| EPA gas mileage testing FLAWED
- Click HERE for Original Thread
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| twosomeca |
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7128017/
Gee, no surprise to me. My wife's MDX has come nowhere close to the EPA estimates given thus far. 17/23? I don't think so. How about 12/17? The only place we have ever got 17.1 mpg avg. was on the 5 fwy in the very flat cental valley. :28: |
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| renov8r |
...the whole of the EPA tests are REPEATABILITY. The only way they can achieve that is to run tests in a highly controlled manner.
I don't think the EPA's goal is to make a test that mimics anyone's "real world" experience so much as it is a way to compare Car X from manufacturer Y in Year Z to some other set of variables -- as such they do OK.
I do believe that the single biggest factor is the "component" between the driver's seat & the gas pedal.
As to 12 MPG "in the city" if you look at the EPA city test specs you will quickly see that it is NOT bumper-to-bumper but merely a simulation of something with many stoplights. If you are lucky enough to have otherwise uncongested city streets where you can accelerate smoothly and not idle excessively you'd probably get the same results. In the same way, the EPA highway simulation is NOT an "open road/interstate" so much as what I would call a "country highway".
If you repeat the EPA style "highway" test I would be very surprised if you did not get at least 23 MPG, but I really doubt that there are more than a handful a places/people who routinely drive in that manner...
Frankly I think the AAA is playing a very dangerous & politically motivated game of chicken -- on the one hand AAA wants to serve as an advocate for 'all motorists' (in the same way the AARP wants to serve as an advocate of retireed people) BUT it is also wants to SELL its memberships. To sell memberships is has to increase PR, to be an advocate it should campaign for BETTER vehicles -- right now only a tiny minority of car owners consider "higher MPG" to be an attribute of "better vehicles"...
Personally I wish lawmakers would STAY THE HELL AWAY from the EPA and instead maybe do something to encourage better transportation systems that would make it cheaper to move freight off the same highways that people travel on, move commuters into systems that can handle people more efficiently and give America a competitive edge... |
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| eurohazard |
The EPA gas mileage estimates clearly state (though not word-for-word): For comparison purposes only. Your gas mileage might vary.
What this means to me: If you get 15% worse gas mileage that the sticker suggests in the MDX, then you will likely get 15% worse gas mileage in a comparable vehicle also. It could be the way you drive, but most likely it has to do with other environmental issues (hills, weather, stop-and-go, using A/C full blast etc.).
I know most of us get a little below the EPA numbers, and most of us also admit being able to duplicate those numbers, occasionally! |
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