The new Honda CR-Z is an important car in the auto industry. It is the worlds
first 2 door hybrid sports coupe and the only hybrid car with manual transmission.
Hybrid fuel mileage has had to take a step backwards for
this car in the name of compromise because Honda wanted a sporty drivers
car in addition to good fuel economy.
Even so,
Honda CR-Z fuel mileage is better than 95% of
cars out there and the best for a sports coupe. At the heart of the 2011
Honda CR-Z is a 1.5 liter 84kW engine combined with a 10kW electric motor.
The CR-Z is a mild hybrid. The electric motor never powers the car on its
own but assists the engine. Total combined power is 91 kW at 6100 rpm.
Honda CR-Z continued...
The
Seat Ibiza Ecomotive has excellent
diesel fuel
mileage. Its one of the highest mileage cars you can buy, with
a combined fuel consumption of 80.2 miles per U.K. gallon. What's more,
its also a very inexpensive car.
The
2011 Seat Ibiza Ecomotive has undergone extensive changes
since the 2010 version. The biggest changes are a new engine and the addition
of a stop start system. This means fuel economy is up - the 2010 Ecomotive
had a combined fuel mileage of 76.3 mpg.
A new 1.2 litre 3 cylinder diesel TDI engine replaces the old 1.4 litre
diesel unit. The new engine is shared with the new VW Polo Bluemotion and
Skoda Fabia Greenline. It produces 75 bhp and 133 lb ft of torque. High
diesel fuel mileage is achieved by teaming the economical TDI engine with
a very long ratio gearbox.
More...
We recently discussed truck fuel mileage and now we're going to take a look
at
SUV fuel mileage - another very popular class of car
which often has poor fuel economy. Like they've done for trucks, manufacturers
have battled hard to improve SUV fuel mileage, with good success, but you
have to be prepared to pay for it.
The number one spot for SUV fuel efficiency is actually held by three different
vehicles sharing the same frame and engine. The Ford Escape hybrid, Mazda
Tribute hybrid and Mercury Mariner hybrid are all 2WD SUV's boasting fuel
mileage ratings of 34 in the city, 31 on the highway and 32 combined. They
each have the same 2.5 liter gas-electric hybrid engine and cost around
$30,000.
While having great SUV fuel mileage these hybrids are expensive. Comparing
them to the non-hybrid SUV with best fuel mileage reveals a premium of $9,000.
More...
Truck fuel mileage has historically been pretty bad. Well,
very bad. Heavy, with big engines, four wheel drive and brick like aerodynamics,
trucks didn't have a lot going for them in the efficiency department. However,
recently this is starting to change. Truck fuel mileage is on the improve
thanks to advances in the efficiency of gas engines and the introduction
of several hybrid trucks.
At the head of a whole bunch of efficient compact trucks is the
Ford
Ranger 2.3 liter which is currently the most fuel efficient truck
in the U.S. How do they achieve this? Well compact trucks are a lot smaller
than full size trucks, often only with one row of seats instead of two.
A smaller, less heavy truck means a smaller engine, smaller tires and better
aerodynamics, all of which means better fuel mileage.
More
about Truck Fuel Mileage...
All else about a car being equal which transmission type would return the
best fuel mileage? Manual, auto or CVT? You may have noticed
when looking at car fuel mileage figures that manuals always have a better
fuel mileage than automatics for the same car. This is due to the fact that
a manual transmission system maintains an entirely mechanical link between
the engine, gearing and wheels via cogs, a metal chain and a clutch. The
biggest cog of the gearset is first gear and the smallest cog is the highest
gear. In a manual the job of the clutch is to disconnect the engine from
the cogs allowing the vehicle to be stopped or gear selection to be made
without having to stop the engine from running. The amount of torque applied
by the engine can be varied by altering the clutch input. This mechanical
coupling of the engine and gears in manuals gives high fuel mileage.
More
on transmission fuel mileage...
From 2013 new car emission regulations will come into force in the EU. The
new standards will be very stringent but already Toyota's best fuel mileage
cars have enabled their entire fleet to meet them when averaged out.
Toyota are the first car maker to meet the new emissions levels and its
yet another feather in their cap for their green credentials. Toyota are
keen to enforce the fact that its not just the Prius thats green, but the
company as a whole. Toyota have been working hard with their engines to
give their cars the best fuel mileage and make them low emitters of carbon
dioxide but there's also another reason why this company have achieved the
low emissions target. Toyota now have no true sports cars in their fleet.
They have slowly been ridding their range of sports cars with bad fuel efficiency.
Toyota used to have a reputation for sports cars thanks to vehicles like
the Supra and Celica. Today they do not sell a single high performance vehicle
because they do not fit in with Toyota's eco-friendly image.
More
on Toyota's Best Fuel Mileage Cars...
