My post on Why the Mercedes Smart Car may actually be a dumb idea received an Editors’s Pick over at this week’s Festival of Frugality, the 143rd edition of that fine blog carnival.
Thanks LAL!
There a many cars that get great gas mileage. Many are even affordable, fun to drive, and reliable too. The problem is that if you need transportation for a family of 6 or more, many of these vehicles just don’t cut it. A Mini Cooper S may be a great car for the daily commute or running a canyon road, but trying to fit a family of seven in one is akin to practicing for a circus act.
What do you do if gas bills are killing you, but you really can’t drive a Honda Fit, Mini Cooper, or Prius Hybrid? What if your transportation duties run the gamut, from running 3 or 4 kids to school, soccer or swimming, picking up 10 bags of groceries, and running the whole family for weekend trips to Grandma’s? Even a normal sedan, such as an Accord or Taurus just isn’t big enough.
Here are the top vehicles to drive if you have to move more than the average number of people and their gear.
Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #6
2009 Chrysler Town and Country Minivan – 4.0L V6, 6-sp auto, 17city / 25highway / 20 combined MPG, Base MSRP: $24,195.
The latest from the ones who started the minivan revolution (but didn’t actually invent it, that goes to VW), the latest Town and Country comes in at number 7 on the list. It also demonstrates the importance of an advanced transmission (see my post on technology to increase fuel economy) in the quest for better gas mileage. The 4 liter engine with the 6-speed actually gets better EPA fuel economy ratings than it’s smaller engined counterpart, which is mated to only a 4-speed auto.
The relatively good mileage, coupled with the utility of such innovations as Chrysler’s “Stow-n-Go” seating make this one a winner if you have a large family and need to get them around town.
Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #5
2009 Ford Flex Crossover SUV, FWD – 3.5L V6, 6-sp auto, 17 city / 25 highway / 19 combined MPG, Base MSRP: $28,295.
One of the main reasons so many drivers eschewed minivans in favor or SUVs in the last decade and a half is that they don’t want to be perceived as dowdy, un-cool, or devoid of style. Well driving the new Ford Flex definitely won’t get them pigeonholed into any of those categories. It drips of style, but still delivers enough room inside to get the whole brood to their little league practice and the swim meet without having to sit atop one another.
The Flex is a (very) modern interpretation of something right out of So Cal in the ‘50s. It’s not a minivan, but replaced on in Ford’s lineup, the never really popular Freestar. In a land of all the same, derivative products, Ford looks to have broken the mold for large family transportation. All that and it has suicide doors and returns very respectable gas mileage for a quasi-large people mover.
Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #4
2009 Mazda 5 Minivan FWD – 2.3L I4, 5-sp auto, 21city / 27 highway / 23 combined MPG, Base MSRP: $18,665.
The 2009 Mazda 5 has one real ace in the hole; great fuel economy for a vehicle that can hold your entire family. It also looks pretty cool, with little of the boring, me-too styling that so many others in the genre find themselves draped in, and you can get one at a bargain price compared to other vehicles that can hold 6 people. It has two things going against it that kept it from finishing higher in this list of great vehicles for transporting a large family while getting excellent MPG; it really isn’t that large, and it really isn’t that quick. In fact part of the reason it gets such great fuel economy is a result of precisely those two traits.
If you have a family of 6, and 2 of the family members are small kids, this will definitely do the trick. It handles well, a hallmark of most Mazda products, and should be very reliable, if past reliability stats are any indication. If your group includes teenaged twins that happen to play tight end on the high school football team and a few more kids over about 10 years old, you should probably find another mode of transportation however. The Mazda will simply be too tight of a squeeze.
Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #3
2009 Chevrolet Traverse FWD – 3.6L V6 direct injection, 6-sp auto, 17city / 24 highway / 19 combined MPG, Base Price MSRP: $30,810.
The Chevrolet Traverse is the latest iteration of the GM large SUV platform that’s also spawned the GMC Acadia and the Saturn Outlook. It’s modern, with a 3.6 liter V6 that includes direct injection fuel delivery, one of the reasons a 288hp vehicle that transports 8 full sized people can get such good gas mileage (for this sized vehicle). The interior is modern as well, proving again that American vehicles can deliver in this department, even if it took 30 years for U.S. automakers to figure it out.
The 2009 Traverse has a great combination of ride and handling for such a large vehicle, and is by most reports, relatively quiet too. All in all it’s a great place to spend time on a long road trip with the entire family, providing you can still afford to take one, with the high price of fuel these days. At least the Traverse burns regular gas, currently the least expensive liquid motivator you can get at the local filling station.
Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #2
2009 Honda Odessey LX Minivan FWD – 3.5L V6, 5-sp auto, 17 city / 25 highway / 20 combined MPG, Base MSRP (LX version): $26,255.
Honda has wrought a vehicle that consistently finishes at the top of its class with the Odyssey minivan. Honda has always created spectacular power plants, and the 3.5 liter in the Odyssey is another example of one of their sewing machine smooth, internal combustion, creations. The only nits that kept this one from finishing even higher on the list is that it’s a mite noisy on the freeway and could be a bit larger if you’d like to transport 7+ people. It has a cockpit that is a fantastic place to spend time, with everything falling readily to hand, and large, easy-to-read instrumentation that’s been a hallmark of Honda binnacles since the early ‘80s. The Odyssey even handles fairly well for vehicles in the minivan category.
Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #1
2009 Chevy Tahoe SUV Hybrid 4×2 – 6L V8, CVT, 21 city / 22 highway / 21 combined, Base MSRP: $50,490.
The new hybrid Tahoe is a technological tour de force, enabling a huge, vehicle with a 6 liter V8 engine to return 20mpg. If you have to have a large vehicle to transport 8 people, and all their stuff, on a long trip, while towing a trailer, this is about the only vehicle to be driving. It uses a hybrid power train, combined with advanced transmission technology to wring every last bit of energy from a drop of unleaded regular and use it for getting down the road. About the only downside, and it’s considerable, is the monster MSRP of $50,490. That’s for the 2-wheel drive version; you’ll pay more to deliver power to all the wheels, should you want to.
