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The final numbers are in for new-car fuel economy in the United States for 2014, and they are better than they were in 2008.
According to Autoblog, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute found that the average U.S. fuel economy for a 2014 model landed at 25.3 mpg, 22 percent higher than six years ago.
The same percentage of improvement holds up when it comes to vehicles rated at 16 mpg or less, where only one in 30 new cars held that distinction. On the other end of the spectrum, one in six new cars garnered a rating of 32 mpg or above in 2014; only 1 percent could say the same in 2008.
15 Comments on “UMTRI: US New-Car Fuel Economy Averaged 25.3 MPG In 2014...”
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That Fiesta looks familiar…..can’t quite place it.
It’s Bark’s car
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/02/barks-bites-welcome-24-month-long-fiesta/#more-1001274
Not sure when the gov changed the way it tested MPG so not sure this is an apple to apple comparison. I would have thought it would have been higher, with small cars becoming more popular and with CFC getting rid of a bunch of old gas hogs. One of 6 cars does better than 32 mpg, that surprised me also, well we moving it the right direction, wonder how cheap gas will have an effect, most folks I know are buying bigger cars and subs because gas is cheap, it will bite them but their choice.
2008 was the most recent revision of the EPA formulas.
2008 was the first year for the current standards if memory serves me right.
CFC removed less than .4% of cars from the road. More vehicles are taken out of the US fleet by accidents, being Totaled Out by insurance companies and good old fashion wear and tear.
These numbers are for new vehicles only, not all vehicles on the road.
Not only was cash for clunkers insignificant, but it would have no impact on these numbers, since these figures only include new cars.
There is a formula for converting old EPA numbers into the new results, so that is also not a factor.
But now that gas prices are lower, people are going to buy more gas guzzlers and demand much more gas. Price elasticity of gasoline demand is very high. We learned about the elasticity of demand for gasoline between 1999 and 2006, when the price of gasoline tripled. Americans consumed a lot less gasoline.
We know this will be true in the future, too. Analysts are already predicting a decline in hybrid and plug-in models. Declining gasoline prices can be the only cause of declining plug-in sales.
Even the guzzlers do better than they used to, so CAFE has accomplished its true purpose of raising the floor for how bad fuel economy can be.
This is truce, but technology also is advancing. Trucks get better mileage than comparable vehicles did just a few years ago. So even if more people went out and got Expeditions, today’s are better on fuel. The small DI, high compression and turbo motors are doing pretty well too. Not just on the test track either. Even if it requires some change in driving habits, the folks that are buying these for the purpose of mileage are getting better than rated results and loving it. The whole scale is trending up and I don’t even believe gas prices are the big driver (vehicle prices may be a greater factor)
Where’s that Chrysler 200 comparison?? I’m DYING.
Me too, thought I was the only one. Funny I look forward to reviews like that more than Porsche’s.
There is no doubt that the better midsized cars are delivering real world MPG at least as good as the better compact cars 6 years ago. Today’s 4-cylinder Honda accord gets better gas mileage than a 2009 Honda Civic.
As was mentioned the other day, it seems like the one segment where there hasn’t been any improvement has been minivans. I think there the problem has been weight creep and lack of innovation. The most innovative gas saving technology in minivans is the cylinder deactivation in the Honda Odyssey, but with curb weight over 4600 lbs. displacement tricks only get you so far.
My 2012 Impala gets mpgs as advertised, sometimes better. The worst mpg I have gotten was 19 strictly around town – dead on. 30 on the highway – I have recently gotten 33 on a road trip. So I’d say the current EPA efforts at evaluating real-world fuel economy numbers are pretty accurate.
It is interesting this was achieved without the sky falling down. I am sorry the lovely V8s and even lusty V6s have been phased out but manufacturers seem to still provide fast and ever safer cars. It reminds me of the ease with which sulphur dioxide was removed from factory emissions such that pollution permits were soon worthless. Both energy and some US car firms whined about the regs but found out how to deal with them. Business is clever when it applies its intelligence. Presumably other problems that seem so intractable can be sorted out with similar ease if people work on it instead of looking for excuses.