Combined EPA Rating ... cheaters up in here or just a big misunderstanding??

[wagonman76]

Im just using the new ratings to stay on a fair playing field. The old rating is only 1 mpg different, or about 5%. Besides, some cars dont have old ratings. The reasons for the new ratings could be many. It could be for how many people drive today. It could also be for the 10% ethanol that is in nearly all gas now, when it wasnt back then.

I agree that many of us can get better mileage than the EPA rating without trying too hard. But I dont think we should be punished for it. There are also a lot of asinine and clueless drivers out on the road that would get worse than the EPA rating.

[homeworkhome53]

Yeah, That's what this world needs, Mileage Police. Cheaters, where in the @#$% did that come from.

homeworkhome

[2000mustang fan]

Originally Posted by Markmysite

I was browsing through the EM Garage and sorted by model to compare what others with my cars are seeing with the mileage. I've been noticing that some people have mileage sig's that show a 70% improvement over EPA and their mileage #'s are close to mine. I didn't think there could be that big of a difference between model years (and I was right). I looked each car up on Fuel Economy to check their combined EPA rating.

What I have learned is that many, many of the cars listed on here have EPA values that are way off. I won't name any names and I am assuming that people just put the wrong values by mistake ... not in an effort to make their % look better ... heh. I know there is some confusion with the old vs. the new EPA rating method, and I think we should all use the new method for continuity. They are also lower values which does help your % too.

So what is the big deal? For fun, I changed my real EPA value of 29mpg combined to 27mpg combined like some other people have with my same car. My percentage went from 30.3% to 40.1% improvement over the EPA rating!!! That is showing a false value of over a 30% improvement in gas mileage. Show me a mod that can achieve that. It's the best mod for the money yet. Just cheat and don't put your vehicles true EPA combined rating ... put the city value like a lot of people did ... lol.

Seriously though, we should all be playing fair ... don't ya think?

Please go to Fuel Economy to find your real combined EPA rating. Click the top left where it says "find and compare cars" and then do your year, make, model, and engine type. It makes a mig difference if you are manual or automatic too. A simple 2mpg off can change your % a huge amount.

I don't know if there's any way possible to link our values to the gov website, but that would solve the misunderstanding problem.

I think that you should also know that people do live in DIFFERENT areas, mark this some people do more highway driving so their combined EPA will be higher than someone with the same car who does more city driving with the same make model and year of the car. Just so you know there is a edit personalize valeus on fuel economy.gov. I do more city driving hence the lower EPA rating I have about 80%city driving and 20% highway so therefore my combined EPA is around 18 I checked on fueleconomy.gov because I thought 20MPG rating was too high for what I was getting in the City which sometimes varies from really low to near 18City. What I am trying to say that this argument is useless, because you do not know where the person drives more so if you would do a lot of city driving the combined EPA would actually equal the city rating for that car. EVeryone is Different with where they drive maybe you should take time to consider that before you go ranting on about how everyone is wrong and should use strict default vales with 50/50 city highway driving. look it up it's THERE! you go to compare side by side on fueleconomy.gov click the year make and model for your car then you hit personalize which is your your vaues under fuel economics. Thank you and Good day.

[Markmysite]

Originally Posted by homeworkhome53

Yeah, That's what this world needs, Mileage Police. Cheaters, where in the @#$% did that come from.

homeworkhome

that was funny

[Markmysite]

Originally Posted by 2000mustang fan

I think that you should also know that people do live in DIFFERENT areas, mark this some people do more highway driving so their combined EPA will be higher than someone with the same car who does more city driving with the same make model and year of the car. Just so you know there is a edit personalize valeus on fuel economy.gov. I do more city driving hence the lower EPA rating I have about 80%city driving and 20% highway so therefore my combined EPA is around 18 I checked on fueleconomy.gov because I thought 20MPG rating was too high for what I was getting in the City which sometimes varies from really low to near 18City. What I am trying to say that this argument is useless, because you do not know where the person drives more so if you would do a lot of city driving the combined EPA would actually equal the city rating for that car. EVeryone is Different with where they drive maybe you should take time to consider that before you go ranting on about how everyone is wrong and should use strict default vales with 50/50 city highway driving. look it up it's THERE! you go to compare side by side on fueleconomy.gov click the year make and model for your car then you hit personalize which is your your vaues under fuel economics. Thank you and Good day.

Yes you can change the values, but if you go out and look at a new car they have that sticker on the window. It's the accepted standard formula 45/55 that all automakers must use per the EPA. I "think" that's what they had in mind in the EM garage.

Ben, please correct me if I am wrong (it's been known to happen every once in a blue moon ... haha).

My whole point is new comers to this website (like me) are looking for ways to improve the MPG. Many are going to look for others with the same car to see what they are doing and how it can help them.

[Tony Raine]

you can tell i'm not cheating

[Vince-HX]

I know some of us get better in city mileage then highway because of p&g and eoc.

So should i change my combined rating to a 75 city/ 25 highway equivalent because thats the ratio I drive? That would really make me seem like a cheater.



I didn't know there was a competition, whats the prize?

[ankit]

Wow I never realized that I could just put my combined mileage in, not being teh same as EPA combined. I say this because most of my driving is done in a city/suburb area with lots of stop signs and traffic lights.

I don't think people are actually cheating. Why would they cheat there is nothing to win. I mean if they "cheat" they are just getting a false sense of accomplishment. Most of these decrepencies are most likely from what others are saying as the combined routes being different from another hypermiler's and some errors.

[cfg83]

Markmysite -

I don't think it's deliberate. If someone boasts, it's easy enough to find the error. I am a "believer" in the old EPA values because they're harder to beat. But, I use the new (projected for my car because the new test was never done on my car) EPA values because that's better for comparing old to new car performance.

If you look below, I have put the EPA website in my sig.

CarloSW2

[Z man]

Yeah I looked around to find the correct rating.

29mpg combined.