The new Hybrid Tahoe is really expensive, but if you need the combination of this much size and towing capacity, nothing else makes the list while delivering anywhere close to this kind of fuel economy, especially if you do much of your driving in urban areas. In stop and go driving the hybrid power really comes into it’s own and saves gas. It comes with every option under the sun, and if you check all the boxes, you can rapidly find your bank account depleted by an even larger sum, so exercise some restraint.
Until next time………..
Making the best gas mileage cars is at the forefront of every auto manufacturer’s agenda these days. Big trucks and full sized SUVs languish on auto dealer’s lots throughout the country, as consumers look for something that will save them money on gas, rather than draining their 401k to fill their tank. Car manufacturers have responded as best they can but lead times on new vehicle models are measured in years, not months.
Developing and implementing new gas saving technologies and staying within the ever changing regulatory framework takes time, and there’s not much the manufacturers can do about it. Those of you thinking that the Big 3 passed on the 100-mpg carburetor because it was too expensive, or that it was suppressed by the oil companies should take this time to remove your cranium from which ever bodily orifice in which it’s buried.
General Motors alone employs over 6,000 power train engineers in an attempt to develop powerful, efficient, quiet and smooth engines and transmissions that consumers want to buy. You should ask yourself why:
A) None of these bright star engineers have stumbled on the formula for the esteemed, 100mpg carburetor?
B) GM has squandered hundreds of millions of dollars developing fuel delivery, engine management, and other technologies that deliver increased fuel mileage, reduced emissions, and smooth running engines if they could have just cut a deal to fast track the 100mpg carb?
C) The whole 100mpg carb idea just doesn’t pass the smell test. You’re not going to get 100mpg, good power, a smooth running engine, and low (actually almost non-existent these days) emissions by simply swapping a carburetor. Also consider that no carburetor equipped vehicles are manufactured by major auto manufacturers any longer, and haven’t been for about a decade. There’s a reason for that.
Since the 100mpg carb isn’t going to be around to increase the fuel economy of vehicles, let’s take a look at the new technologies that are being used to save you gas on your daily slog to work.
The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 6 -
Cylinder Deactivation – This is the technique of cutting off certain cylinders when the power isn’t needed. In many cases the valves are closed to reduce pumping losses. There are many different names for this; Chevy calls theirs Active Fuel Management™, Chrysler marketing gurus came up with Multi-Displacement Engine, and Honda likes Variable Cylinder Management™. This is a very nice way to use modern engine management systems to really manage the engine in a quest or better fuel efficiency. Depending on how you drive, you’ll save about 10% – 15% on your fuel bill over a comparably equipped vehicle without cylinder deactivation technology.
The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 5 –
Multi-Speed, electronically controlled automatic transmissions and Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVTs) – The advent of extremely sophisticated vehicle management systems have allowed electronic control of your vehicle’s transmission to the n’th degree. The greater amount of transmission control and coordination with the engine, coupled with the increased number of ratios offered by many transmissions (an infinite number, in the case of the CVT), allows large increases in gas mileage. As an example, the new 2009 Chevy Impala 4-cylinder went from an EPA 30mpg highway to 32mpg with the change from a 4-speed automatic transmission to a 6-speed unit.
The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 4 –
Turbocharged, small engines – Turbocharging technology coupled with smaller displacement engines has experienced a resurgence in the last couple of years. Acura for example has offered their first turbo engine, the turbo 4-cylinder found in the new Acura RDX small SUV (You’ve got to love a vehicle named after the explosive that’s the basis for the military plastic explosive C-4).
The increased capability of sensor and engine management, fuel delivery, and ignition systems, combined with better materials technology and improved combustion chamber designs, have breathed new life into the turbocharged engine. The added expense and weight of the turbo and its’ associated plumbing can’t really be justified when gas prices are low, but if they stay over $3.50 a gallon, expect to see the turbo / small engine combo stick around for a while.
The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 3 –
Engine cut off / restart – Your car never gets better mileage than when it’s not running (infinite mpg), and it never gets worse mileage than when it is running but not moving (0 mpg). Now, what’s good enough for your golf cart moves into the realm of automotive normalcy with the adoption of auto engine cutoff / restart technology.
Used by most hybrids, this changes your vehicle from living in the domain where it gets the absolute worst mileage to the one where it gets the absolute best. That change adds up to increased gas savings and better overall gas mileage with the improvement coming in city driving, the bane of most vehicle’s fuel economy profiles.
The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 2 -
Direct fuel injection – As I mentioned earlier, there hasn’t been a non-fuel injected car sold in the U.S. for about 10 years. Most cars now use port fuel injection, where fuel is injected into the intake port, right behind the intake valve. With direct injection, the fuel is injected directly into the cylinder using high pressure fuel injection systems. This gives three big advantages; The cooling effect of the fuel allows higher compression ratios for increased engine efficiency, more precise fuel timing and delivery is possible, and better fuel atomization is realized. These add up to an additional 10% – 15% in fuel economy, often coupled with better drivability and more power.
The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 1 -
Hybrid power train technology- You probably saw this one coming a mile away. With the Hybrid Prius’ popularity (even though I personally prefer the Honda Civic hybrid) of late it’s hard to Escape (hey, isn’t that another hybrid) the conclusion that combining both an internal combustion and electric power plant with some of the technologies mentioned above will lead to much improved fuel economy, especially in city driving. Looking at most manufacturer’s best gas mileage cars, it’s fairly obvious most of them are some variation of hybrid.
The hybrid’s ability to recapture heretofore lost energy through the use of regenerative braking, it’s ability to move at lower speeds purely on electric power and the ability to shut off the engine completely when stopped really deliver far better city gas mileage. Soon hybrids will be implemented with small, common rail diesel engines to deliver even greater fuel economy, possibly on the order of 60 – 70mpg in the city.
These are the technologies used to make the best gas mileage cars. There are certainly improvements coming as these technologies are refined. In addition several promising, new developments are on the way in the not too distant future that will make the best gas mileage cars in the next decade fairly embarrass even the best hybrids of today. In fact the vehicles that do burn fuel probably won’t burn gas at all, but some sort of biodiesel.
