Do Any Current Cars Meet the New CAFE Standard?
Yes, we know CAFE standards measure the average fuel economy of all cars sold by a manufacturer in a given year. And yes, we're also aware that the new magic 35 mpg figure is still two steps and about 12 years away.
Still, we started wondering - are there any cars currently on the market that could actually reach a combined EPA average of 35 mpg today? We hopped onto the EPA's website to see what we could find.
Presently, there are two vehicles for sale that have a 2008 EPA combined mileage rating of 35 mpg or better. Not surprisingly, both are relatively small in size and utilize hybrid propulsion systems.
(Click through to see what we found)
Within the EPA's small car class, the lone victor is the Honda Civic Hybrid, clocking in with a 42 mpg combined rating. The 110-hp 1.4-liter I-4, coupled to a 20-hp electric motor, helps the Civic return nearly 40 mpg in the city, 45 on the highway.
Moving up one rung to the family sedan category, the only winner is the ubiquitous Toyota Prius, carrying a 46 mpg combined average. The Prius, powered by infinitely-variable mixtures of its 76-hp, 1.5-liter I-4 and 67-hp electric mill, averages 48 mpg around town and 45 on the freeway.
Runners-up include hybrid versions of Nissan's Altima and the Toyota Camry. Both score a combined rating of 34 mpg, and Ford's trio of compact hybrid SUVs (Escape, Mazda Tribute and Mercury Mariner) which achieve the same average. With further refinement (e.g. elimination of excess mass), any could perhaps reach that magic 35 number. The same could be said for other small cars, including the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris and the Mini Cooper, all of which have combined ratings between 31 and 32 mpg.
Of course, this is looking at the average fuel economy for one single model. But think about how many other models each manufacturer sells that achieve nowhere close to this figure.
We'll put it this way - the EPA classifies cars into 14 categories, but all the winners and runners-up fall into only three classes. That leaves 11 groups and a multitude of models left whose fuel consumption could stand to be improved. Note to the automakers: don't let that decade-long deadline fool you; the clock's already ticking.
Comments
Eleventeen
Yeah but this doesn't include the 08 VW diesels (which have yet to be EPA certified) which should get better than 40 mpg combined (at least, in the Rabbit and Jetta models.)
Dean
Eleventeen is right. '06 TDI Volkswagens, sold in '07 as "Diesel Editions" get up to 51 mpg on the highway, around 40 mpg in the city.
'08's due later in the summer will get close to 60 mpg.
Diesel. It's what's for the future.
Jonathan Fung
Well, 12 years is lots of time for some miraculous technological breakthrough. Just look at the past 12 years...not much changed in the auto world, but there have been countless breakthroughs everywhere else...one will come for cars.
Ducati Minor
"Diesel. It’s what’s for the future."
Haven't they been saying that for thirty years? It's kinda like the "Big One" here in California: we keep hearing about it, but it never comes.
chuck goolsbee
Ducati, that is because the bozos in your state who go by the acronym "CARB" keep doing their best to kill off Diesel cars. The rest of the automotive world HAS moved on to Diesels. That is why the future is now over in Europe.
Curiously & ironically CARB has not lifted a finger to address other uses of Diesel, such as trucks, ships, trains, power generation, etc. so I don't see what they are accomplishing, other than throwing bureaucratic weight around and abetting the domestic automakers in their death march.
--chuck
Russ Bellinis
Actually Carb has started the ball rolling on Trucks. Ships and Trains are another problem entirely because California has no jurisdiction. Effective Jan 1 non low emission diesels are illegal in the state of California. The state is actively hiring inspectors right now in order to staff all highway inspection stations in the state to inspect trucks coming to California and turn any that don't have low emission diesels back at the border. I'm curious to see how long before we face critical shortages of everything moved by truck?
et
is any special interest group lobbying the US government to lower the taxes on diesel fuel? this would certainly help in lower the need for oil from the middle east, and also lower emmissions.
just a thought...
