The Confusion Surrounding Epa Gas Mileage Tests – Things to Know
Posted by admin at 10 December 2016, at 13 : 33 PM
Every year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) releases the Fuel Economy Guide to inform buyers of which are the most fuel efficient vehicles on the market in each class. The EPA attaches a sticker on every new vehicles showing what its gas mileage is in city and highway driving. But the major concern amongst some drivers is that there is a mismatch between those numbers and real-world conditions. It turns out that 90% of all vehicles surveyed got worse than mileage published by EPA, with the biggest differences occurring in city driving where the achieved numbers were sometimes up to 50% below EPA estimates.
Some of the hybrids being sold, for example in 2007, are getting up to 19 mpg short of what EPA estimated. Conclusion is that while those results are good point when you are comparing the different models wondering what to buy, they are not really good indicators of the actual mileage and what you should expect.
Now, we are not trying to say that it’s the Government’s fault or the EPA is trying to mislead people. It’s just the EPA can never simulate your particular driving skills, passenger loads, road conditions, condition of the vehicle, and so on. The factors which have a serious impact on gas mileage are simply too many for us to expect that everyone should be getting the MPG.
The point is that these EPA numbers are precise when it comes to comparing different car models, because they were tested under the same circumstances and conditions as they went through the same standardized set of fuel economy tests applied the same way to every vehicle. So, the idea is that while you shouldn’t plan the budget for your road trip on estimates given by the EPA, still, the numbers are absolutely on point when it comes to comparing the different cars in terms of their mileage.