There are always a lot of MPG threads here on the Org. So i thought i would bring this up to people's attention. I have read several articles where everyone admits that the EPA system is outdated and that some cars actually get 20% less mpg then advertised on the sticker of your car. The tests that they use to get the average mpg in the city and highway are outdated and mpg are over rated. This might not affect all the states and cities. But the amount of people on the road and the amount of traffic lights and stop signs have increased trememdously over the past 30 years and still no change to the EPA standards. For example driving in NYC in the middle of the day will never let you have 20mpg. So for all those worried drivers who think there is something wrong with there cars take this article into consideration.
http://bluewaternetwork.org/press_re...ueleconomy.pdf
http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=77&did=854
http://www.uspirg.org/energy/DontbeFueled6.pdf

 

I read not too long ago where some MPG tests don't involve driving... they put a sniffer on the tailpipe and "calculate" MPG based on the gases coming out. One of they hybrids got bit by that...that sniffer test said it should get 60mpg or something, but in reality, on real roads, the best it's ever done is in the 30mpg range.

I'll see if I can find the article.

 

What............the government LIES to us?

 

Good articles... I saw the Bluewater one a couple months back... I think it was in US News too... anyways, I think that for most people, the EPA estimates only play a role when they're buying the car, and not current car owners... new buyers will just have to be a little more discerning now that's all.... current car owners will figure it out eventually (assuming they care) but can't really do anything about it except adjust their driving habits accordingly, if at all.... bottom line is that most summary statistics aren't always accurate, since they are but estimates...

 

I get better than teh car is rated for, but I believe driving style and the flywheel have alot to do with helping that

 

Yea i think location plays a key role. I know that in NYC i get roughly 16-18mpg but when i drove to Rochester (upstate) and drove there i got 30.6mpg driving on the highway 70% and city 30%. The funniest thing is that the city driving there reminds me of NYC highway driving.

 

Nissan has always been known to underestimate mpg. For example the 4th gen was rated at like 22/27 and we all know that if your not driving like you stole it you can do better than those numbers. I guess they felt it was better to be pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed. +1 for Nissan.

 

I get great gas mileage, sometimes much better then what the rated mileage was on the EPA sticker.

 

i would get no more than 19-20 mpg in MIXED NYC driving.. no matter how slow i shift or how much i coast in Neutral.

In pure city, it would be closer to 15-16.



Problem is the definition of "city" driving. Cities in 85% of this country are a lot more easy going than highways in major cities like New York. Their posted speed limit on regular town streets is like 45 and people cruise at 55 no problem with traffic lights a half mile apart.

Where in NYC, it's 35 speed limit, with three times as many cars on the road than the road was designed to handle and everyone crawling at 10, stop and go, stop and go for miles.. speed up to 35 for about 10 seconds, slam the brakes, get down to 15, accelerate to 25, slow down to 5. etc.. with traffic lights every 200-400 feet.

My average mixed city/highway speed is like 15 mph. It takes me 1 hour to travel 15 miles with 50% highway, 50% city driving.

Obviously, our definition of city and their definition of city is a lot different. Belt parkway, FDR, BQE, and all the others are equivalent to city driving elsewhere, hence the horrible gas milage.