EPA Releases 2000 Gas Milage Data

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 2, 2000 -- While a handful of small cars are getting40-plus miles per gallon, the vast majority of new vehicles cominginto showrooms get about half that, the government’s latestautomobile fuel economy statistics show.

For the second year, a hybrid gas- and electric-powered vehicle— the two-seater Honda Insight — topped the list of biggest fuelmisers with 64 mpg combined city and highway driving among2001-model vehicles. It was followed by another hybrid, the ToyotaPrius, and three Volkswagen diesel cars.

The huge popularity of sport utility vehicles again drove downthe overall numbers of the more than 800 cars, trucks and vanslisted in the annual fuel economy statistics released today by theEnvironmental Protection Agency.

Average fuel economy for 358 models or variations of SUVs, vansand pickup trucks was just over 18 mpg, compared with 23.6 mpg fornearly 500 cars on the EPA list.

And the Guzzler is …King-size SUVs such as the Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigatorand Dodge Durango and their twin pickups accounted for 12 of the 36 vehicles on the list with the worst gas mileage, all with 12 mpg orless in city driving and 17 mpg or less on the highway.

The luxury sport import Ferrari 500 Maranello was the biggestguzzler (8 city and 13 highway) followed by the Lamborghini Diablo(10 city, 13 highway).

With the growing popularity — even with high fuel costs — ofminivans and SUVs, the overall fuel economy for all vehiclescontinued a steady decline that has been under way since the late1980s, when average fuel economy for all vehicles was nearly 26mpg.

Breaking Down the StatisticsIn the latest statistics, mileage ranged widely even withinvarious size classes, and in some cases even within like groups ofcars made by the same manufacturer. Among compacts, for example,the Volkswagen Passat average 20 mpg, compared with the Volkswagen Jetta and Golf diesels’ 45 mpg average.

Among midsize cars, the Mazda 626 and Honda Accord reported thebest combined city-highway mileage of 29 mpg, while the worst inthat category were the luxury Rolls Royce Silver Seraph and BentleyArnage, both at 13 mpg. Most cars in the category came in the low-to mid-20s mpg.

“Choosing the most fuel-efficient vehicles in a class can savethe owner at least $1,500 in fuel costs,” said EPA AdministratorCarol Browner, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions which contributeto global warming.

But automakers and groups such as the Coalition for VehicleChoice, which lobbies against government fuel-economy rules, havelong argued that consumers want larger vehicles and not smallminicompacts and compacts that consume less gasoline.

Hybrids Not a Current FactorThe electric-gas hybrids are new and not much of a factor in thecurrent market, although automakers say they are likely to be thenext technology that will spur significant breakthroughs in fueleconomy.

The Japanese-made Insight, which Honda introduced earlier thisyear and was on last year’s list, gets 61 mpg in city driving and68 mpg on the open highway. The Toyota Prius, which is a compactsedan with the same technology, gets a combined mileage of 48 mpg.

The hybrids run on conventional gasoline with an assist undercertain driving conditions using power from an electric motor andself-charging generator and battery pack.

Three similar minivans from General Motors — the OldsmobileSilhouette, Chevrolet Ventura and Pontiac Montana — had the bestmileage (19 city and 26 highway) in the passenger van category.Chrysler’s all-wheel-drive Town & Country van had the worst (17city, 22 highway).

The Best of the WorstMileage among SUVs also ranged widely with small models, led bythe Toyota RAV4 (25 city, 31 highway) doing well. However, mostSUVs were under 20 mpg in combined city-highway driving, with theworst fuel economy recorded by Land Rover’s Range Rover (12 mpgcity, 15 highway).

Slightly better were the king-size SUVs — the Ford Expedition,GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Suburban — which all got 15 mpg in combinedcity-highway driving.

September marks the second straight month of contraction after18 months of growth. Although the index had fallen at variouspoints during that period as the rate of growth fluctuated, Augustwas the first month since February 1999 that it had dropped below50 percent.