Until next time…….
Biodiesel is simply making diesel fuel out of biomatter. The great thing about using biomatter to make diesel fuel is that it’s renewable. Essentially, you need more fuel, you just grow more! The fact that diesel vehicles tend to get better fuel economy (not gas mileage) than their gasoline powered counterparts is just icing on the cake.
Currently there are several ways to make biodiesel. The different methods use varying materials and different processes to produce the biodiesel fuel. In a second I’ll take a look at the different ways of synthesizing biodiesel and what is needed to do it.
Can some of these be made in your garage? Ya, sure, you betcha! In fact there are complete biodiesel reactors you can buy (well, you might be able to buy them, but at around $3K, they’re still a bit too rich for me) as we speak.
Although they sound like the two aunts you had when you were a kid, methyl and ester are actually the foundation of biodiesel. Biodiesel begins as a natural plant or animal based oil. The precursor for biodiesel can be from many different sources, such as used restaurant fryer oil or plant-based oils. Crops can be grown specifically for use in producing biodiesel or waste products can be recycled to make biodiesel. Many seed or bean crops yield high quantities of oil that are suitable for making biodiesel.
The actual chemical process used to create biodiesel from these base oils involves replacing the glycerin in the base oil with alcohol through the use of a catalyst. The oil is combined with the catalyst and methanol, then heated. The catalyst is used to accelerate the reaction and speed up production. Used oils are completely filtered before being mixed. This can be avoided is virgin oils are used, although pre-filtering is still a good idea.
After the reaction is complete the mixture will stratify. The top layer will be the biodiesel. The original glycerin that was replaced by the alcohol will be on the bottom. There will be a layer of soap in the middle. The unwanted soap and glycerin are discarded, leaving only the fresh biodiesel.
One of the big attractions of biodiesel is that so many different materials are suitable to use for creating the base oil. One that is holding great promise for commercial applications is algae. Some algaes contain high quantities of high quality oil that makes great biodiesel.
Unlike many other base stocks, algae uses no agricultural land, so using it to make biodiesel doesn’t impact crop availability or prices. It also has high yield and algae can be genetically manipulated to increase efficiency even further. As an added environmental benefit waste CO2 from various industrial sources, such as that created by coal fired power plants can also be consumed in the process of growing the algae.
Here are some of the other benefits to using algae as the bas stock for biodiesel.
Several commercial ventures are well underway to commercialize what’s termed algecal biodiesel. Some of these are GreenFuel Technologies, PetroAlgae, Solayzme, and Redmond, WA based Bionavitas. Bionavitas uses special technology to ensure light reaches throughout the vessel used to grow the algae, compensating for the fact that as the algae grows, it tends to disrupt light infusion into the vessel.
What about making your own biodiesel? Many people do this, and the basic process as is described above. If you are trying to save money on fuel, making your own biodiesel could be just the ticket. You have to be the do-it-yourself type and be willing to play Mr. Wizard, but it is definitely possible. Depending on the source you use for the biodiesel base, it can be made for under $1.00 a gallon, certainly an attractive proposition in this day of $4.50 gallon petro diesel.
If you are ready to start making your own backyard biodiesel fuel, you first have to secure a reliable source of base stock. You can get to be good friends with the local burger joint owner and try and weasel him out of their used fryer oil, but many of these relationships have already been made.
A word of caution when making this stuff.
You can kill or injure yourself when making biodiesel, so be very careful. You’ll be using nasties such as lye and methanol. These are hazardous chemicals, and you can easily be blinded, burned, or otherwise scared for life if things should go awry. You need to wear a face shield, a respirator and gloves all rated for protection against hazardous chemicals before you begin the process of making your won biodiesel. Saving $3.00 a gallon isn’t worth losing your hand, an eye, damaging your lungs, or ending up shot to hell un dyin’.
The above cautions are one of the attractions for using self contained biodiesel reactors such as the Fuelmeister II, the $3,000 unit I spoke about at the beginning of the post. Using a commercial, self contained biodiesel production unit will give consistent results, and make the process easier, faster and safer than doing it yourself. The Fuelmeister II can make up to 40 gallons per day, which should feed all but the largest crew cab dually for a week or so, even when towing your boat.
When making your own biodiesel you’ll use a little more than a ½ oz of lye and less than a quart of methanol for each gallon of biodiesel. The largest cost variable comes from the material used for the base oil. At the beginning, if you’re making your own, you should start small, with virgin base stock, and make small batches. After you’ve had some practice, you can start making larger batches.
There are some tings to consider when using biodiesel in your own vehicle. For instance, in vehicles made before 1990, you may have to replace the fuel lines because biodiesel can corrode the lines used these older vehicles. There are also warrantee concerns to think about. In low concentrations such as B-5 (5% biodiesel / 95% petro diesel) the warrantee will be unaffected, but check with your manufacturer before using biodiesel in higher concentrations if your vehicle is still under warrantee. It can also gel in cold weather if an additive is not used, or a fuel heater isn’t installed.
Biodiesel can be a great way to save money on fuel. If you’re prepared to put up with a little more hassle than simply pulling up to the pump with the green handle, making your own biodiesel might just be the ticket.
If high gas prices have hit you right in your (too thin) wallet, you may be thinking about finding a good, cheap, used car to rack up the endless miles to and from work every day. Just as declining sales of big SUVs and pickups have have some car dealers’ hair coming out in huge clumps, other dealers are making a fortune selling smaller cars of the gas saving variety. When it costs upwards of $80 to fill up the F-150, many people have decided that it just doesn’t make sense to continue driving such gas hogs any longer. In fact, with some of the real gas guzzlers, you can almost pay for a the monthly payments of another car with gas savings alone!
Here’s an example:
Drive to work each way: 25 miles – part city, part highway driving
Other driving: 500 miles per month
Vehicle : 2002 Ford F-150 4×4 4.6l V-8 pickup
EPA mileage: 14 combined
Current gas prices, regular gas: $3.68 / gallon, nationwide average
That means that in this example, you’d drive approximately 1,600 miles per month. At 14 mpg, your truck would drink about 114 gallons of unleaded regular every month (don’t burn premium in this rig, it’s a waste of money). That would set you back $420 per month.
