The EPA ratings for Ford’s 2011 F-150 EcoBoost are here – and Ford seems pretty happy with itself. Rated at 16 MPG in the city, and 22 MPG on the highway, the 365 HP truck is a pretty awesome combination of power and efficiency. Oh, and did I mention it makes 420 lb-ft of torque?

I’ll just say this – who needs a V8?

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  The EPA finally got around to putting official MPG numbers on the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, which is due to hit dealers lots this summer.  Remember, this new TDI engine is 50 state legal – so you can buy it and drive it anywhere in the US.  Read to hear the results?  Drumroll please…….

30 MPG city and 41 MPG highway.  Underwhelmed?  Sure you are.  With VW’s huge expectations, we expected 40+ city and 45+ highway.  After all, VW is the diesel company – the one that hates hybrids.  Plus, with diesel at record highs ( and ~20% higher than gasoline ), the TDI is starting to not make much sense.  Let’s take a look:

• Similar price premium vs hybrid
• Worse fuel economy vs hybrid
• Higher pollution vs hybrid
• It’s a VW ( reliability concerns, except for engine )

Historically VW’s TDI’s get a bit better than EPA results in the real world, but the case still isn’t very convincing.  Sorry VW,  you’ll have to do better than this.

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Low resistance mobile – that’s what Loremo stands for. And that is precisely what it is – the Loremo was designed with only one thing in mind – the lowest possible coefficient of drag, and thus the highest possibly efficiency. By cutting drag everywhere possible ( including the doors – there are none! ), the Loremo managed to get fuel efficiency up to 150 miles per gallon. Under the hood is a tiny 2 cylinder turbodiesel – no fancy hybrid parts here. The target price for European production ( the designer is a German company ) is just 15,000 Euros, or about $22,000 at today’s exchange rate.

If the Loremo makes it overseas, the two cylinder diesel powerplant will be replaced with a 3 cylinder engine, and the target price will become $30,000. No word on how that extra cylinder will affect fuel economy, though performance does improve substantially – from a 0-60 time of 16 seconds, down to 10 seconds.

If there are no doors, how do I get in?

This is the cool part. The entire front of the car flips up and forward – including the hood, windshield, and steering column. You then climb in, and the front end swings down and everything settings back into place. That could be a safety concern, since it would be awfully tough to get out in the event of an accident.

Rear seat – for kids only

Behind the front seats are two rear-facing seatlets. Small children only please, and they climb in through the rear hatch. The seats are also removable if you need the extra storage. Or rather, if you need any storage. With the seats in the back there really isn’t room for any, you know, stuff.

A step toward the future

Getting this kind of fuel economy without a hybrid powertrain is amazing. If the Loremo ever adds this technology ( reportedly in the works ), who knows what sort of number we could see. This vehicle is small, insanely efficient, and performs well enough for everyday driving. Though it wouldn’t serve well as a family vehicle for long trips, it would be great for driving to and from work. If they can bring it to the US for under or right at $30,000, I’d be willing to be they’ll find enough buyers to make it worth their while.

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Hello, President Clinton the second. I doubt Hillary will actually become president, but she’s got balls, that’s for sure. The current energy bill being considered has a goal of setting the CAFE standards at 35 MPG – Hillary wants to go way beyond that.

Her plan includes two steps – 40 MPG by 2020, and the big one of 55 MPG by 2030. The current standard is just 25 MPG – so we’re talking about a huge, huge jump. Apparently she’s a believer in the whole global warming deal, as well as reducing foreign oil dependency. Whether you believe in global warming or not, we do need to rely less on oil imports.

Part of Mrs Clinton’s plan is also to offer an astounding $10,000 tax credit for plug-in hybrids ( count me in! ), and 100,000 PHEV vehicles for the federal government’s use. She also wants to earmark $20 billion for “Green Vehicle Bonds”, so the US automakers can retool their plants and achieve 55 MPG averages.

Hillary has definitely shown some cajones with her plan here. I will be sad to see the end of the new muscle car era, for sure. But I think that high mileage cars are the future, and it’s better to change by choice now, rather than forced change later, when oil is scarce. Anyone ready to vote a woman into office?

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Hybrids are all the rage these days, what with the Prius being rated at over 50 MPG ( estimated mid 40′s for 2008 ).  Our good friends overseas have something even better though.  The upcoming Mini Cooper D, due to start being produced in August 2007, is expected to get a rating of 72.4 MPG – without the help of hybrid technology.

That’s right, over 70 MPG with no hybrid powertrain – something that, to my knowledge, has never been done before.  Hell, only the smallest of hybrids, the Honda Insight, has been rated that high.  So, how does BMW eke that mileage out of the Cooper D?  Take a look –

• Brake Energy Regeneration
• Auto Start-Stop Function

Basically, features that to this point, have only been available on hybrid vehicles.  My question is this – when in the world will we see this vehicle in the US?  The wife has been mulling over a Mini for her next car ( probably will go with the Altima Coupe at this point ), but if the Cooper D comes here with 70+ MPG, that might change things.

