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Auto mileage worse { October 30 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/10/30/MN172978.DTLwww.sfgate.com
New cars headed in reverse on fuel usage
Only 3.5 percent of next year's models hit 30 mpg threshold
Carol Emert, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle.
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/10/30/MN172978.DTL
America's automobiles are headed in the wrong direction -- at least when it
comes to fuel efficiency, according to new data from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
A tiny 3.5 percent of 2003 passenger vehicles -- just 33 of the 934 models
now rolling into showrooms -- can drive 30 miles or more on 1 gallon of
gasoline, according to an analysis of the EPA's 2003 Fuel Economy guide
released Tuesday.
That compares to 5.5 percent of 2002 vehicles, or 48 of the 865 models
released last year, that get 30 mpg or better, according to an analysis by
the Associated Press.
"It's very unfortunate, given what's going on in the Middle East, that
automakers are continuing to offer products that increase oil dependency,"
said David Friedman, senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists
in Berkeley.
The EPA has estimated that a driver can save $1,500 over five years by
switching to a car that gets 30 mpg from a 20 mpg model. That's assuming a
cost of $1.50 per gallon of gas and 15,000 miles driven each year.
The possibility of a war against Iraq has dramatically increased the price
of crude oil, and lawmakers in Washington and Sacramento are tussling over
regulations to lower pollution and conserve the world's limited supply of
fossil fuel.
Americans' penchant for large, gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles is
largely responsible for a steady decline in fuel efficiency since 1988.
Light trucks including SUVs, whose average fuel efficiency was 17.3 mpg
last
year, now account for about half of the new vehicles sold in the United
States.
Diane Steed, president of the pro-SUV Coalition for Vehicle Choice, said
fuel-efficient vehicles such as hybrids are well and good -- "but they are
not very popular in the marketplace." The EPA's 10 most fuel efficient
models typically make up less than 2 percent of auto sales, she said.
'VALUING OTHER ATTRIBUTES'
"Right now people are valuing other attributes -- things like towing
ability, seating capacity and cargo space -- higher than fuel economy,"
Steed said. "That's because the price of gasoline is pretty cheap at this
point."
Environmental advocates called Tuesday's report an indictment of American
automakers, which failed to produce any of the 10 most fuel-efficient
vehicles,ceding that ground to Japanese and German companies.
"Until American manufacturers start using modern technologies like better
engines, better transmissions and better aerodynamics, we will continue to
pay too much for gas, pollute too much and be in hock up to our eyeballs to
OPEC," said Dan Becker, a spokesman for the Sierra Club in Washington, D.C.
The Honda Insight, a gas-electric hybrid, occupied the top two spots with a
manual transmission model that gets 64 mpg and an automatic that comes in
at
56 mpg. The Toyota Prius automatic, another hybrid, ranked third at 48 mpg.
The Honda Civic manual hybrid ranked fourth and the all-gas automatic Honda
Civic ranked fifth. The manual Toyota Echo occupied the eighth spot while
diesel-burning Volkswagen New Beetles, Golfs and Jettas rounded out the top
10.
Toyota Motor Corp., whose Prius was the first electric car, has pledged to
make all of its products hybrids by 2012 and is gunning to increase its
global market share to 15 percent by 2010.
Among SUVs, the Toyota RAV4 got the best gas mileage, 27 mpg, while five
vehicles tied for the worst with 14 mpg: the Cadillac Escalade, the
Cadillac
Escalade Ext, the GMC K1500 Yukon, the GMC K1500 Yukon XL and the Land
Rover
Discovery Series II.
According to the AP analysis, the average fuel efficiency of new models
dropped for the third year in a row with the 2003 vintage to 20.1 mpg, a 6
percent drop from the peak of vehicle fuel economy in the late 1980s.
While the AP number is a simple average of all new models, the EPA tracks
fuel efficiency weighted by sales in its annual Fuel Economy Trends Report,
which is due out later this year.
Last year the average fuel efficiency as measured by the EPA was 20.4 mpg,
and it is expected to come in between 20 and 21 in this year's report, said
Dan Zinger, assistant director in the EPA's office of transportation and
air
quality.
At its peak in 1988, U.S. vehicles averaged 22.4 mpg, Zinger said.
TOUCHY TOPIC IN CALIFORNIA
The new vehicle data is sure to fuel the heated debate over auto
regulation,
both in California and nationally.
Gov. Gray Davis in July signed landmark legislation requiring automakers to
meet not-yet-finalized vehicle emission standards with their 2009 models.
