. But there's a little problem: They don't want it to cost much, if anything. Which is, frankly, unrealistic. Almost every auto industry analyst agrees that cars with fuel efficiency high enough to meet the...
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2012 Chevy Impala Gas Mileage Rated At 30 MPG Highway
With discussions of raising gas-mileage standards beyond the 34 mpg they'll reach in 2015, there's a lot of shrieking about how we'll all be driving subcompacts if the rules get any tougher. Hogwash. Consider the 2012 Chevrolet Impala, Chevy's rapidly aging full-sized four-door sedan. Equipped with...
John Voelcker -
2012 Mitsubishi i Gets Official Ratings From EPA, Gets 112 MPGe
It’s official: Mitsubishi’s compact four seat electric car, the 2012 Mitsubishi i, is more fuel efficient than the 2011 Nissan Leaf. Rated by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) for both fuel economy and range per charge, the Mitsubishi achieved a combined fuel economy of 112 miles...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Which Hybrids Improve Gas Mileage The Most? Lexus, Lincoln Win
The Union of Concerned Scientists thinks hybrid-electric vehicles are a good thing, because they use less gasoline. But the savings in gas cost from that improved gas mileage varies enormously, and now the group has quantified the results. In their annual Hybrid Scorecard this year, the UCS ranks...
John Voelcker -
Consumer Reports On 56.2-MPG Gas-Mileage Goal: Meh, Can Do Better
Much debate will occur--and that's putting it politely--over the next round of gas-mileage standards, which the EPA hopes to finalize next year for 2017-2025 vehicles. Earlier this week, news reports from Washington indicated that the Obama Administration and EPA are pushing for 56.2 mpg as the...
John Voelcker -
White House, Feds To Push For 56.2-MPG Fuel Economy In 2025
The two Federal agencies that set gas mileage and emissions standards for future cars may propose rules that require corporate average fuel economy to reach 56 miles per gallon by 2025. News reports out of Washington, D.C., indicate that the Obama Administration is urging the EPA and NHTSA to push...
John Voelcker -
If you want to buy a new 2011 Toyota Prius hybrid these days, you may have to scramble. Supplies are down to 3,000 units, which is less than 10 days' worth of sales. In auto industry terms, that means "sold out," and dealers are charging higher markups on the few precious Priuses they still have. 75,000 coming ... or not? Two days ago, Toyota issued--and then hastily retracted--a press release saying that 75,000 new Prius models would arrive in the States by the end of this year. The company had already promised its dealers 36,000 of the world's popular hybrid over the course of this summer...
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MPG Ratings More Important To Car Buyers: For Cost, Or Green Living?
The new car buying process can be quite the task in today’s market. This is especially true with the growing numbers of hybrid and electric cars added to the pool of choices. While hybrids and electrics don’t make up a large percentage of the market, miles-per-gallon (mpg) ratings are...
Jonathan McGrew -
Should Detroit Dial Down The Doom & Gloom Over High-Mileage Rules?
We've heard this script before. Some agency of the Federal Government proposes a new rule that will affect the design and performance of cars in some way, sometime in the future. Instinctively, reflexively, automatically, viscerally, the industry lashes out. Horror, catastrophe, misery, bankruptcy!...
John Voelcker -
All-New 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid To Get 47-48 City MPG: Report
The all-new, entirely redesigned 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid sedan may be rated by the EPA as high as 47 or 48 mpg on the city cycle, according to reports on a website that follows Ford news. The redesigned Ford Fusion sedan will be largely identical to the next Ford Mondeo sedan for Europe under the...
John Voelcker -
2012 Buick Lacrosse eAssist 37-MPG Sedan Priced At $30,820 (With Destination)
Buick announced today that it would price the four-cylinder version of its 2012 Lacrosse large sedan at $29,960. That sneaks the advertised price neatly under the $30,000 mark, although a mandatory $860 destination charge means buyers will see a sticker of at least $30,820 before they start adding...
John Voelcker -
Hyundai Elantra Gas Mileage
Unlike other compact cars, the gas-mileage story for the 2011 Hyundai Elantra is simple. There's a single engine, a choice of two transmissions--six-speed automatic or six-speed manual--and any Elantra you order will have the same EPA-rated gas mileage. The figures are 29 mpg city, 40 mpg highway...
John Voelcker -
With two models--one all about gas mileage, with two transmission options, plus the other one, which has two engines and two transmissions--the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze may take some sorting out if you're looking to maximize your fuel economy. At least there's only one body style for the new 2011 Cruze, a four-door compact sedan. And, we should add, it's doing very nicely indeed in the sales race. The Cruze, in fact, sells at roughly triple the rate of its unloved predecessor, the rental-car special Chevy Cobalt. VIDEO: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco, Two-Minute Drive Review We'll run down the mileage...
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Honda Civic Gas Mileage
With a redesigned range of Civic sedan and coupe models, and no fewer than five separate variants, the new 2012 Honda Civic makes an aggressive effort to position Honda at the forefront of gas mileage. Unlike models from other makers, if you order a standard 2012 Civic with the 1.8-liter engine...
John Voelcker -
This Summer’s Six Best Convertibles For Great Gas Mileage
Summer is finally upon us and that means convertible owners will be cruising the highways with their tops down and the wind in their hair. Convertibles are traditionally more fuel hungry than their hard-top siblings due to the extra weight the vehicles carry, not only from their automated folding...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
New Fuel Economy Label Highlights Electric Cars, Plug-Ins
The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation have unveiled their updated fuel economy labels. There's some new information aimed squarely to inform consumers looking to buy a hybrid vehicle, plug-in hybrid, or electric car. First and foremost are the MPG or MPGe ratings...
Kevin Lee -
Toyota Corolla Gas Mileage
The 2011 Toyota Corolla is one of the best-selling compact sedans in the U.S. market. But its gas mileage isn't necessarily anything to write home about. The most fuel-efficient model is the one fitted with the 132-horsepower, 1.8-liter engine and a five-speed manual gearbox, a transmission many...
John Voelcker -
High Gas Prices Changing Vacation Plans, Even House Purchases
There's more than a 3-to-1 chance that your gas price fell last week. The price itself depends largely on what state you live in, but the average price of a gallon of gasoline rose in just 12 states, staying the same or falling in the other 38, according to the average pricing on GasBuddy. But...
John Voelcker