Link.

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There are many reasons why Toyota is a better automaker than GM, and many reasons why Toyota is now the largest automaker in the world. For starters, Toyota listens to their customers, where GM seems to ignore them. Toyota continually refines a successful formula, where GM lets it stagnate. Not to mention the fact that Toyota has been building rock solid vehicles for years, and GM has only started to do so recently.

But today we’ll look at an issue that I think really sums up the Toyota vs GM situation, and shows why Toyota is successful, and GM, not so much.

In case it isn’t obvious, this little pictures explains in beautiful simplicity why Toyota is smarter than GM. Flex-fuel ( ethanol ) vs Hybrid Synergy Drive. For years now, Toyota has been concentrating on hybrids that get fantastic gas mileage. They are spreading the technology through their lineup steadily – they currently offer 5 hybrid models by my count. In fact, Toyota plans to have a 100% hybrid penetration rate by 2020 – that means that every Toyota sold will have a hybrid powertrain.

GM, on the other hand, has decided to mostly stay out of the hybrid game, and focus on making their vehicles ethanol-ready. Ethanol ( E85 ) is a gas / corn blend that is 85% corn, and just 15% gasoline. The goal of ethanol is to reduce dependence on foreign oil, and reduce costs to consumers. A different strategy than Toyota, for sure, but is it that much worse.

The “Benefits” of Ethanol

Well, yes, absolutely, no question at all. See, there are a lot of problems with ethanol. For one, there’s no official consensus that E85 is net energy positive. That is, it’s not certain that turning corn into gasoline actually creates more usable energy than is used in the actual creation. It is very possible that we are burning more energy than is created – not exactly a step forward, is it?

Even if we make the rather lofty assumption that this is not the case, and that ethanol is energy efficient, it still doesn’t make sense. Why? Because there is no real, “right now” benefit to the consumer. Vehicles that are E85 ready, or “flex-fuel” capable, get approximately 25% worse gas mileage when running on the stuff, than when they run on regular gas. That is because there is less overall energy in E85 fuel. So instead of getting, say 14 mpg city, 20 mpg , you’ll see something closer to 10 mpg city / 15 mpg highway. This is, of course, in a large SUV – something that certain doesn’t need to get worse fuel economy.

There aren’t a whole lot of gas stations that sell E85, at least away from the Midwest. The few that are around my area, actually charge more for E85 than for regular 87 octane. So not only do you pay more at the pump, you get worse gas mileage. So, E85 costs more on two fronts – not exactly my idea of fun. Not only is there a lack of a “right now” benefit, there’s a very real penalty. I’d like to help the environment too, but at a cost of 25%+ more for fuel? I’m not interested.

The Benefits of a Hybrid

On the other side of the fence, Toyota is offering the Hybrid Synergy Drive rather than flex-fuel vehicles. For simple comparison’s sake, we’ll look at the Camry vs the Camry Hybrid. The new 2008 EPA ratings for the Camry are 21 mpg city / 30 mpg highway. The Camry Hybrid? 33 mpg city / 34 mpg highway. Once you swallow the price increase, there is a very tangible, “right now” benefit to driving a hybrid – a 30% increase in fuel economy, and a 30% smaller fuel bill. Not only that, I don’t need to pay extra for special fuel, and I don’t need to hunt around for a gas station that offers it. Ultimately, you get paid to do less damage to the environment.

At the end of the day

What it all comes down to is this. GM is asking you to spend more money to *possibly* help the environment and the country. Toyota is asking you to spend less to *definitely* help the environment and the country. Which one would you choose?

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With the announcement that the EPA is changing their testing procedures for the 2008 and beyond model years, many people are wondering what sort of gas mileage these vehicles will be rated at.  After all, it will be the first time in a very long time that EPA gas mileage ratings have any semblance of reality in them.

The good folks at Kiplingers have been so kind as to create a 2008 Gas Mileage Calculator.  Simply select the vehicle you’re considering, the engine size, and transmission.  The calculator will show you the 2007 ratings for comparison, right next to the new 2008 ratings.  Cha-Ching.

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Buy a Corvette. The 2007 Chevrolet Corvette, the same one that has the 6.0 liter LS2 V8 good for 400 HP, gets an astonishing 28 MPG on the highway, when hooked up to the six speed manual.

If 400 HP isn’t enough for you, don’t worry. You always have the option of the Z06 trim, which swaps out the puny 6.0 liter V8 for a massive 7.0 liter LS7 V8 – good for 505 HP. Don’t fret though, you don’t have to sacrifice your precious gas mileage. You’ll still get 26 MPG on the highway. Chevy has some sort of voodoo trickery going on there – it’s just not natural. Source.