If you got a used car that gave you 25mpg, you’d drop your monthly gas bill to about $235, or a monthly gas savings of $185. The smaller car would probably be cheaper to insure as well, but I won’t even put that into the equation. Your $185 monthly gas savings could be put straight into a car payment. According to Bankrate.com, if you have good credit you can get a 48 month, used car loan in about 10 minutes from lenders such as FirstAgain at an interest rate of 6.49% (today’s rate).
At that interest rate, a 48 month car loan of $7,800 would get you a car payment of $184.94, right at your gas savings for the month. Here are some of the top gas saving cars you could buy for that $7,800 according to used car values for used cars in good condition from Edmunds.com, fuel economy ratings from the EPA, and vehicle reliability ratings from MSN.
Best Cheap Used Cars to Save Gas With – #5
2001 Acura Integra LS Sedan, 1.8L, 5sp manual trans, EPA MPG 22 city / 28 hwy
This is a great car. It drives superbly, handles well, and returns fantastic gas mileage. The reliability is beyond reproach and the power train is jewel-like. Saving gas in this thing would be a pleasure. About the only disadvantages are that, as a 2001, it’s getting a bit older, so most examples will tend to have racked up a few miles, and they are not the most quiet cars from the driver’s seat. One more issue is that these cars enjoy a strong enthusiast following, so finding one that hasn’t been modified and abused may require a bit of commitment, but would be worth it.
Best Cheap Used Cars to Save Gas With – #4
2005 Ford Focus ZX4 2.0L, 5sp manual trans, EPA MPG 22 city / 32 hwy
This car gets excellent fuel economy, and handles very well. Although not the fastest thing on the road the handling makes it fun to drive and the interior was redesigned for 2005, making it a more palatable place to spend the daily slog. Not super quiet inside, but few econo rigs are. It’s new enough that you should be able to find lightly used examples out there, and it doesn’t command much of a following among the performance oriented crowd, so finding a good one shouldn’t be a challenge.
Best Cheap Used Cars to Save Gas With – #3
2003 Mazda Protege ES 4dr, 2.0L, 5sp manual trans, EPA MPG 22 city / 28 hwy
Good gas mileage, but stellar handling. This thing livens up the drive to work. Not too fleet of foot though, sort of oozes down the road more than scampers. Given the handling prowess, the Protégé is way short of grunt. Pretty good sized interior, so if you have to take your family along for the ride, this’ll do it for you. Not the absolutely highest gas mileage, but would definitely save gas over a big truck.
Best Cheap Used Cars to Save Gas With – #2
2004 Hyundai Elantra GLS Sedan, , 2.0L, 5sp manual trans, EPA MPG 23 city / 31 hwy
Great gas mileage, very good reliability, MSN Autos says “Infrequent problems reported, all with low repair costs” for all categories. The Elantra boasts decent acceleration, and is loaded with features (especially considering the low cost). The reliability should make sure you gat to work every day, and the Elantra’s cockpit isn’t a bad place to spend your drive, but it’s not as nice as the Honda Civic.
Best Cheap Used Cars to Save Gas With – #1
2002 Honda Civic DX 4dr, 1.7L, 5sp manual trans, EPA MPG 28 city / 36 hwy
And here’s my pick for the best cheap, used car to save gas with. Look at that! Buy one of these cars and you’ll get the best gas mileage short of dropping some big coin on a new hybrid. The little (but not too little) Honda really saves gas, but also goes down the road in a quiet, composed way the other cars in it’s class just can’t quite match (unless the road starts to get curvy). It’s kind of the mirror image of the Mazda; only so-so handling, but a quiet, cushy ride for your commute to work. The Civic was redesigned for 2002, so it looks even newer than it is.
It has a well deserved rep for safety and, like the Protégé, is pretty large inside for a compact car. The cons for the DX version of the Civic is that you can’t get ABS, and many of these cars may not have A/C. That last one is obviously a deal breaker if you live in Phoenix, Dallas, or Bakersfield.
The Smart ForTwo, built by Mercedes as an ecologically responsible answer to the world’s environmental and gas problems is tiny, gets good gas mileage, and takes up little space. It is so smart it even has smart in its name; since it is Smart ForTwo, it’s presumably twice as smart. But, is it really, or is it a dumb idea?
Say what you want about Mercedes prodigious engineering know how, I think their smart car is really a dumb idea and here’s why:
Why the Smart ForTwo is a Dumb Idea 7 -
Right from the top, who the hell in MB’s product planning department thought that an economy car that burns premium gas is a good idea? Right from the get go, you’re at a fuel economy deficit over a car that gets the same gas mileage, but burns regular grade gas. Currently, the U.S. national average for premium is $3.92/ gallon, for regular gas it’s $3.68. That means you’re at a 6.5% disadvantage before you burn your first gallon. That means that, while the Smart ForTwo has an 2008 EPA rating of 33 city / 41 hwy MPG, compared to a car that burns regular gas, it’s closer to 31/39 mpg.
Why the Smart ForTwo is a Dumb Idea 6 -
The reason that the smart gets the fuel economy numbers that it does is due to it’s light weight and 71hp, 1 liter engine.Unfortunately, even with a curb weight of only 1,800 lbs, this thing is really slow. The performance is just plain terrible. Not that it’s raison d’etre is to win races, but being able to get out of it’s own way would be nice.
Why the Smart ForTwo is a Dumb Idea 5 -
The Smart only has an 8.7 gallon fuel tank, restricting range between fill ups to about 250 miles of in town driving. While the typical use of this vehicle is not long distance, freeway jaunts, you’d only get a hair over 325 miles before you had to pull into the petrol station for another round of Chevron’s finest (there’s that expensive, premium gas again).
Why the Smart ForTwo is a Dumb Idea 4 -
Being small just doesn’t get you anywhere in most places. Unless you can convince your city to let you park with another of your Smart owning friends in the same parking spot, a parking spot is the same size, weather you own a Smart For2, or a Hummer H1. That means that they’ll still take up just as much room to park on our city streets, and you still will have to pay $15 to park when you go downtown.