California is the first state to impose such regulations.
The Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers, which could not be reached
Tuesday, has pledged to fight the bill.
Congress attempted to address fuel efficiency in a wide-ranging energy bill
this year, but the standards got watered down significantly and the bill
had
not passed when Congress adjourned in the fall. The issue is likely to be
left to the next Congress.
Big automakers and the Justice Department, meanwhile, are fighting a
California mandate that 10 percent of cars offered for sale in the state be
electric, or "zero emission." That requirement was supposed to go into
effect next year.
And California's phaseout of the gasoline additive MTBE, which is believed
to pollute ground water, is expected to raise the price of gasoline over
the
next year.
The EPA's Fuel Economy Guide, which provides detailed statistics for each
2003 model car, van and truck sold in the United States., can be downloaded
at www.fueleconomy.gov.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEST, WORST MILEAGE
The 2003 model vehicles that get the best and worst fuel economy by vehicle
classification, as rated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Numbers
following the vehicles reflect fuel economy first in city driving, then
highway driving, then combined:
Two-seater
Best: Honda Insight (electric-gas hybrid) 61/68/64
Worst: Ferrari Enzo Ferrari 8/12/(no combined figure provided)
Minicompact
Best: BMW Mini Cooper (manual) 28/37/32
Worst: Aston Martin DB-7 Vantage Coupe and Volante (manual) 11/18/13
Subcompact
Best: Volkswagen New Beetle (manual, diesel) 42/49/45
Worst: Ferrari 456 MGT/MGTA (automatic) 10/15/11
Compact
Best: Toyota Prius (electric-gas hybrid) 52/45/48
Worst: Bentley Continental R 11/16/13
Midsize
Best: Honda Accord (manual) 26/34/29
Worst: Bentley Arnage 10/14/12
Large
Best: Chevrolet Impala 21/32/25
Worst: Bentley Arnage LWB 10/14/12
Small station wagons
Best: Volkswagen Jetta Wagon (diesel, manual) 42/50/45
Worst: BMW 540i Sport Wagon (automatic) 17/21/19
Midsize station wagons
Best: Ford Focus (manual) 27/36/31
Worst: Audi S6 Avant 15/21/17
Sport utility vehicles
Best: Toyota RAV4 (manual) 25/31/27
Worst: (five-way tie) Cadillac Escalade, Cadillac Escalade Ext, GMC K1500
Yukon, GMC K1500 Yukon XL, Land Rover Discovery Series II 12/16/14.
Flexible
fuel vehicles, when using ethanol (five-way tie): Chevrolet K1500
Avalanche,
Chevrolet K1500 Suburban, GMC K1500 Yukon, GMC K1500 Yukon XL, Chevrolet
K1500 Tahoe 10/13/12
Minivans
Best: (two-way tie) Chrysler Voyager/Town & Country, Dodge Caravan (both
2WD) 21/27/23
Worst: Kia Sedona 15/20/17. Flexible fuel vehicle, when using ethanol:
Chrysler Voyager 2WD 13/17/14
Small pickup
Best: (two-way tie) GMC Sonoma, Chevrolet S10 (four-cylinder, manual, 2WD)
22/28/24
Worst: (two-way tie) GMC Sonoma, Chevrolet S10 (six-cylinder, manual, 2WD
16/24/19
Standard pickup
Best: (two-way tie) Ford Ranger, Mazda B2300 (both manual, 2WD) 24/29/26
Worst: (two-way tie) Dodge Ram 1500 4WD, GMC K1500 Sierra Denali AWD (both
automatic) 12/16/14. Flexible fuel vehicles, when using ethanol: (two-way
tie) GMC K1500 Sierra, Chevrolet K1500 Silverado (both automatic, 4WD)
10/12/11
Cargo van
Best: (Two-way tie) Chevrolet Astro, GMC Safari (both 2WD) 17/23/19
Worst: Dodge Ram 2500 2WD 13/14/14; Flexible fuel vehicle, when using
natural gas: Dodge Ram 2500 2WD 11/19/14
Passenger van
Best: (two-way tie) Chevrolet Astro, GMC Safari 2WD 16/20/17
Worst: (three-way tie): GMC H1500 Savana Pass Van AWD, Ford E150 Club
Wagon,
Chevrolet H1500 Chevy Express AWD 13/17/15
E-mail Carol Emert at cemert@sfchronicle.com.
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle. Page A - 1
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