Aug 09: A team of researchers has found that by using laser ignition instead
of spark plugs the efficency of an internal combustion engine can be increased.
If the new technology were incorporated in vehicles it would
improve
fuel mileage.
Scientists from Liverpool University teamed up with engineers from Ford
motor company to research this technology
More
on how laser ignition improves fuel mileage
July 09: BMW are developing an interesting new technology to improve fuel
mileage. Internal combustion engines waste a lot of energy in the form of
heat.
BMW's turbosteamer recaptures some of this energy
by using the heat to power essentially what is a small steam engine!
BMW believe they can reduce the amount of energy lost as heat by up to 80%
by recycling the heat in this way. Although not giving too much away about
how the technology works, they do say they achieve this by using engine
exhaust gases to heat fluid via a heat exchanger. The fluid becomes steam
More...
The fuel mileage cars return is such an important factor when buying cars
these days due to the price of fuel going up and up. The problem is most
of the cars that return the best fuel mileage are rather bland uninspiring
vehicles. The Fiat 500 is a little different, offering classic looks with
great fuel economy.
BMW's strong sales of their present day Mini has triggered other manufacturers
to give new life to the
most
economical cars of times past. Fiat released a modern day version of
their classic 500 back in 2007 and its become quite successful, combining
both contemporary luxuries and functionality with retro styling.
The original Fiat 500 was in many ways similar to the original Mini.
More
on the Fiat 500 Lounge...
The best fuel mileage car in the world is called the Pac-Car. It is not
a production vehicle but an experimental car designed and built by the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology to take part in the Shell Eco-Marathon competition.
The Pac-Car won the event and currently holds the holds the Guinness World
Record as the car with the
best fuel mileage. The Pac-Car
traveled an unbelievable 5385 km for the equivalent of 1 litre of gas. This
equates to 0.0186 litres/100km, or 12,646 miles per gallon and means the
Pac-Car would use about 8 litres of fuel to drive around the world.
The Pac-Car cannot not be used as a normal car - it is tiny, has space for
one very small person, and only weighs 30kg. Its powered by two 18V 150W
electric motors, with the electricity coming from a fuel cell converting
hydrogen into electricity. As well as having amazing fuel efficiency the
car also has zero emissions - pure water is produced as a by-product.
More...
Toyota were miles ahead of the competition when they released their hybrid
Prius with excellent fuel mileage ratings, back in 2004. The Prius has been
one of the most fuel efficient vehicles ever since. In 2004 most people
had no idea how a hybrid car worked and other car makers were stunned by
the amazing technology packed in the Prius. Toyota made the hybrid trailblazer
and it would be some time before they would have any kind of competition.
Toyota still lead the way in hybrid economical cars and their latest offering,
the 2010 Prius has plenty of new hi-tech features as well as laying claim
to being the Prius with the best fuel mileage ratings yet.
Up until now the Toyota Prius has come with a 1.5 litre 4 cylinder petrol
engine but many customers were unhappy with the cars sluggish acceleration.
The new Prius has a larger 1.8 litre petrol engine outputting 73kW in addition
to a 60kW electric motor. The car is still a bit of a slouch on take off
(when only powered by the electric motor). When the petrol engine kicks
in at about 25mph however, acceleration is comparable to other family cars.
So how have they made the new 1.8 litre engine more fuel-efficient than
the old 1.5 litre engine? This must certainly be in part because the more
powerful new engine doesn't have to work as hard as the old one. The engine
is combined with a continuously variable automatic transmission which keeps
it in a narrow rev range best suited for maximum fuel economy. The Prius
is quite simply the most efficient family car on the market. It returns
amazing fuel mileage ratings - 51 mpg in the city and 48 mpg on the highway.
Only smaller cars with tiny engines can beat it. Not only do these fuel
mileage ratings sound impressive but this is one car that you can be confident
will return the advertised fuel economy. The 2009 Prius returned slightly
worse fuel mileage ratings at 48 mpg for the city and 45 mpg on the highway.
More...
We will soon see many new high fuel mileage cars from China and India. These
Asian countries are rapidly expanding their production of cars and they
are going to focus on the high fuel mileage market. China, amazingly, will
become the worlds largest car producer this year. With lots of cheap labour
to call on India and China are going to produce cars that will be very competitive
on price and this means we might see small high fuel mileage cars breaking
down the pricing barriers. The main problem these countries face is the
level of quality they're able to deliver in a budget car. It remains to
be seen whether their cars will appeal internationally.
The Chinese car industry will make almost 11 million vehicles this year.
This will be more than both the US and Japanese and will make them the worlds
largest car maker. This is incredible considering we currently don't see
any Chinese cars on our roads - the vast majority of their cars are for
local market. China hopes to change this. If China can break into the international
market their car output will go through the roof. India produced 2.3 million
cars last year, and are also rapidly expanding.