Why the Smart ForTwo is a Dumb Idea 3 -
Unless you’re only taking your laptop to work you, probably wouldn’t take one of these cars downtown though, because they have no room! You couldn’t take you and a friend shopping, unless you were looking for diamonds and iPODs, as you’d have no place to put both yourselves and your stuff for the drive home.
Why the Smart ForTwo is a Dumb Idea 2 -
It really doesn’t get very good gas mileage, especially given it’s abbreviated stature. There are several “real” (dumb??) cars that get close to or better gas mileage. If one factors in the premium fuel requirement noted above, it gets even closer. If you include hybrids, all bets are off, because hybrid cars will absolutely clobber the Smart when it comes to gas mileage. Unfortunately they tend to command premium prices, too. You could however, consider the Toyota Corolla (28/37mpg, regular), Toyota Yaris (29/36mpg, regular), and if you wanted to have a ton of fun and burn premium gas, a Mini Cooper, or Mini Cooper S (both get 26/34mpg, premium).
Why the Smart ForTwo is a Dumb Idea 1 -
The real reason that the Mercedes Smart ForTwo is a dumb idea is that for about the same money you can drive a real car that just gives you so much more, while still getting fantastic gas mileage (on regular gas). You can get almost the same gas mileage, transport 4 people in relative comfort, get more performance, have room for your packages and grocery bags, etc. In short (no pun intended) you’ll be driving a real car and still conserving gas. If you want to get a hybrid, you’ll be driving a real car and saving even more gas.
Maybe the Mercedes Smart ForTwo is an idea who’s time has come, and judging from the waiting list many think it has, but for my money, I’ll twist the keys to a Mini Cooper or a Corolla.
Until Next Time.
As diesel fuel hovers between $4.50 and $4.95 a gallon, knowing how to improve diesel fuel economy is likely right at the top of your list, weather you drive a new Diesel Jetta TDI or a Chevy 2500 with a Duramax. If you are averaging over 40mpg in your new Jetta TDI, you may not have the same yearning for that knowledge as if you just finished pumping about $150 worth of Chevron’s finest into the saddle tanks of your 3/4 ton tow rig, but you get the point nonetheless.
With that in mind, here are some tricks you can use to get better fuel economy out of your diesel, weather you use it for towing, long freeway cruises, or just drive to work everyday like the rest of us poor slobs.
Diesel engines are internal combustion engines like gasoline engines but there are some important differences, the main one being they have no spark ignition system and burn a more oil-like fuel. The lack of an ignition system minimizes maintenance, such as the requirement to change spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, because there aren’t any! Most modern cars have eliminated all these parts except for the plugs themselves anyway by going to a coil-on-plug ignition system. If you’ve ever had to replace your coils on one of the new cars, you’ll probably long for the good old days of a traditional distributor that you could pick up at any auto parts store for $20.
Diesel engines use direct fuel injection systems. These inject the fuel directly (Hey, imagine that!) into the combustion chamber where it’s ignited by the heat produced by the diesel engine’s extremely high compression ratio. Some new gasoline engines, such as the new Cadillac 3.6 liter V-6, 2009 Porsche flat 6 engines, and the newer Audi engines are also using the direct fuel injection technique, combined with the gasoline engine’s spark ignition systems, to gain efficiency and maximize fuel economy.
So if you are driving an oil burner, how can you stretch every last mile out of a thankful?
For diesel powered vehicles many of the same fuel saving techniques apply as are used for gas powered vehicles; drive slower, clean out excess weight, don’t have a loaded roof rack if you don’t need to, keeping tires properly inflated, etc. There are some diesel specific fuel economy tricks, however that can be used to really make your gas powered brethren a bit jealous as you bypass the gas station.
How to Maximize Diesel Fuel Economy –
Learning how to correctly drive a diesel engine for the best fuel economy is very important, especially if you’ve spent your life behind the wheel of gas powered vehicles. Diesels just work a bit differently, and have about half the rpm range of a comparably sized gas engine. You’ll usually be turning much lower rpms on the freeway when driving a diesel powered vehicle, and that’s just the way these engines like it.
Use the cruise control –
One of the reasons that diesel engines are often chosen for duty in heavy commercial applications such as generators and pumps is that they like to be operated at a constant speed, and are most efficient when run that way. Remember that in your daily driving. Find the rpm that your engine is the most efficient for a given load and stay there. Use your trip computer to find the best instant mpg speed at the load ranges that you normally use and chart them. When traveling on the freeway set your cruise control for these speeds.
Short shift the engine –
Short shifting is a driving technique for manual transmission vehicles where the engine is shifted into the next gear well before its power peak and red line. For drivers that are accustomed to driving gas powered vehicles this may seem counter intuitive, but diesels typically don’t like to spend their time in the upper reaches of the tachometer. Shift at maximum torque point, which on diesel engines tend to be fairly low in the RPM range.
Choose a lower final drive –
If you’re buying a new pickup or SUV with a diesel engine option, you’ll often have a choice of different rear end (final drive) gear ratios when perusing the option sheet. Unless you’ll be spending most of your time towing very heavy loads (6,000+ lbs.), choose the lowest numerical ratio that’s available. If you’re searching for the best fuel economy, the lower (numerical) gear will really help you get it.
Don’t buy bargain basement diesel fuel –
Diesels are very sensitive to the quality of their fuel. One of the worst things you can do is feed them contaminated fuel, especially if it contains water. Steer clear of the low budget stations. The few cents a gallon you save could come back to bite you.
General Motors actually issued a technical service bulletin (TSB) relating to fuel economy in its diesel powered trucks. This would apply to most other brands of diesel trucks, in addition to SUVs and cars. Here are the factors listed in the GM TSB that can affect diesel powered fuel economy:
• Accessories that increase wind drag. Keep the bike rack, or ski carrier off your rig when you’re not heading out to the mountain. This is especially harmful to the mileage you’ll get in a diesel car with a smaller engine, as it causes it to work much harder than the same wind resistance increase on a big-engined diesel powered rig like a Duramax or Cummins pickup.