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I read the Cleanmpg.com forum now and again, and one of the recent posts caught my eye.  It’s one discussing the legal ramifications of hypermiling.  For those of you who don’t know. hypermiling is the art of getting the best possible gas mileage.  Some basic measures are taken, such as not dropping the hammer at every stop light, not idling unnecessary, etc.  But hypermilers go above and beyond the basics.  They do such things as coasting in neutral, with the engine off, tailgating ( or drafting, as they call it ) tractor trailers, and other fancy maneuvers. 

Most of the tactics used by hypermilers are safe, if performed by people who know what they are doing.  However, the average idiot doesn’t know what he’s doing, and has no business doing these things.  While state law varies from state to state, at least a few of the popular hypermiling techniques are illegal in Massachusetts.  For example, tailgating is good for a $100 fine, while coasting in neutral is good for $100 on certain roads. 

There are other laws and offenses in the post, with links to the laws themselves.  Bottom line is this – if you’re going to hypermile, first check with your state laws.  If everything’s legal, get lots of practice in areas with no traffic before you even think about doing some crazy stuff on a busy road.  Remember, there are other drivers out there, and safety comes before gas mileage.

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Currently, the US government offers a tax credit on many hybrid models. As a general rule, the more fuel efficient the model is, the bigger the tax break. So you see tax credits as low as $650 for vehicles like the full-size GM pickup mild hybrids, all the way up to $2100 for a Honda Civic Hybrid.

Toyota once had the highest tax credits available on the Prius and Camry Hybrid, but due to limitations on the tax credit, Toyota’s incentives are dropping. The tax credits are based on volume of hybrids sold, and once a manufacturer passes 60,000 units, the tax credit begins to phase out.

Why do I care?

As consumers, we usually look for the best value. When comparing a hybrid model vs a non-hybrid model, the price difference is usually several thousand dollars. A $2000+ tax credit can ease that difference significantly, and make the difference in which vehicle we purchase. Take away that tax credit, and the math starts to get fuzzy… it will take longer to make up the price difference in gas savings, and many people will choose the gas only model. If there is a strong tax credit available on the hybrid vehicle, you may decide to purchase it. In doing so, you’ll save money on gas, and pollute less. I’m no green freak, but if we can spew less crap in the air without too much trouble, then great.

Use less foreign oil

Just turn on the television or surf to your favorite news site. You can’t help but hear that we as Americans use too much oil, and depend too much on foreign oil. Compounding the problem is the constant strife in the Middle East, one of our main sources of oil today. If the government helps people buy more hybrids, then people will buy less gas. Less gas means less oil, which means less money flowing to the most violent region in the world. It also frees up dollars for American consumers to spend in other areas, which will help spur the American economy. With the housing issues and energy prices the way they are, this will become more and more important in the coming years.

Auto Manufacturer’s can’t do it all

It’s often said that selling hybrids is unprofitable for automakers. Whether that’s true or not, I doubt that we’ll ever truly know. I don’t have access to their books, so we’ll have to take their word for it. If Honda loses money on every single Honda Civic Hybrid they sell, where is their motivation to produce more? If they build and sell more, that simply means they’ll lose more money. If they’re simply going after marketshare, they don’t have any room to offer pricing incentives, since the cars are already sold at a loss. In a nutshell, they have no room to maneuver.

Permanent tax credits can help

If the US government puts permanent, or more likely, long-term, tax credits in place for hybrid vehicles, that gives automakers some much needed assistance. With strong enough tax credits, automakers could raise hybrid prices slightly, enough so that they are profitable to sell. This will spur an increase in R&D dollars for even more fuel-efficient vehicles that the public will love. More variety will give us, the consumers, more choices when we’re going hybrid shopping. We won’t have to limit ourselves to goofy-looking tree-hugger mobiles. ( Though that’s not necessarily the case today, either. )

I don’t know if we’ll ever see long-term or permanent hybrid tax credits. But if the US government is serious about reducing our dependency on foreign oil, and I think they should be, then they should play ball. US citizens want to do the right thing ( it’s hidden deep-down at times ) , but they do need a little push. A tax credit won’t convince the guy who’s buying a Yukon XL to go the hybrid Camry route. But it may convince the guy who’s looking at the Altima and Camry. A hybrid of either model with a big fat, juicy tax credit may get him to come over to the other side. The US government needs to rewrite the hybrid tax credit program, quickly, and decisively.

Hi there – could you help spread the word about Houston Cars? I could really use your help in getting my work out to new readers. If you would send someone a link, email, or even mention it to your friends, I would appreciate it. Why Hybrid buyers should get tax credits is a post from: Houston Cars, home of the best darn car reviews around.