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Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
On the list, as I originally wrote it (in the blog) starts with the inexpensive stuff and works it way (approximately) up to the expensive stuff.
If the major car companies already know all this stuff, then they are successfully ignoring it! Using my Scion xA as an example (since I am familiar with it) they could have done much of what I have done for virtually zero additional cost:
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Yes, they are ignoring it, with premeditation! Car companies
do not want their cars to be as efficient as possible. They want to leave some wiggle room for three reasons:
- So they can easily and cheaply comply to newer fe/emissions standard when they show up,
- So they can make eco versions and sell them for more than the base model (eg Peugeot 207 Economique),
- So they can tweak the fleet's mpg and say "See, we're trying real hard and we're getting better".
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The front cooling openings are about 4X bigger than they need to be. Closing them alone would boost the EPA rating (which is 27/30/34) up by 15-20% and cost virtually nothing.
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Grille openings are for two things: looks and worst case scenerios (highspeed, desert, uphill, A/C, full load + trailer, etc.).
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They could have designed much tighter wheel openings.
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But then larger aftermarket wheels wouldn't fit.
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They could have put a 3.56:1 final drive in, (rather than the 4.31:1) and just not offered cruise control, unless they used the super low final drive; or just "make" you shift.
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The drive ratio is a compromise between performance and fe.
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They could have made the A/C optional/defeatable in the defrost mode.
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You must be joking, that would be too easy...
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They could coat the window glass with low-e to reduce the heat gain.
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Extra costs, which most people won't notice when their A/C is on all the time.