These 2 countries are currently positioned well for international growth
because budget vehicles with high fuel mileage are one of the few growth
areas
More...
Alfa Romeo has launched a sporty high fuel mileage car to challenge the
Mini Cooper. Its called the MiTo and the two models available are a direct
price rival to the two Mini Cooper models. The base model MiTo will compete
with the base Mini Cooper while the MiTo Sport will compete with the Mini
Cooper S. Since its 2001 launch the Mini has been very successful and Alfa
Romeo plan to steal some customers with its own blend of
high fuel
mileage, stylish design and sports handling.
Alfa Romeo have not produced a car as small as the MiTo to date and the
new high fuel mileage car will sit below the current 147 in terms of size.
The MiTo shares its chassis with parent company Fiat's Grande Punto. Whereas
the Mini is based on a car of the past, the MiTo is not but it is supposed
to be a spiritual successor to the Alfasud of the 70's and 80's. Its a very
pretty car, combining classic Alfa Romeo design elements with hints of Alfa's
limited edition sports car, the 8C Competizione.
BMW say that half of Mini purchases are by females while the 30-45 age group
are the largest buyers of the high fuel mileage car. Alfa Romeo are therefore
also aiming the MiTo directly at these groups.
More...
Should you simply buy the latest best fuel mileage cars to be environmentally
friendly? Which vehicle is the most environmentally friendly?
To be as green as possible its not just a case of buying the car that uses
the least gas. Building new cars eats up enormous resources, as does subsequent
transportation to dealers. It might take years for even the
best
fuel mileage cars to repay to the environment by way of their better
gas consumption.
To be as environmentally friendly as possible we ideally need to consume
less. This means both driving less and not buying new products as often,
products such as cars. The most environmentally friendly thing to do is
not own a car at all, and use public transport, a bike, or walk instead.
Many of the journeys driven by car could be replaced by another method of
transport, especially when living in a large city.
If you do need your own vehicle you could opt for a scooter instead of a
car. Scooters uses less resources to build and are far more fuel-efficient
than even the best fuel mileage cars.
More...
Sporty cars usually equate to poor car fuel mileage, but the classic Mini
Cooper S provides sports dynamics for minimal fuel consumption.
The original Mini was first produced in 1959. It was very small but used
its space brilliantly. The vehicle brought motoring to the masses thanks
to its rock bottom price tag and excellent car fuel mileage. It eventually
turned into one of the most popular and instantly recognisable cars of all
time and was a success the world over.
BMW relaunched the Mini in 2001. It kept the original styling but the car
had grown up with contemporary touches that the spartan original lacked.
The interior was more luxurious, the car drove and felt like a modern larger
car, it was safe in the event of an accident, and overall it offered greater
practicality than the original vehicle. However the new Mini definitely
retained the character of the orginal car which was very important.
BMW predicted annual global sales of 100,000 vehicles but in fact they sold
twice that number. The reincarnation of the Mini was an instant hit. The
new vehicle is now in its second generation and continues to sell remarkably
well, sparking rival economical classics to be produced like the Fiat 500
and VW Beetle.
More...
At some stage it will be socially unacceptable to drive a vehicle with bad
car fuel mileage. You'll be looked down upon like you're a cousin kissing,
uncultured caveman. Your friends will talk about you behind your back. If
you park your bad car mileage vehicle on the street it could be attacked
by green extremists. Driving good car fuel mileage vehicles is slowly turning
into the new cool.
A lot of people think this social shift is further down the path than I
do. I think its still in its infancy. The day of not being able to take
your V8 out for fear of ridicule is not here yet and its not going to happen
for a while. I don't think we're as green as we think we are. I think we
fundametally still think of ourselves and not of the planet.
An example of our self centeredness is when gas prices shot through the
roof about a year ago. In Australia sales of V8's soared to all time highs.
It seems counter intuitive at first but people were worried that this could
be the last time they could own a V8.
More...
Car fuel mileage relates to the distance in miles a car is able to travel
on 1 gallon of fuel. The unit of measurement is mpg (miles per gallon).
When talking about car fuel mileage its vital to know which gallon is being
referred to - the U.S. or the imperial gallon. The imperial gallon is roughly
20% larger than the U.S. gallon.
Higher values of mpg mean better fuel economy - you can travel further for
the same amount of fuel.
The two extremes of the car fuel mileage scale are a top fuel dragster which
consumes about 24 U.S. gallons per mile (or 0.042 mpg) and the world record
holding Pac Car which manages 12,660 mpg. However most people in ordinary
cars achieve a car fuel mileage of between 15 and 40 mpg. Governments are
aiming to raise this figure. New cars sold today in the U.S. must meet a
fuel economy standard of 27 mpg however this will slowly be increased to
35.5 mpg by 2016. The European Union is going further, demanding a car fuel
mileage of 47 mpg by 2012.
More...