Epa In The News Today

[MtnMastertech]

In the news this morning it was announced that the EPA is going to assign personnel to a task force to possibly revise the testing procedures currently used to generate our EPA mileage estimates for new vehicles here in the US.

As many of you already know, the "Monroney sticker" in the window contains EPA mileage estimates for that particular vehicle, those estimates are derived from a test in vehicles in a given class( SUV, under 8,ooo GWVR, etc.)

What most folks dont realize is that these tests are crarried out in a lab, on a "Dyno" that untimatly represents "Ideal" driving conditions.
No A/C load, no wind resistance,etc....
Those mileage estimates end up representing "Best possible MPG" rather than "Average".
The average driver here in So. Cal. doesnt seem to care much the way I see them drive..... they all are related to the "Andretti" family during the 9-5 commute, LOL. mileage be ****. even the "Prius" drivers are racing each other for the on-ramp, LMAO.
Anyway, I digress........... look in the news for the EPA to make further announcements on how they are going to change the testing procedures, the spokesman on the newscast said customers would see the MPG estimates for new models 20- 30% lower on the Monroney sticker in the future, even more for the Hybrid models.

[mwrobe1]

They really shouldn't have to do this, but alas, many things have to change to accomadate the idiots of the world.

It so funny to me when I hear people with smaller cars (compacts/subcompacts with something ranging from a 1.4L to 2.2L engine) complain about crappy mpg/or that they don't get the mpg on the sticker. Its usually because they beat the living daylights out of the car. I'm talking about usual speeds on the highway of 80+mph, excessive "racing to stoplight" (the front wheels caked in brakedust), hitting 3500+ rpms ALOT and constantly trying to smoke someone off the line. Not to mention not doing basic maintenance (plugs/wires/oil/air filter/etc) and keeping tires at the right pressure. Newsflash...driving habits have alot do with whether or not you'll get good mpg, the rest is basic maintenance A 1.6L 4 banger isn't designed for optimum performance...its designed for economy. If you want to be a performance driver...buy a performance car.

[Geomatics]

no ...... really?.

[Doohickie]

Late last year I sold a Ford Aspire that I had for almost 10 years with almost no problems and 117,000 miles on it. I was getting 35 mph pretty consistently with the 1.3 l four banger for pretty much the whole time I got it. I think I never got worse than 29 mpg.

[pepper]

We have very similar MPG stickers over here in the uk and funnily enough I'd been trying to show the UK denizens of this forum this very fact that had been reported on in one of our own newspapers here

Guardian Article