Oollyoumn
It is my understanding that there will be no 08 TDI. Expect the 09 at about the end of summer, if it is not delayed again.
john
Considering smaller, cheaper cars tend to sell so much better than a larger counterpart, I don't know why they don't bring microcars here, if nothing else it would let the AMGS and SVTs and M Powers of the world keep being sold.
What cars can we get today with 35 mpg? » Hybrid News
[...] With a new energy bill on the verge of becoming law, our friends over at Winding Road got to thinking. With the law soon to require an average of 35 mpg from the new vehicle fleet, what vehicles can we buy today that actually meet that requirement? As it turns out, when checking the combined mileage figure that’s posted on new car window stickers, the list comes up perilously short. So short in fact that it currently includes two cars that are available on the US market. A few other vehicles come close, but clearly everyone has a lot of work to do. Check out Evan’s article at Winding Road. [...]
Ian
The '08 EPA numbers are not what will be used for CAFE requirements.
CAFE and the EPA number were once the same, but were unrealistic. CAFE will continue to use the old "unrealistic" numbers.
Also, this is an AVERAGE. Every car must not get 35mpg the average of all a companies cars must be 35mpg or higher.
Cheers.
What cars can we get today with 35 mpg? | Blog about finance
[...] With a new energy bill on the verge of becoming law, our friends by at Winding Road got to thinking. With the law soon to require an average of 35 mpg from the new vehicle fleet, what vehicles can we buy today that actually meet that requirement? As it turns out, when checking the combined mileage figure that’s posted on new car window stickers, the list comes up perilously short. So short in fact that it currently includes two cars that are available on the US market. A few other vehicles come close, but clearly everyone has a lot of work to do. Check out Evan’s spread at Winding Road. [...]
Mark
In 12 years, when cars have a lot less horsepower, more complicated powertrains, and more fuel efficiency, people will look back at this time, right now, as a golden age for performance cars. It's the 1970's all over again.
Charles Hensley
My 2006 Jetta diesel gets actual mixed (city & highway) milage of 36+ summer (running ac) and 41 winter. It looks as if VW is going to increase the horse power (140hp vrs 100hp) on the 2008/09 Jetta diesels so milage will stay about the same as the 2006 but have better performance. 100 hp with diesel torque good for tooling around the city or on road trips. Why do americans need so much hp?
Ducati Minor
"The rest of the automotive world HAS moved on to Diesels."
What automotive world is this, Chuck? I had no idea 70% of Indian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and Australian passenger automobiles are diesel-powered.
Oh, wait. They're not.
I think stating Europe is the future is never a good thing, as that can be debatable in industry, economics, pop culture (remember Kylie Minogue?), and government.
Funny that you mention California and its air resources board so passionately, because seven other states have adopted guidelines similar for California's. California was the first state to set emissions guidelines leading to the modern EPA and European Union mandates. California remains the largest automotive market in America, and, arguably, the most influential in the world. That is why foreign carmakers have shifted their auto show focus from Detroit to Los Angeles.
You mention how California has no impact on the other states, yet bemoan CARB for hindering diesel development here in America. I'm confused (and amused) by that contradiction, Chuck. I’ m surprised you seem to broadly credit CARB for preventing diesel sales. Diesels saw quick booms in the early and mid-seventies, and again in the early 1980s, when diesel was less expensive than a gallon of low-grade gasoline. Diesel now runs for more than premium-grade petrol. (Keep in mind, state taxation in the UK and Mainland Europe makes the price of diesel equal to or sometime less than petrol. Diesel is also far more prevalent in Europe.)
So, I politely disagree with your assertion. I’ll also leave you with the key principle of economics: supply and demand. If diesel, with little demand now, costs more than petrol, how much would the price hike if diesel vehicles were to jump from the average now (about 5% of vehicles sold) to 9%? Eleven? Fifteen? The price would go up, further hindering diesel’s “impending
Ducati Minor
Actually, that was Russ who remarked about California's lack of impact on other states.
My mistake.
Bill
Diesel's taxed at a higher rate than gasoline here in the U.S.