• Driving 65mph will lower fuel mileage up to 15% as compared to driving 55. This is especially true when towing a heavy load that has poor aerodynamics and a large frontal area, like your big wakeboarding boat with a tower.
• Frequent stops, changing speeds or otherwise poor driving habits. Diesels love steady state operating conditions and prove it by returning their best fuel economy when operated that way. Find the best fuel economy speed for a given load and just set the cruise control for that speed.
• Transmission problems such as OD automatics not shifting into OD, or the lockup torque convertor not locking up.
• Fuel system problems such as contaminated fuel filters. The fuel filter on a diesel is even more important than on a gasoline engined vehicle. Make sure the water separator is functioning properly.
• Final gear ratio. As noted above, when purchasing a new truck check the option box for the lowest numerical ratio possible unless you’ll be spending a significant portion of your time towing heavy loads, in which case you’ll want to go to a lower (higher numerical) gear ratio in the rear end.
• GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight).
• Wheel alignment and tire pressure – check your alignment and tire pressure. If either of these are out of adjustment or spec, it increases rolling resistance and reduces fuel economy.
• Misadjusted or dragging brakes – the same as above. In addition, make sure you don’t ride the brakes when driving. This behavior is fairly common, as evidenced by the dodos cruising down the freeway with their brake lights on.
Using diesel fuel additives –
Diesel engines burn a very different fuel than gas engines. One of the most important ratings that describes diesel is its’ cetane rating. Cetane is a measurement of its propensity to burn and support combustion; to a point, the higher the better.
Most commercially available diesel fuel runs around a 40 cetane rating. Not bad, except that most diesel engines found in pickups, such as the Duramax, Cummins, or Powerstroke like about 5 – 10 points higher than that. One way to raise the cetane rating of what you put in your tank is through the use of fuel additives. Diesel additives will also increase the lubricity of the fuel to help protect engine components and decrease internal friction. Both of these effects will increase your diesel’s fuel economy.
Take a look at the post I did last on the 3 best car modifications to increase gas mileage. The same 3 mods apply for diesel vehicles, and for many of the same reasons. In fact, one of them, reprogramming your diesel’s ECU, is one of the favored mods to radically increase your diesel’s power and torque too. The sophistication of the new controllers is pretty phenomenal. They can allow you to select different settings depending on your current use. If you’re towing for example, you can just dial up more grunt, but keep more conservative programming for daily driving to save fuel. They can even tell if your transmission is slipping and reduce the fuel to save your tranny.
This is a beginning primer on how to maximize fuel economy for your diesel powered car or truck. Since better fuel economy is one of the main reasons people buy diesel vehicles, there is a bit of gold in here.
Until next time.
Do you want to increase fuel mileage? You’re not alone, because even as fuel prices are falling, the subject of lowering fuel costs is still very much on everyone’s mind. The best way to lower your fuel costs is your optimizing your driving style to increase your fuel mileage. On the chance you already drive like Tony Stewart on his last gallon, you can also make some modifications to your car that will increase your fuel mileage.
There are 3 top modifications that should be looked at when considering making changes to your car in an attempt to find some additional MPG. Thankfully these aren’t overly expensive, will not, in most cases void your manufacturer’s warrantee, and are fairly easy to install with basic tools. As an added bonus these mods will increase your driveability, horsepower and just plain make your car run better.
Here are the best 3 car modifications to increase fuel mileage:
Modification to Increase Fuel Mileage #3 -
A Cold Air Intake Kit – A cold air intake, wonder of wonders, lets your engine breathe cold air from outside the engine compartment, much like it’s name would suggest. Cold air is denser, so more oxygen is contained in every unit of volume. Basically your engine can take a deeper breath with less effort. In addition, most cold air intake kits do away with such bothersome intake tract impediments as resonating chambers and sound deading flow restrictors. This means that the engine can breathe better, especially in the upper end of the RPM range.
An aftermarket cold air intake’s effectiveness varies depending on the efficacy of the original factory airbox, intake plumbing, and filter combination. Some cars see better gains than others. You should see a 3-5% increase in fuel economy and between 0 – 25hp gain by replacing your factory intake with an aftermarket kit.
Cold air intake kits are available for most leading vehicles, weather diesel or gas powered. Some of the leading manufacturers are K&N, Injen, Bully Dog, AirRaid, and AFE. The better kits are well engineered and have a divider to separate the intake inlet from the hot air in the engine compartment. You get what you pay for. Some of the kits are very complete and well made, while others are decidedly less so. You can see the K&N version here.
Modification to Increase Fuel Mileage #2-
A performance programmer. Modern engines are completely computer controlled, and that’s one of the reasons they are so efficient and run so cleanly. It’s also the reason you have to have a degree from MIT to consider working on them. Emissions of a typical car are about 1/100 of what they were 3 decades ago when emission controls consisted of only a catalytic converter and PCV valve.
Cars today use less fuel, produce more power, and require less maintenance than those of yore. Again, this is thanks largely to the computer, known as the engine control unit, or ECU, a nod to the fact that the little box of chips controls virtually every aspect of engine operation. This includes ignition timing, fuel mixture, fuel timing (on certain vehicles), throttle control (on drive by wire vehicles), cruise control, transmission control, and anything else that the manufacturer, Uncle Sam, or the EU deems it necessary to control.
Soon, reports are that not only will it monitor every aspect of your car’s performance, but it may read your mind as well, on the chance you may want to have a little fun behind the wheel. In any case, the computer can be reprogrammed to optimize the car’s engine and transmission to do your bidding, weather that is getting better gas mileage, towing a trailer, or laying down better times at the strip on Friday night.
There are ECU reprogrammers available now, such as leading programmer manufacturer Hypertech’s new Max Energy E-CON unit (You can get a Max Energy here) that are specially designed just to optimize fuel mileage. If you have one vehicle that’s could wind up saving you big money, but just imagine if you owned a business fleet of 30 – 100 vehicles! Even a 5% – 10% fuel savings could really add up, yet some people report exceeding even these figures. As with any such modification, your mileage may vary (and it probably will). Also remember that the largest factor concerning your mileage is you, the one with your foot on the gas (or diesel) pedal. If you’re not smart about that, all the programming in the world won’t help.
