Our Public needs a slap in the Face

[trikkonceptz]

Today I was doing a dealer trade, trading vehicles with another dealer for sale.

As I was standing around waiting for my return car I overheard a customer tell her husband she wanted a new Taurus that was sitting on the pad. The husband walked over to the car and saw the window sticker which read something like 18/21 mpg city hwy. To which the husband said, "you don't want this it get horrible gas mileage." So I thought they were being sensible.

Until I saw the salesman pull an expedition around and take them out on a test drive. WTF !!! Furthermore, I noticed he had to go back to his truck to get something. A GMC diesel, which was left running the entire time they were there.

My god, I felt like walking up and just smacking him upside the head ... I think for some people Fuel Efficient is just a buzz word ..

[Christ]

It's the flavor of the week, in most cases. I agree whole-heartedly. It seems more like someone made a suggestion, and has been widely ignored.

Here's a clue:

If you can't get AT LEAST the EPA rating for your vehicle, YOUR fuel costs $3.00/gallon.

Those of us who learn, adapt, get better fuel efficiency, get a break. We only pay $2.00/gallon.

Exponentially, the discount could multiply, representing various levels of efficiency and the rewards associated with them. If you get 30% better than your EPA rating, you get another 10% off fuel prices... hence, $1.80/gallon. 50% better than EPA, 25% less - $1.50/gallon. More than 75% over the EPA rating - $1.00/gallon.

If you can't pay $1.00/gallon for fuel, drive less.

Conversely, the less you get under the EPA estimate, the more you should have to pay... like a fuel tax system.

I think people would quickly learn to get better gas mileage, for sure.

[trikkonceptz]

FUnny you say that because with this same example I was driving a pair of Fusions. Their HWY mpg avg is 28. On the way down, with the wind, I drove with A/c on and at the speed limit, 65mph. Practiced no advanced hypermiling techniques other than coasting instead of braking and got an astonoshing 34.8mpg out of the automatic.

Knowing that I figured I would raise the speed to see if I could get down to 28mpg hwy. Onthe way back I maintained a cruise control speed of 75mph, with the A/C on and into the wind. When I parked the car the meter read 32.1

My conclusion, you have to drive like an ass in one of these things to get poor mileage. That or I am really impressed with the Ford fusion and the EPA is grossly misrepresented in this case. I know its a nationwide average and perhaps mountains would have skewed my results, but hey, I tried to go below EPA in this case and concluded that I had to drive like a pissed off teenager to do it ...

A Glimmer of hope for things to come?

[Christ]

I personally don't like the new EPA estimates... they're supposed to be more accurate for a national average, but I believe it should have been regionalized.

Cali-kids don't have the same operating parameters as 'Yorkers do, and in the Dakota's, it's obviously different than Tax-my-ass. (Texas)

That said, a regionalized re-vamp of the EPA rating system would have been more intuitive as far as giving people an idea of what they could expect to spend in fuel for a given vehicle.

On that same note, I've never been in a car that I didn't beat the EPA estimates consistently, even driving like an ass.

In my Civic, I used to red-line the car on a shift-by-shift basis, literally shifting at 7kRPM, until I reached the speed limit, at which point I would begin cruising. Often times, I would downshift while braking, again, reaching red-line. I still got 34-38MPG average, even w/ the intake/header/exhaust combo and a Si swap. (Switching from 2 injectors to 4, more performance oriented ECU/intake manifold.)

EDIT - I failed to mention that I speed match while downshifting... heel-toe.

[Christ]

On another note:

I mentioned that system of "fuel taxation" because it's been proven time and time again that without an obvious punishment/reward system in place, society as a whole will not "burden" themselves to move toward the greater good, if it requires them to do more than they've already done or have been doing.

This is evidenced by the fact that no matter what you ask someone to do, in most cases, they shoot back with "What's in it for me?"... even when the reward might be obvious to others.

This also tends to get the whiners into shape too, as they won't have an excuse to blame fuel prices for being lazy, or not having a job... instead, the obvious answer will be: Drive better, and you could afford your fuel.

It would be quite obvious whose fault it would be when gas cost too much for them to afford.

[bikin' Ed]

You can rant all you want about the customer's mpg comment, but perhaps you don't know the whole story. Perhaps he needs a big vehicle for work or hauling his kid's soccer team. She may be driving a Focus now, that they use whenever they can. In this case the FE of the Tarus isn't quite that of Focus and he would have been correct.

I drive a Dakota quad cab, should I be slapped too? Some of us have a genuine use for a larger vehicle. Would it be more eco friendly to have a fleet of vehicles so we have the correct one any circumstance?

We're not better than the rest of the world, nor were we sent to judge them. Especially this time of year, we should pause and practice compassion.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by bikin' Ed

You can rant all you want about the customer's mpg comment, but perhaps you don't know the whole story. Perhaps he needs a big vehicle for work or hauling his kid's soccer team. She may be driving a Focus now, that they use whenever they can. In this case the FE of the Tarus isn't quite that of Focus and he would have been correct.

I drive a Dakota quad cab, should I be slapped too? Some of us have a genuine use for a larger vehicle. Would it be more eco friendly to have a fleet of vehicles so we have the correct one any circumstance?

We're not better than the rest of the world, nor were we sent to judge them. Especially this time of year, we should pause and practice compassion.

I agree with Ed. Overhearing a conversation is not a good way to make a judgement on someone.

I'm too lazy to look it up but there are several studies showing that people that got more fuel efficient cars drove more miles proportionally to the increase. It really a function of disposable income. Most people will contiune to drive what and as much as they want until it hurts their pocket book.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by bikin' Ed

You can rant all you want about the customer's mpg comment, but perhaps you don't know the whole story. Perhaps he needs a big vehicle for work or hauling his kid's soccer team. She may be driving a Focus now, that they use whenever they can. In this case the FE of the Tarus isn't quite that of Focus and he would have been correct.

I drive a Dakota quad cab, should I be slapped too? Some of us have a genuine use for a larger vehicle. Would it be more eco friendly to have a fleet of vehicles so we have the correct one any circumstance?

We're not better than the rest of the world, nor were we sent to judge them. Especially this time of year, we should pause and practice compassion.

I think more of the rant comes from the fact that they started out looking at a Taurus, talking about fuel efficiency in a small vehicle, then test drove an Expedition(?).

It makes it seem as though they were there in the first place to get something more fuel efficient, then they turn around and test drive the 2nd largest vehicle Ford produces, with less than marginal EPA ratings.

On top of that, they left the Giant Diesel truck idling the whole time they were there... obviously, if they test drove something, and it was still running, it could have been turned off... granted, some drivers believe that if they're sitting a few minutes, it's a waste of gas to turn it off and back on... but for the 15-20 mins that you're test driving/evaluating a vehicle... that's ridiculous.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Christ

On top of that, they left the Giant Diesel truck idling the whole time they were there...

To me, the really amazing part of the story is that nobody drove off with it.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

To me, the really amazing part of the story is that nobody drove off with it.

Me at age 16, walking by that dealership - That truck would have ended up parked in the service department's "extended stay" lot. Either that, or it would have ended up parked somewhere out in the back of the dealer, along w/ the employee's vehicles, left running, keys locked inside.