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Lousy mileage? Is it your car, or your foot?

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Tideland Prius, Mar 16, 2006.

  1. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    When the Gibson box arrives and you unpack your brand-new Lucille, just like the one B.B. King plays, here’s what won’t happen—you won’t find a tag attached saying, “Notice to consumer: Your sound may vary.†Damn right it’ll vary. No one with $2400 to spend on a guitar is silly enough to expect that curling his fingers around the neck of a Gibson Lucille will make him sound like B.B. King.

    Your sound is you, baby. Get used to it.

    And while you’re getting used to ideas, here’s another—your gas mileage is you, too.

    This last idea is resisted by some people who should know better. I’m thinking of Jeff Sabatini, who keystrokes on the topic of automobiles for the New York Times. In a piece last summer about the Lexus RX400h, he said, “How did it come to this, that Toyota is now selling a hybrid gas-electric vehicle with no tangible fuel economy benefits?â€

    His observation was based on round trips from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in both the nonhybrid Lexus RX330 and the hybrid RX400h, casual trips apparently, three in all. The hybrid measured 20.9 and 23.0 on trips of 531 and 556 miles. The nonhybrid he credited with 21.6 mpg in 462 miles.

    We know nothing of Sabatini’s trips except that the miles between the same end points somehow came out different each time. We don’t know the passenger and cargo loads, or air-conditioning use, and most particularly, we have no idea how Sabatini drives.

    “While this was not a controlled experiment,†he says, he nonetheless thinks we should accept his mpg numbers as facts, just as he apparently does when he flatly asserts that the ’06 RX400h “did not achieve better mileage than the 2005 RX330.â€

    Each car born into this world comes with two kinds of fuel economy—the EPA kind and the owner’s kind. The EPA tests are precisely done and highly repeatable. The owners’ results are as varying as their fingerprints.

    Full Article
     
    #1 Tideland Prius, Mar 16, 2006
  2. tripp

    tripp Which it's a 'ybrid, ain't it?

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    <Abe Simpson Voice>
    Burn Him!
    </Abe Simpson Voice>

    The lesson of these articles... Journalists are not scientists. Unfortunately, so many people will read it and believe it because it's in print, and therefore must be true. Even if he's right, and he could be, his complete lack of methods renders the entire thing pointless. <_<
     
    #2 tripp, Mar 16, 2006
  3. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    sounds like your getting a bit p***ed off with the no-minds that submit articles to news papers and sound like they are experts. Well I guess we should get used to it. Most of these people are unemployable in the real world, and most would be living behind a dumpster in an alley some where, if push came to shove. The real dumb nice person is the paper's editor for excepting this drivel as fact. Followed by the people who buy it and then believe what they read in it. Sorry but I've given up on most news organization.
     
    #3 Frank Hudon, Mar 16, 2006
  4. gwelgrin

    gwelgrin Junior Member

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    We also have to overcome the folklore that we were taught by our parents and grand parents in the past about automobiles.

    I am constantly asking friends and family advice about my vehicles. I hear no end of what I can only deem as superstition or conjecture.

    I look at them skeptically and ask them if they a sure; they usually will add quickly “that is what my father told meâ€.

    At lease it means I have something to research for myself and I will get facts one way or another. I try to look it up, figure it out and take my time. I’m no expert, yet.

    I have skin in the game as it were, I want to protect or improve the investment I have made in my car.

    And what about the journalists?

    They, my friends just have a deadline. :angry:
     
    #4 gwelgrin, Mar 16, 2006
  5. Begreen

    Begreen Member

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    #5 Begreen, Mar 17, 2006
  6. Begreen

    Begreen Member

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    All these articles happening at the same time are starting to feel like a marketing "disinformation" campaign. It's like the Prius is getting swift-boated. Maybe Rove had a slack day off. :rolleyes:
     
    #6 Begreen, Mar 17, 2006
  7. RolfS

    RolfS Junior Member

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    It does not seem like those of you that replied to the original post actually read the full article, because if you did you would discover that the full article debunked the original one from then New York Times. The author came up with his own test, which was much better controlled experiment. To the quote article in part:


    "To show that driver decisions matter, I ran a number of tests on this magazine’s long-term Lexus RX400h. One series was designed to show the influence of speed on fuel consumption. This was done by repeating the same 13.7-mile stretch of interstate at constant speeds of 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 mph. Runs were made both ways to correct for wind and elevation changes. The onboard mileage computer was used to record mpg. These were flying-start, flying-finish legs to eliminate the influence of acceleration and braking. I was up to speed when I pushed the reset button at a marker for the start; readings were taken on the fly as I passed a marker at the end. The results are two-way averages, with only the driver onboard. Consider:

    40 mph: 49.3 mpg
    50 mph: 41.0 mpg
    60 mph: 37.2 mpg
    70 mph: 31.7 mpg
    80 mph: 26.1 mpg
    "
     
    #7 RolfS, Mar 19, 2006
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    ye-ah.. i mean did you guys think I went nuts and thought that original article made sense? lol.
     
    #8 Tideland Prius, Mar 20, 2006
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