Smart, VW diesels join top 10 most fuel-efficient vehicles

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Smart, VW diesels join top 10 most fuel-efficient vehicles

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Harry Stoffer
Automotive News Europe
October 16, 2008 06:01 CET

WASHINGTON -- Smart cars and Volkswagen diesels are the new stars of government fuel economy ratings. The EPA and Energy Department today issued the 2009 fuel economy guide.
The overall fuel economy leader is no surprise. It's the Toyota Prius, rated at 48 mpg in the city and 45 on the highway.
The additions to the top 10 list this year are the Smart ForTwo convertible and coupe and Volkswagen Jetta diesels.
The Smarts, which arrived in the United States in January, were too late for the 2008 guide. This year the Smart models hold down the No. 5 spot with ratings of 33 mpg city and 41 mpg highway.
The Jetta diesels were not in the market last year because they did not meet tighter clean air rules. They are back this year with improved emissions controls. The sedan and wagon with manual transmissions are in seventh place with ratings of 30 mpg city and 41 mpg highway. The sedan and wagon with automatic transmissions are in eighth place with ratings of 29 and 40.
Bringing up the bottom, among all makes and models, is the Lamborghini Murcielago, rated at 8 mpg city and 13 mpg highway.
This is the second year in which revised testing and calculation methods mean almost all vehicles get lower ratings than before. The methodology was changed to make ratings more closely reflect real-world driving.
For 2009 the EPA and Energy Department are touting the availability of the fuel economy data on mobile devices, such as smart phones or personal digital assistants.
The full guide is available at www.fueleconomy.gov.
Here is the top 10 list for 2009:
1. Toyota Prius (hybrid) -- 48/45
2. Honda Civic Hybrid -- 40/45
3. Nissan Altima Hybrid -- 35/33
4. Ford Escape Hybrid FWD; Mazda Tribute Hybrid 2WD; Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD -- 34/31
5. Smart ForTwo convertible; Smart ForTwo coupe -- 33/41
6. Toyota Camry Hybrid -- 33/34
7. Volkswagen Jetta (manual, diesel); Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen (manual, diesel) -- 30/41
8. Volkswagen Jetta (automatic, diesel); Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen (automatic, diesel) -- 29/40
9. Toyota Yaris (manual) -- 29/36
10. Toyota Yaris (automatic) -- 29/35
 
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09tdiman

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none but getting a 09 soon (i relly want a 06 though!)
i agree! that mileage thats listed is total bs
they shall at least use the AMCI test which was 38/44 for manual i think
 

jvance

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09tdiman said:
i agree! that mileage thats listed is total bs
they shall at least use the AMCI test which was 38/44 for manual i think
Only if you can get AMCI to publish similar tests for the other cars. The Smart also does better than the EPA - it gets 45mpg highway real life.

However the Escape/Tribute numbers are completely bogus.
 

dr61

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Seems like the 'rank' uses city EPA mpg. Odd, since car stickers emphasize an average between city and highway mpg.
 

MrPolak

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EPA revised ratings are 44 mpg highway for my Beetle. Do they know I have to speed all day at 75-77 mph to get mileage that low?????????

Does it prove that EPA ratings are complete BS for diesels?
 

cptmox

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Ummmm...yeah.

I'd bet $100 gazillion that an 09 Jetta TDI manual can and will beat a Ford Escape Hybrid in all aspects of real world MPG comparisons.

Plus it would out run it to 60, in the 1/4 mile, top speed, on the skid pad, and out brake it from 70-0. Heck, it could probably out tow the damn thing.
 

BadMonKey

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09tdiman said:
i agree! that mileage thats listed is total bs
they shall at least use the AMCI test which was 38/44 for manual i think
It looks dead on looking at your auto signature mpg #s
 

Mulad

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I'd suggest that everyone add to the Your MPG database on fueleconomy.gov so there can be a comparison between their test data and the "real world" performance right next to the "official" numbers. Right now, there are 11 people who have entered data for '09 TDIs with DSG transmissions, and just two people who've done it for the manual version. (For some reason, they currently show up as the 2nd and 3rd cars on that list I linked to).
 

coolbreeze

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Mulad said:
I'd suggest that everyone add to the Your MPG database on fueleconomy.gov so there can be a comparison between their test data and the "real world" performance right next to the "official" numbers. Right now, there are 11 people who have entered data for '09 TDIs with DSG transmissions, and just two people who've done it for the manual version. (For some reason, they currently show up as the 2nd and 3rd cars on that list I linked to).
good advice, and thanks for the link. i have started an account to keep my mpg on the site. i could not find though where to enter city and hwy mpg, only avg mpg. i noticed most of the users mpg's listed showed avg, along with hwy/city.
 

Mulad

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When you add data to the site, you enter the distance driven, number of gallons, cost, and percentage of city driving versus highway driving. Those city/hwy columns just show the average percentage of those driving types (not that anyone really knows which is which :p ). You don't enter city and highway mpg numbers separately.
 

domboy

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dr61 said:
Seems like the 'rank' uses city EPA mpg. Odd, since car stickers emphasize an average between city and highway mpg.
Yeah, that's what I noticed too. If they ranked it using average or highway mpg, the list would look a bit different I'll wager...
 
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