Gas Mileage

Not everything you've heard about increasing gas mileage is true. There are plenty of legitimate ways to stretch your mileage: slow down, keep tires at proper inflation, avoid quick acceleration, don't pile luggage on a roof rack, use a properly fitted gas cap. But at this time of skyrocketing gasoline prices, several myths are circulating. The claims were tested by car experts at the Automobile Club of Southern California and Consumer Reports magazine.

One year after automakers began building cars to meet tough new mileage and emissions requirements, it is clear the new standards are working. An in-depth assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency found that manufacturers are on track to deliver a fleet by 2025 that will cut in half the global-warming pollution of cars and save Americans billions of dollars at the pump. The EPA reported Thursday that the 2012 fleet's mileage increased 1.2 miles per gallon, a roughly 5% jump.

Consumer Reports is blasting the new slate of turbocharged cars, saying they fail to live up to fuel economy claims. Ford Motor Co. comes in for particularly harsh grading. The newly released tests revealing that two turbo versions of its bread-and-butter Fusion midsize sedan fail to deliver either the power or the efficiency of non-turbo competitors such as the Honda Accord. The magazine found similar results for turbocharged versions of Ford's Escape small SUV and Ford F-150 pickup truck.

The last time I was in Rome I saw a young man in linen shorts and wraparound sunglasses, talking on a cellphone and smoking a cigarette while riding a Vespa, moving fast down a narrow street in the direction of the Piazza Navona. Perhaps only an Italian can do that, and only in the Eternal City, but there is something timelessly cool about the classic Italian scooter. As a motorcycle snob, I never rode a scooter -- or wanted to. Give me horsepower and performance, I said. Scooters are for ... amateurs.

Hyundai and Kia overstated the fuel economy on more than one-third of the vehicles they sold in recent years, an embarrassing acknowledgment for two of the fastest-growing auto brands in the U.S. The South Korean automakers issued an apology and said they would give special debit cards to nearly a million owners to make up for the difference in the lower miles per gallon logged by the vehicles. The discrepancies were found by the Environmental Protection Agency, which began investigating after consumers complained.

New vehicles are expected to set records -- barely -- for average gas mileage in 2007, driven by improved technology and demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, the federal government says. Vehicles from the 2007 model year are projected to average 26.4 miles per gallon overall, a gain of 1 mpg over the previous year and above the previous record of 26.2 mpg in 1987. The increases are attributed to higher demand for hybrids and more fuel-efficient vehicles. Honda Motor Co. was estimated to lead the way, averaging 39.9 mpg for its imported vehicles and 33.7 mpg for vehicles built in the United States.

What do mothballs and toilet bowl deodorant bars have to do with drastically improving gas mileage? Nothing, say prosecutors who are going after a company that claims a small ball made with the chemicals in those products is a "gas pill" that can boost mileage 25% or more. Texas Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott sued BioPerformance Inc. on Wednesday, a day after a San Antonio judge signed a temporary restraining order forcing the Dallas company to cease allegedly deceptive acts and froze its assets.

Imported cars dominate both the best and the worst categories in the annual survey of automobile gasoline mileage released today by the Environmental Protection Agency. Overall, auto makers made little gain in gasoline mileage in the 1990 model year although the number of cars--mostly expensive super-luxury imports--that trigger the federal "gas guzzler" tax dropped from 40 car types to 30.

While gas prices at the pump have soared, customers at Southern California auto dealerships are still more concerned about price and style than fuel efficiency. After two months of soaring gasoline prices triggered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, auto industry officials say consumers have not changed their auto-buying habits dramatically. Industry sales figures for September, which were released Wednesday, showed that sales volume and the types of autos sold remain unchanged.