Modification to Increase Fuel Mileage #1-
The number one modification to increase fuel mileage is a performance exhaust system. Freeing up the exhaust will let the engine breathe, and give your car more power and better gas mileage. If you have a very high performance car, like a Corvette or Porsche, your gains will be less on a percentage basis, because these vehicles are already optimized more toward the performance side of the spectrum. For most of the rest of us, there are gains to be had here. In many cases there are additional benefits, such as lighter weight and a more powerful tone. The benefits of that last one are open to debate, depending on weather you love the automobile as a friend or view it as an appliance.
The reason that changing the exhaust system ranks as the number one modification to increase fuel mileage is that it is typically very effective, and easy to install. As performance modifications go, exhaust systems tend to be fairly inexpensive too. They are pretty easy to install for anyone that fancies themselves moderately skilled with a set of tools. Many can be installed in a few hours or less. In many cases removing the rusted old system can take more time and cause more damage to your ego than actually installing the new one.
Be aware that there are large differences in quality when considering an after market exhaust system. The better ones are constructed of stainless steel, a material befitting the hell an exhaust system is put through on a daily basis. Heat and moisture, two things an exhaust system must deal with, can reduce any standard metal component into a quivering, whimpering blob of corrosion, so making an exhaust of stainless is a wise investment in the future.
To make an exhaust system function correctly is an engineering feat. It’s not just bolting on a larger pipe and free flowing muffler. The system must be tuned for the specific engine, rpm range, and requirements. For example, a race system will generate great power, but it will be noisy and the power will be developed mostly in the very upper reaches of the rev range. Not the thing when you’re stewing in traffic and want to jump into a hole in the adjacent lane. For that you’ll need some torque, or you’ll get squashed by the traffic coming up behind you. That’s why an exhaust system must be properly designed if the goal of better gas mileage and more power is to be achieved.
These guys usually have great discounts on performance exhaust systems from most of the leading manufacturers. Click here – They’ve got an easy application to find a mileage boosting exhaust system for your specific vehicle. For a limited time you can click here to save up to 57% on a Volant performance exhaust system.
If you are considering doing a modification or two in an attempt to squeeze a few extra miles from a gallon of fuel, these are the 3 you should look at first. Look in a mirror to see the thing with the most potential to increase your fuel mileage, then order that exhaust system!
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It’s true. Well, the easy part is a total fabrication, but if you can design and build a 100mpg car that people actually want to buy, you could win the $10 million automotive x-prize. It is the automotive version of the x-prize that got (well funded) private citizen groups everywhere scrambling to be the first into space in their own vehicle.
The Anasari Foundation what worked so well as a technology driver for space vehicles could spur innovation for those on terra firma as well. It’s not as easy as it sounds. You can’t just take a racing bike with a lightweight faring, put the most fuel efficient engine you can find on it, and go pick out your yacht. Anyone with half a brain could pull that off.
No, the foundation has much more difficult criteria one must meet before they get to make their banker’s day. There are actually 2 categories, but the one with the most dough requires that your car must carry 4 adults, meet federal safety and emissions standards, and (here’s the tough part) be a car that consumers would actually want to endure an afternoon at the dealership enough to purchase with their own money.
Consumers are a demanding bunch for the most part. They’ll want a car that goes and stops much like any other, although I’ll bet they’ll make a few concessions to reach the century mpg mark. If gas should go much past $5.00 a gallon, you’d probably find enough drivers willing to give up A/C and power windows that you could actually market about anything that got 100mpg.
One more thing – Performance is essential, because the $10 million prize will go to the fastest car that meets the specifications.
Here’s my plan for the 100mpg car:
100mpg Powertrain:
When running, the tiny, high-pressure rail turbo diesel is always working at its most efficient rpm range. It only charges the batteries. The drive wheels are powered entirely by a high efficiency electric motor.
100mpg Chassis:
Performance Targets:
I’ll leave it someone else to fill in the details. I’m sure greater minds than mine are hard at work on this project already.
It’s pretty easy to find the cars with the best gas mileage. You only need look at the U.S. government EPA numbers. It’s there in black and white for all to see. What’s not so easy to find are the cars that get good gas mileage that are actually fun to drive. If you’re one of those that view your car as something more than a simple transportation appliance, the act of getting you to work in the morning isn’t the only thing you expect out of your car.
It may not take rocket science to find a car that gets good gas mileage, but it definitely takes a bit more digging to root out those that can do that and keep you entertained while you’re behind the wheel. For those that actually like to drive, especially in a car that goes where you point it, pulls respectable Gs in the corners, stops like you tied it to a tree, and at least tries to pin you back in your seat when you put your foot in it, here is the
1st Annual Super-Gas-Saver.com Top 12 Best Gas Mileage Cars That are Fun to Drive – 2008 Edition.
