New versus old EPA mpg
While working on a story for our upcoming New Car Buying Guide 2007 (available on newsstands this June), I used the new comparison tool on the EPA's Web site. It lets visitors choose their current vehicle (year/make/model) and in return, it provides comparison of the old and new mileage estimates based on EPA testing.
I thought it would be interesting to compare CR's data for a few models with the mileage the EPA says they cars should have gotten--and will get--with the new calculations. Because hybrid vehicles had some of the biggest discrepancies between our testing and the EPA testing, particularly in the city cycle, I used the same vehicles we compared in our report on the "The dollars & sense of hybrid cars."
In general, the revised EPA calculations for combined mileage are now more in-line with the CR overall mileage for conventional vehicles, and sometimes very close with the hybrids. However, the EPA city numbers, particularly for hybrid vehicles, are still much higher than the CR real-world fuel economy figures derived from our fuel economy tests. As you look through the examples in this chart, the variances are significant enough to warrant comparing against other data, such as the overall, city, and highway mpg in our model overview pages (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers).
Consumers who drive a mix of city and highway travel, in particular, should compare the revised EPA figures with the Consumer Reports real-world data when deciding on a new or used vehicle. Buyers who do a heavy amount of driving in stop and go, low-speed city traffic should be aware that the numbers on the window sticker and EPA Web site may be higher than they are likely to see, and budget their fuel spending accordingly.
Full mileage comparison example:
2007 Toyota Camry LE (4-cyl, automatic)
EPA original combined mpg: 27
EPA original city mpg: 24
EPA original highway mpg: 33
EPA new combined mpg: 24
EPA new city mpg: 21
EPA new highway mpg: 30
Consumer Reports overall mpg: 24
Consumer Reports city mpg: 16
Consumer Reports highway mpg: 36
--Jon Linkov