Prices differ from state to state, but here diesel only costs about 10% more than regular gasoline right now - it certainly doesn't cost more than premium gasoline.
Of course, diesel always costs more in the winter months given the demand for heating oil (essentally diesel w/ red dye added)
Diesel will be a popular choice in the future - VW's back with diesel Jettas next summer, and Honda follows in another year.
Hitting that 35 mpg CAFE target will require new efficient turbodiesels.
mulad
As Ian said, CAFE numbers are not the same thing you get on window stickers. The window sticker number used to be the same when the practice began in the 1970s, but they diverged for the 1985 model year when the city and highway numbers were adjusted downward. They went down again for the 2008 model year.
The EPA does have a spreadsheet for 2008 with [window sticker and unadjusted mpg estimates](http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/epadata/08data.zip), and far from merely two, I see 57 models that have fuel economy better than 35 mpg under the CAFE rating system. Okay, depending on how you want to count it with badge-engineered models and variants of the same car with manual versus automatic transmissions, it's closer to 30, but whatever.
In that spreadsheet, there are 334 models that exceed the current 27.5 mpg standard for cars, so if customers focused on buying vehicles that exceeded the current standard, the manufacturers would follow. Oh yeah, and the 2WD version of the Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon hybrid is one of the models that exceeds 27.5 mpg -- it rates at 28.21 mpg under CAFE even though its window sticker shows a combined mileage of 21 mpg.
chartguy
Funny to read almost exactly what I wrote back on Dec 7th.
/governmentlegal/35-mpg-cafe-bill-stalls-in-senate-after-passing-the-house/
Pangaya Blog » Blog Archive » The Complete List of Cars Meet
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VR
Ducati Minor:
Kylie Minogue is Australian.
Also, you economics are flawed. I have been driving diesels exclusively since 2001. I have not yet seen diesel more than premium gasoline. At it's most expensive it has been around the same price as midgrade, and often it has been lower than gasoline.
But lets assume it is higher and stays higher, say 10% or so higher.
My diesel Jeep Liberty gets 20city 28highway consistantly. Since most of our driving is city I average about 22mpg. On road trips I have even surpassed 30mpg in good conditions. The gasoline version of the same model-year Liberty got 15city 19highway. These are real world numbers from real users in the Jeep Liberty forums (L.O.S.T. and others - google if you care). So my Jeep gets 30% better mileage with 10% higher cost. I am still ahead.
My diesel VW New Beetle has NEVER gotten less than 40mpg. I get about 41city and 48highway. My best was 52highway, and we average about 44mpg combined. Before that we owned a gasoline New Beetle - which we NEVER got higher than 28mpg. We averaged 25mpg over the three years we owned the car. So the diesel gave us around 90% better fuel economy at 10% higher fuel cost.
My 5000lb 4x4 diesel Jeep (with the aerodynamics of a brick) gets better mileage than a Mini Cooper gasoline. There is something wrong when we stick with engine technology that gets such terrible mileage for no good reason... Especially when they have *clean* diesels in Europe and Japan.
If diesel was so bad, why do all the trucks use it? Because when you drive millions of miles a year - mileage is super important. Americans have not embraced diesel technology because they have had artificially cheap gasoline for as long as they can remember.
Tony
It's unfortunate that you are all correct. It's been WAY too many years since we've made significant MPG progress. It's also unfortunate that we need to depend on the govt to force the industry to get more efficient. We've been lining the pockets of some pretty un-cool dudes in OPEC for way too long. Paying them for oil because the old familiar whine in Detroit: "we can't make the cars more efficient" Baloney! It's about wanna. They don't WANNA. Now they HAFTA! Maybe getting to this MPG goal will sitmulate some jobs here in the USA. That is unless GM lets Toyota take the lead as they did in the 70's with small cars and in the 80's and 90's with quality and again now with the Hybrid sibs Prius and Camry. Unfortunate, indeed!
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c.w.