What’s important here is gas mileage and fun. The number of seats, cargo capacity, and other niceties of these cars are purely secondary considerations, and are used as tiebreakers only. Why 12, not 10? Well, 11 is better than 10, right? That means 12 must be even better still. In the interest of fun and economy these cars have manual or automated manual transmissions. The only other qualification is that the base MSRP must be less than $50,000. Rankings are independent of price, but factor in the elusive “fun to drive” factor and EPA gas mileage posted by these cars.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 11 -
Mazda 3S – MSRP $18,405 – EPA combined 25, EPA Highway 29 – 156 HP, regular gas
If you have to drive a basic sedan, but want one that won’t set off your insomnia, Mazda can get you behind the wheel of the newly revised Mazda 3. It carves a mean corner for a economy car, has best-in-class binders to keep you out of the ditch, and almost touches 7 seconds flat in a 0-60 sprint. Even better, it’s almost downright cheap and has good resale value to go along with it’s fuel frugality.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 10 -
Infiniti G37 Coupe Sport 6MT – MSRP $36,200 – EPA combined 20, EPA Highway 26 – HP 330, premium gas
Couldn’t afford that 240Z in high school? Want one now, but think the 350Z looks like a soft, warm pile on a hot day? Infinity has wrapped the 3.7 liter V6 from the new 370Z in much sexier bodywork to create the G37 coupe. Get the 6MT model, which is backed by, as the name might suggest, a 6-speed manual transmission. It sits on sports suspension, and has some rather hefty Brembo brakes, although recent brake tests in Car and Driver Magazine suggest they might take a vacation after a few hard, panic stops. In any case, the Infiniti is super fun, has a stout motor, and looks great. It manages to do all this and still return 26 miles to each gallon of premium, if you can stay on the freeway. It would have finished higher, but the gas mileage is nothing to write home about in this crowd.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 9 -
Honda S-2000 – MSRP $34,300 - EPA combined 21, EPA Highway 25 – 237 HP, premium gas
Just hearing one of these things rip to the 8,000rpm (used to be 9,000 rpm) redline is worth the price of admission alone. Slap a performance exhaust on it and it will really sing. Handling is superb, if just a touch understeer oriented, and boy is it fast for a normally aspirated 4 cylinder.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 8 -
Chevy Corvette – MSRP $46,950 – EPA combined 19, EPA Highway 26 – 430 HP, premium gas
The Corvette, icon of American performance, would have finished higher, Lord knows the ‘Vette’s performance warranted it, but it was held back by it’s low (for this crowd) 19mpg combined rating. On the performance front, the Vette cleans everything else’s clock. Fun to drive? The Corvette has it in spades, especially if your qualifications include AA-like acceleration numbers. Of course, you won’t see high gas mileage figures while using the Corvette’s 430hp V8 to rocket you from 0-60, but if you keep your foot out of it on the cruise (actually use the cruise, that’ll help) to work, you’ll actually get pretty respectable gas mileage.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 7 -
Honda Fit Sport – MSRP $15,270 – EPA combined 28, EPA Highway 34 – 115 HP, regular gas
Just as the Corvette was restrained by it’s 19mpg rating, the Fit was held back by it’s 115 HP rating. Although this thing returns fantastic fuel economy figures, and is a blast to drive, the lack of acceleration can only let it climb so high in the list. If your definition of fun to drive includes zippy, go cart like handling, but you really need great gas mileage, this could be your car, especially as the price of entry is so low. As an added bonus, it seats 4 comfortably, and has a door for each. No more folding your seat forward.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 6 -
BMW 335i – MSRP $39,300 – EPA combined 20, EPA Highway 26 – 300 HP, premium gas
The gold standard of sports sedans. If you need a car that holds more than 2, but still want to have a rip roarin’ good time, the 335i is the car for you. It will tickle your funny bone, and if doesn’t, you probably don’t have one. Remember when 300hp was pure sports car territory? Yeah, me too. Now you can get the jewel like response of the 6 cylinder and handling that other manufacturers strive to emulate, in a car that lets you take along the Biffy, Buffy and your wife/husband for the ride to grandma’s.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 5 -
Chevy Cobalt SS – MSRP $22,995 – EPA combined 25, EPA Highway 30 – 260 HP, premium gas
Handles far better than any Chevy save the Corvette and can more than get out of it’s own way, thanks to the force-fed 4 cylinder. It won’t set you back a fortune either. The Cobalt SS is a hot rod for the one who wants to turn and stop too. With an EPA 30mpg on the freeway and 25 in town, you can probably even make it to work more than a couple of times on a tank full of premium. Car and Driver Magazine, typically loathe to say nice things about American cars that aren’t bodied in fiberglass, even called the 260hp version of the Cobalt SS “shockingly good”.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 4 -
Pontiac Solstice GXP – MSRP $28,775 – EPA combined 22, EPA Highway 28 – 260 HP, premium gas
It looks pretty darn good, has a direct injected, turbo motivator that put 260hp at your command, and gets better gas mileage than it’s non-turbo cousin that has 86hp less. How’s that for technology in action? The brakes work great as well, and as Pontiac is proud to point out, will haul the Solstice down in less distance than the Audi TT. In addition, the Poncho gets better mileage than the TT. The upcoming coupe version looks great, even better than you remember the original convertible Solstice looking when it was makin’ the Donald look good on The Aprentice.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 3 -
Mazda MX-5 Miata – MSRP $21,305 – EPA combined 24, EPA Highway 27 – 166 HP, premium gas
The Miata is one of the original “real car” sports cars. You know, a car that starts every morning, illuminates the night with it’s headlights, not flames, and doesn’t leave puddles adorning your driveway. The new version is even better, with a healthy increase in power from the original version’s 116 hp. (There have been several power increases since way back then) It has really tossable handling, uses hardly any gas, and you can get a sunburned dome on a nice Sunday. What could be better? Well, actually…….
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 2 -
Porsche Cayman – MSRP $49,400 – EPA combined 23, EPA Highway 29 – 245 HP, premium gas
If you can’t make this car handle well, you have no business driving. One of the best handling cars Porsche has ever built, and it will get even better next year with the introduction of direct injection for the flat 6 power plant.
Unfortunately there’s a good chance the combination of the falling dollar and increased content will push the ’09 Cayman above the $50,000 ceiling for this list, so next year it may be #2 no longer. It reaches number 2 on the fun to drive gas mileage list this year by the virtue of it’s incredible handling and pretty brisk acceleration, even though it isn’t the fastest car on the list (Corvette, of course), combined with the almost 30mpg highway mileage figure.
Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 1 -
Mini Cooper S – MSRP $22,600 – EPA combined 29, EPA Highway 34 – 172 HP, premium gas
You want a car that screams “Fun to Drive” so loud Beethoven would be dancing to the beat, and sips gas like a Canary tasting Kentucky Bourbon for the first time? Well you darn well should, if you have half a pulse. Here is your car. It handles like the proverbial go cart, stops from 60 mph in about the length of the Starbucks drive through, and is even pretty darn quick, especially since Mini traded the previous S version’s supercharged engine for a new, direct injection, turbo mill.
As an added bonus it can even seat 4 real adults in relative comfort, it just depends on how big your relatives are. If you can either overlook or embrace the funky dash and instrument design, you can love the Cooper S. I know I sure do!
See, you can have a great time behind the wheel and still save gas. Until next time!
