DOE and EPA Release the 2009 Fuel Economy Guide

October 26, 2008 · Filed Under Transportation · Comment 

2009 model vehicles are ranked here in terms of annual fuel costs*. The Toyota Prius continues to lead the pack. And the Honda Civic CNG, a vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas, made the top ten.

2009 Toyota Prius 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular
Toyota Prius

Energy Impact Score
7.4 barrels/year
48
city		 45
hwy
$949
2009 Honda Civic Hybrid 4 cyl, 1.3 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular
Honda Civic Hybrid Energy Impact Score
8.2 barrels/year
40
city		 45
hwy
$1039
2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular
Nissan Altima Hybrid

Energy Impact Score
10.1 barrels/year
35
city		 33
hwy
$1284
2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid 4 cyl, 2.4 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular
Toyota Camry Hybrid

Energy Impact Score
10.1 barrels/year
33
city		 34
hwy
$1284
2009 smart fortwo convertible 3 cyl, 1 L, Automatic (S5), Premium
smart fortwo convertible

Energy Impact Score
9.5 barrels/year
33
city		 41
hwy
$1325
2009 smart fortwo coupe 3 cyl, 1 L, Automatic (S5), Premium
smart fortwo coupe

Energy Impact Score
9.5 barrels/year
33
city		 41
hwy
$1325
2009 Ford Escape Hybrid FWD 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular
Ford Escape Hybrid FWD

Energy Impact Score
10.7 barrels/year
34
city		 31
hwy
$1364
2009 Honda Civic CNG 4 cyl, 1.8 L, Automatic 5-spd, CNG
Honda Civic CNG

Energy Impact Score
0.1 barrels/year
24
city		 36
hwy
$1366
2009 Mazda Tribute Hybrid 2WD 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular
Mazda Tribute Hybrid 2WD

Energy Impact Score
10.7 barrels/year
34
city		 31
hwy
$1364
2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD 4 cyl, 2.5 L, Automatic (variable gear ratios), Regular
Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD

Energy Impact Score
10.7 barrels/year
34
city		 31
hwy
$1364
2009 Toyota Yaris 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Manual 5-spd, Regular
Toyota Yaris Energy Impact Score
10.7 barrels/year
29
city		 36
hwy
$1364
2009 Honda Fit 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic 5-spd, Regular
Honda Fit

Energy Impact Score
11.0 barrels/year
28
city		 35
hwy
$1408
2009 Toyota Yaris 4 cyl, 1.5 L, Automatic 4-spd, Regular
Toyota Yaris

Energy Impact Score
11.0 barrels/year
29
city		 35
hwy
$1408

*Annual fuel costs are based on 45% highway driving, 55% city driving, 15000 annual miles, and the following fuel prices:

  • Regular gasoline: $2.91 per gallon
  • E85 - fuel mixture of 85% Ethanol, 15% Gasoline: $3.50 per gallon
  • CNG - compressed natural gas: $2.55 per gallon

For a personalized cost comparison you can modify the city vs. highway driving percentages, substitute higher fuel prices, and do advanced searches at http://www.fueleconomy.gov.

You can also find the latest fuel efficient vehicle tax incentive information on the website at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxcenter.shtml.

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The Concept of Fuel Economy: Does it Lead to Good Decisions?

July 1, 2008 · Filed Under Retail & Spot Prices, Transportation · 1 Comment 

If you own two vehicles, a car and a SUV about the same age, then you will inevitably be faced with the decision of which car to replace first. If saving fuel is one of your motives, then you might be interested in this quick miles-per-gallon-math from Technology Review.

Say you’ve got two cars in your garage. One of them gets 34 miles per gallon; the other gets only 12. You drive both cars 10,000 miles in the course of a year.

Would you save more gas by a) trading in the 34-miles-per-gallon car for one that gets 50 miles per gallon, or by b) trading in the 12-miles-per-gallon car for one that gets 14 miles per gallon?

New experiments suggest that people tend to pick a). After all, a 16-miles-per-gallon improvement seems better than an improvement of just 2 miles per gallon.

The right answer is b).

If you start driving the 50-miles-per-gallon car instead of the 34-miles-per-gallon car, you’ll save 94.1 gallons of gas per year.

If you start driving the 14-miles-per-gallon car instead of the 12-miles-per-gallon car, you’ll save 119 gallons per year.

The math is simple arithmetic. Divide the total number of miles driven (10,000) by the miles per gallon to get the total gallons used to drive that distance. For 12 miles per gallon, the answer is 833. For 14 miles per gallon, it’s 714.

So what do you think — is “mpg” a good indicator of fuel economy?

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