You're wrong. the 2008 Ford Focus, when properly equiped is rated at 35mpg highway and is rated a PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle) in California.
Add it to your list.
Russ Bellinis
Ducati- it was Chuck and not me who said that California didn't make any difference to the rest of the world. I only pointed out that CARB is going after trucks now not just cars, but because they are in effect legislating that all trucking companies must replace all of their equipment if it is more than 2 or 3 years old I have some concerns that a lot of trucking companies will simply quit serving California, and those that do continue will put surcharges on freight coming to California.
As far as ti why the heavy trucking industry uses diesel engines, it really has nothing to do with fuel economy. Rather it has everything to do with power and mileage between overhauls. I don't know the numbers on current engines which are quite a bit more powerful than the diesels of the 1970's, but a 335 Cummins used in the late 1960's early 1970's put out 335hp & over 1100 #ft of torque. Also it only needs an overhaul every 500,000 miles.
Ducati Minor
"Kylie Minogue is Australian."
VR:
No duh. Her main home happens to be in London. Her biggest market is Europe. Same as George Michael, Robbie Williams, Jamiroquai, and other acts Americans never took to (except Michael in the '80s) that show just how Europe is the "place for the future."
I don't know where you live, but I've resided and stayed extensively in the Southeast, Northwest, New England, and (currently) reside in California. If diesel has never passed premium gas in cost where you live, either you're in Diesel Central or Boogie Wonderland. Diesel averages about 20¢ above premium petrol here in Southern California (and South Florida, which I frequent), and about 10¢ as I have seen it in Nashville, Seattle, Atlanta, and Chicago. There is no doubt that some regions in the country experience a seasonal shift in price to below premium-grade. I have never seen it 20¢ below the premium average as Consumer Reports listed in a comparo between the Lexus LS hybrid and Mercedes E-class Bluetec sedan.
To clean this up and finish this up, let's say diesel in your area is less than premium petrol. How does that affect my economic principle? Wouldn't cost go up with heightened demand? Or are you talking about socialist price controls?
VR
In a sense:
Power=fuel economy
Here is how that works. To pull a load, you need a certain amount of power. Usually torque is most important for pulling. You can get that power with either a gasoline or a diesel engine. However - to pull the same amount of weight you need a much larger and less efficient gasoline engine.
You can get super high torque numbers out of gasoline engines but you have to dump gasoline through them so fast you can't pass a gas station... You can do the same thing with a diesel engine for much less fuel consumption...
As far as longivity - yes, older diesels did have the advantage. Although sadly much of the modern emissions equipment are reducing the service life of diesel engines a bit.... It is a trade off. But diesel powerplants still last much longer than gasoline, that is for sure.
Winding Road » Archive » Michigan Republicans Unhappy with P
[...] energy bill that will require automakers to increase fleet efficiency to 35 mpg by 2020 has been signed into law by George Bush, but a few Michigan lawmakers don’t like the way [...]
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[...] Unhappy with Prius Delivery of Energy Bill The energy bill that will require automakers to increase fleet efficiency to 35 mpg by 2020 has been signed into law by George Bush, but a few Michigan lawmakers don’t like the way [...]
Andrew
Chartguy, you are incorrect in your Dec 7th post. Mulad is correct. There are ~57 vehicles which do meet or exceed the "35 mpg" standard because CAFE is not based on pre-07 or 08 MY+ EPA window sticker numbers. It is based upon unadjusted old EPA procedure dyno numbers.
See the spreadsheet in mulad's post for yourself. FWIW, my Prius counts has having "65.7 mpg" for CAFE purposes.
Winding Road » Archive » California Sues EPA Over CO2 Standa
[...] head Stephen Johnson denied the California waiver on December 19, saying that one whole federal regulation would be more effective than many different state [...]
Claudia
Add another car to the 35 mpg list ... my Saturn SL1 with its 1.9 liter engine has ALWAYS averaged 35 mpg for me. Even at 177,000 miles on the odometer. I'd like to replace it, but I'm having a hard time finding anything attractive to replace it with.
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