Why you can't buy a high mpg car....

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by MorphDaCivic

This will really put a damper on the diesel automobile, i think there is no alternative to heavy load trucks right now, but with Hybrids, Electric and CNG there are alternatives to diesel cars.

The heavy load trucks could fairly easily be equipped with CNG to replace up to 75% of the diesel they use.
The natural gas also makes the remaining diesel burn more efficiently, and cleaner - leading to far lower emissions overall.

It's just a question of mandating it, and allowing an increase in gross weight for trucks so equipped.

It could be done on passenger cars as well, but cost is prohibitive compared to the return.

This will be another hit to the Euro economy if they ban diesel autos.

It'd surely mean more fuel imports, but it'd also lead to higher prices and then more efficient engines and cars.
It'd also mean the price of fuel oil for domestic heating will drop due to excess production capacity.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by F8L

Keep in mind that the car mentioned in this article is rated at 69mpg Imperial and the 2012 Toyota Prius Liftback is rated at 72.4mpg Imperial...

And my '00 Honda Insight's actual lifetime* average would be 89.25 mpg in imperial gallons.

*OK, "lifetime" is since I've owned it. Bought it with 50K miles on the odometer, and showing around 50 mpg for the previous owner.

[Frank Lee]

Nothing new. We can't have kei cars. Honda stopped selling us 50cc Cubs in the '80s I think due to the individual States' patchwork of differing laws that applied to them.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by metromizer

A wise man once said "If a story doesn't make sense, follow the money..."

In the state of California, I pay about 50cents/gallon in taxes to my local, state, and federal governments. <http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/gasswapfaq.htm#2>

Why would any of these tax collecting entities want me to purchase a fuel-sipper?

If the end game was solely to clean up our air, the Federal and State regulatory agencies would use total emissions per mile driven as the metric, instead of emissions per gallon burned. I contend that this is no 'test protocol oversight'.

Sure looking to the money trail is important. At least it is one reasonable place to begin looking for an explanation. But my point is that looking for "solely" anything as an "end game" is a reductionist approach to analyzing the history and the policy. "The money" trail will lead to multiple factions of politicians' supporting coalitions, some of which conflict with each other: environmentalists, technology companies, automakers, tax protest groups, and voter perceptions and expectations all introduce other power dynamics into policy choices such as gas taxes and emissions standards. It's quite a bit more complex than that article's argument.

[Frank Lee]

No way! Everything in the world is black or white, no shades of grey. Ask anyone!

[Allch Chcar]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

No way! Everything in the world is black or white, no shades of grey. Ask anyone!

More like a combination of blue, red, and yellow. We don't focus on Carbon emissions here as much as NOx emissions where diesels score poorly. Plus we don't have displacement taxes or subsidized diesel fuel.

Different policies for different people. Most people consider the EPA and gas taxes a nuisance despite their intended purpose.

[Neen]

Almost everytime someone says that the government is not allowing a car into the states...there's a piece of the story missing. Kei cars are not imported because we have federal safety and crash regulations as well as car strength integrity tests. There are no current Kei cars that would pass these tests.

As for the 1.6 TDI I would guess that VW is choosing to not market it here as it probably costs close to what the current offerings are and the mpg results are not great enough to offset the performance in a country where we have 75 MPH roads (with a push to bring that to 85 in certain regions).

[oil pan 4]

If they are so conserned about NOx then they should look into using water injection.

Water injection - EcoModder

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

If they are so conserned about NOx then they ...

Wouldn't allow pick up trucks and vans with diesel engines either.

[oil pan 4]

To get a truck or van with a diesel in the U.S. now they all have to have a rube goldberg machine based exhaust scrubber.