OUCH!: Hybrids Taken To The Wood Shed By The 2008 EPA Fuel Economy Scores

Wow another poorly researched item from Agent 009 with an absurd headline.

Wasn't Agent 009 one of the idiots saying the hybrid market had peaked late last year?

For many regular gasoline cars a 2 mpg decline would be a 15% decline - so what if some hybrids decline by a similar amount.

A quick review of the material attached shows the Lexus hybrid models all down by 2 or 3 mpg - hardly ending the case for hybrids. Let's wait and see what happens to the fuel economy numbers for the following vehicles:
Mercedes E series diesel
Volkswagen Passat gasoline
Volkswagen Beetle gasoline
I'm betting these decline as much as any Lexus Hybrid

Agent 009 do you get paid?, if so it can't be for research, its probably based on how many comments your articles elicit.

Audi has just started shipping cars with the new sticker and rating system and so far no changes in the mpg figures.

which 2008 models does Audi have out already? Is the TT a 2008? Everything else is a 2007 right? The mileage change won't appear on window stickers for 2007 models, it only affects 2008's.

I should clarify -- there ARE new window stickers being used right now for the 2007's, the ones that show crash test results and everything on them. But the new EPA ratings won't be used until the 2008 models, the ones on the stickers I think you're talking about are still the old EPA ratings.

finally, fuel economy ratings are closer to reality.

Oddly enough the Civic Hybrid is gets almost now exactly what the lawsuit claims vs the advertised rate.

Customers' actual experiences will still vary, greatly. Many of you here probably have never been behind the wheel of a Prius. I can tell you that you can get way more than 48 mpg in the city.

Lowering the expectations of hybrids will only make their owners more cocky when they realize what mpgs they actually are achieving...

I'm not sure it is lowering the expectation. But it is far easier to promise less and deliver more than the other way around.

Any way you look at it the figures needed to be adjusted for the real world driving.

i have several friends with priuses...and they are devout hybrid fanatics. none of them has ever gotten over 45 mpg. and the one with the lead foot averages in the high 30s.

I borrowed a friend's Prius for three tanks and I never achieved 40 MPG. My drive is about 60% highway and I used the air conditioner whenever I began to get warm. It's feasible to get in the 40-50 MPG range, but it's not for me. I'll stick with my cheap 4 door sedans with I4's and get in the low 30's.

Will:
>> you can get way more than 48 mpg in the city
Of course, you can if you don't mind getting shouted at, shot at, "fingered" at....

I owned a '05 Prius for the HOV perks (to be honest).
The new EPA is still wrong for Prius. I can easily get 50+ going 70-75mph by maintaining the speed. The new EPA says 45mpg highway. That is way off. I would get 45mpg if I go 80mph.

City at 48mpg? No way, I get about 42mpg on average by following traffic like everyone else and timing the red lights as much as I could. However, my mpg average since new has been 45-46mpg, which is very close to EPA's combined number. In that sense, I like the new rating.

If you are really careful on how u driving than u could probably get excellent mpg. But the avg person doesn't time the red lights and doesn't step on the gas with the mpg in mind. Hei, if I do that in my A4 2.0T I can easily get over 26mpg in 100% city driving, but that is not what the average driver gets. And honestly, I get sick of only touching the gas like it's an egg, sometimes it's good to press that pedal harder!

I have similar experiences. I cant wait to get my Prius on the highway to see some really amazing mpg numbers. City driving aint cuttin it for me. 50-55 freeway, 45 city. City mpg goes up big time when you have to drive very long distances, 20-30 minutes. Thats when you get a lot of time in battery mode.

BTW. THIS IS NOT NEWS. The EPA HAS NOT, I REPEAT, HAS NOT posted 2008 figures for cars such as the Prius. These are the same ESTIMATES that have been up on their website for months. The EPA does not provide 2008 figures until the mfr delivers them a 2008 model. This has only been done by a few cars, and even fewer hybrids.

I wonder where our good friend huu76 is..

He is in the shop selling "I hate BMW and the germans" shirts. He should be here soon. *gets popcorn*

The first one I noticed was on a TT which is a 2008 model. The entire format of the Monroney has changed but the EPA mileage figure did not, at least for the TT. We shall see next month when the rest of the 08 model line up starts to arrive.

First, all including dirty diesels drop 10~20%

Second, Hybrids still have the best FE, big margins over their gas-only counterparts.

Even so, the price premium does not justify the purchase. Why pay more for a Prius when you can get great mileage for less with any of Toyota's other smaller compacts? The technology is still too expensive and does not see savings at the pump unless you own the car for what - 8 years??

I wouldn't surprise me if Lexus started selling diesels in the USA.

clean diesles---just wait for next year...... how many times have we heard this? where are they??? Hybrids are here now, and have been procuding amazing mpg and low emissions for going on 8 years now. Where again are those diesels??? Will they make it here before the next gen hybrids?

Everyone also forgets that hybrids excel in the emissions department. Even taking fuel economy out of the equation, the fact that hybrids emit less than straight gas counterparts is still reason enough for some people to purchase a hybrid vehicle.

http://john1701a.com/

Check out this guy's website where he logs practically all information possible on his Toyota Prius. He mostly averages around 48 just like the EPA says, but quite often he does average up to 55mpg.

as a 2006 Prius owner I can easily get hi 50's MPG in the city not driving like a jackass.

I recently bought a 2000 Honda Insight and my LIFETIME MPG is 71.2MPG I drive 70mph on the freeway and again, I don't drive like a jackass in city driving.

have fun paying Exxon/Shell etc....I can get 900 miles on a tank of gas in the Insight! Not bad for my little commuter POS!!!

I'll repeat what I posted earlier, cuz it was just as a response to an other. No one else seems to have mentioned it, so I want to make it painfully clear. Hopefully 009 and others will read it and stop posting these lies.

The EPA HAS NOT, I REPEAT, HAS NOT posted 2008 figures for cars such as the Prius. These are the same ESTIMATES that have been up on their website for months. The EPA does not provide 2008 figures until the mfr delivers them a 2008 model. This has only been done by a few cars, and even fewer hybrids.

here are a few....

http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicle/select.htm

40+ MPG for a full sized sedan is still good. The skeptics have to understand, with the Prius it's not about saving money. If it were, people wouldn't be spending $5 for a bar of organic soap at Whole Foods.

Two extremely good points, lewissalem.

it is not a 'full-size' sedan. it is a mid-size.

start counting ur loses lexus.