Re: Dan Neil's auto column, "Mazda6 sure cleans up nicely," May 29: He waxes poetic, saying, "It's a lovely car, with a sleek, coupe-like profile and superbly ordered lines that whisper to the wind even while it's parked in the driveway." He also says it gets "reasonable gas mileage -- 20 mpg city/29 mpg highway." The 2009 Mazda6 may be a great car to drive but that kind of gas mileage is killing the planet. When will we start loving cars we can all live with? Todd Mason Mar Vista

With gas prices continuing a steady upward climb, you may be headed to the dealer in search of something less thirsty at the pump. But which cars' sticker price gives you the most bang for your buck? We asked Edmunds.com to look at the vehicles with the lowest sticker price per fuel-economy rating. The math was simple: divide the car's base price by its EPA rating for combined fuel economy. The result gives a look at how much each mile per gallon will cost you. Photos: Top 10 cars with lowest cost per mpg Topping the list is Ford's C-Max Energi.

While electric vehicles continue to grab the green-car spotlight, an older technology has quietly emerged as a player in the fuel economy wars: turbocharging. Once the province of performance cars, turbochargers now power economy cars, family sedans and even full-sized trucks. Turbos now account for an estimated 13% of U.S. auto sales, according to Honeywell International Inc., a leading turbo supplier. That's double what it was in 2010. The increase is driven by ever-stricter federal fuel economy standards.

Consumer Reports is blasting the new slate of turbocharged cars, saying they fail to live up to fuel economy claims. Ford Motor Co. comes in for particularly harsh grading. The newly released tests revealing that two turbo versions of its bread-and-butter Fusion midsize sedan fail to deliver either the power or the efficiency of non-turbo competitors such as the Honda Accord. The magazine found similar results for turbocharged versions of Ford's Escape small SUV and Ford F-150 pickup truck.

A Ducati assembly line worker told me five years ago that every second motorcycle made at the company's Bologna, Italy, factory is a Monster. A major U.S. Ducati retailer told me recently, “Monster is Ducati.” Since beginning production of the naked sport bike in 1992, it has shipped more than 250,000 of the little Monsters , the company recently announced. But until two weeks ago I'd never even sat on one. An hour after I did, I was a convert. I rode a route that started around Laurel Canyon and Mulholland, wandered through Topanga Canyon and the Malibu mountains, and circled back via the freeway.

I wrestle with my demons just like everybody else, addicted as I am to Mariel Hemingway movies and those little "fun-sized" Snickers bars, of which several trillion are floating around in these weeks after Halloween. Airlift them to Cuba. Put them in warheads and fire them at Charlie Sheen's skull. Whatever it takes, because I am one fun-sized Snickers bar away from setting my garage afire just because. See? Demons. Oh, I'm not done. If I go to one more dinner party where someone raves about the mileage they're getting with their Prius or Leaf, my head might explode.

Re "Hyundai, Kia overstated gas mileage," Business, Nov. 3 For years no one took the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's mileage stickers seriously. Then, in 2008, new procedures made these estimates seem at least reasonably in the ballpark for really cautious drivers. Few knew, however, that the EPA did not perform these tests but rather accepted the manufacturers' estimates. But the mileage stickers on new cars say "EPA Fuel Economy Estimates," not "manufacturer's estimate.

SAVVY CAR BUYERS ALWAYS check out the federally rated gas mileage for the models they're considering -- and then snigger knowingly. The ratings are generally fine for figuring out whether a car is a major gas guzzler, but when it comes to real-life fuel economy, the small-print caveat emptor of the automotive industry is "Actual mileage may vary." Vary it does.

Hyundai and Kia overstated the fuel economy on more than one-third of the vehicles they sold in recent years, an embarrassing acknowledgment for two of the fastest-growing auto brands in the U.S. The South Korean automakers issued an apology and said they would give special debit cards to nearly a million owners to make up for the difference in the lower miles per gallon logged by the vehicles. The discrepancies were found by the Environmental Protection Agency, which began investigating after consumers complained.

Shoppers looking for family passenger cars could be winners of a war breaking out in the auto industry. Over the next year, rival automakers are planning to roll out at least four revamped mid-size sedans packed with new features and boasting better fuel economy. The cars — the Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Accord and Nissan Altima — already represent some of the bestselling vehicles of any type in the industry. Analysts say each will intensify the already tough competition in the family car segment.