New CAFE standard has 'loopholes big enough to drive an SUV through'

[diddiyo]

Originally Posted by edmunds.com:

"a vehicle that scores an EPA combined rating of 29 miles per gallon actually contributes 39 MPG to its manufacturer's CAFE average. There are 29 car models and 36 truck models that already achieve the new standard, and about a third of the cars and half of the trucks are produced by a domestic automaker."

or as autoblog.com has it:
"Ultimately, it means that the formerly punitive mpg numbers that the government mandated can now be considered for what they really are: Meh."

*update*
jalopnik.com also has a very detailed article.


sooo...

?
?
?

[BigRigMike]

Why do I get the feeling that more people are going to read the thread about "government is taking away my V8" than this one that says if a car gets 26 mpg then it is already above average for the new CAFE standards.

[djsnoflake]

Sounds good to me. Means we might live to see a DI V8 sometime in the future

[Zabo]

To all the Chicken Littles out there: There's a job opening at Chik Fila..

[GTAHVIT]

Nice find...

Now, how to replace the old thread with the new one..... Maybe I should close the old one, and put a link to this thread in the last post.

[djsnoflake]

Originally Posted by gtahvit

Nice find...

Now, how to replace the old thread with the new one..... Maybe I should close the old one, and put a link to this thread in the last post.

Sounds like a great way to get rid of another panic du jour to me

[theholycow]

"a vehicle that scores an EPA combined rating of 29 miles per gallon actually contributes 39 MPG to its manufacturer's CAFE average.

How many times did I say that in the other thread? At least four times. At least. Once I even posted an example.

Edit: I can't find my posts, but I know I said that multiple times and posted a Malibu or Impala's ratings that were something like 29 on the window sticker and 41 for CAFE.

[THE EVIL TW1N]

Originally Posted by theholycow

How many times did I say that in the other thread? At least four times. At least. Once I even posted an example.

Edit: I can't find my posts, but I know I said that multiple times and posted a Malibu or Impala's ratings that were something like 29 on the window sticker and 41 for CAFE.

+1

I guess people weren't reading the thread.



So why did they really kill off the other zeta cars then?

[Grape Ape]

Think the footprint based standards will kill the Smart Car?

[Georgie]

great news!

[Camaro_Corvette]

What the>.....??? Government drives me

[Synerbee]

So their is a possibility their will still be Pony/muscle "whatever you like to call them" being produced when I am adult?

[All-Or-Nothing]

Originally Posted by Icandrivejustnotlegally

So their is a possibility their will still be Pony/muscle "whatever you like to call them" being produced when I am adult?

There will ALWAYS be Pony and Muscle cars.

However I think Ford is going to be leaving the "big torque down low engines" to trucks and the Mustang will start moving towards higher revving engines that make their torque higher in the RPM range but still make lots of HP.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by Icandrivejustnotlegally

So their is a possibility their will still be Pony/muscle "whatever you like to call them" being produced when I am adult?

Yup. V8's won't die for a long time to come.

The CAFE score for a car is close to its highway fuel economy number. And there are allowances for E85 (I think it doubles the CAFE rating of each car sold). Then there are also allowances for a vehicles footprint (wheelbase x track width) where bigger cars get their score bumped up a bit, and small cars get a penalty (to discourage automakers from killing large sedans in favour of Smart ForTwo's). I forget what the others loopholes are.

So, if GM were to sell a full size car, with a Voltec drivetrain, thats E85 capable, it could easily be rated at 300 mpg. A handful could offset every Camaro SS, Corvette, CTS-V, Impala/Caprice SS, and any other car GM wants to put a V8 in.