Are car magazine editors idiots?

Most have never driven the car before and have limited time in it. My guess is they get to drive it for short trips or only for an hour or two. I think one driver had it for longer and got better, closer to 45 mpg. But if you live in a hilly area or it's winter, that's going to be your average. So the majority just don't drive the car long enough to get teh average of what an owner would get.

 

I averaged 43.9 my first 4 days, but recent trips around town has dropped it to 39.4. It seems that small differences in terrain, gas formulation, driving style, and temperature have a great affect on MPG.

Am I correct in assuming that most/all of your 300 miles are highway? If I drove 300 miles straight on the freeway, I'm pretty sure I could get around 50mpg.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(turbonick @ Apr 4 2007, 05:26 PM) [snapback]417892[/snapback]</div>

I suspect it's mostly where you live that gives you good mileage. Las Vegas isn't that cold, even in the winter. Second, I suspect you hardly ever drive less than 10 miles at a time, and third, although you have hills, they're usually fairly gradual.

I hardly ever get over 50 mpg in the winter, and then only if I'm doing enough distance driving.
If I commute to work, I've got an elevation change of about 100 ft in a distance of less than half a mile. Even though the battery recovers some of that, it can't recover all of it. Short trips don't permit sufficient warm up to get good mileage.

There's a lot of reasons someone can get poor mileage, other than lousy driving habits. In the winter, around town (trips less than 2 miles at a time), I can get as low as 35 mpg. Usually it's not that bad, since I mix in some trips of 15 or more miles at a time.

On my last trip of any distance (on the way home from California), I got 52.2 mpg for the first 405 miles, 55.9 for the next 464 miles, and 53.0 for the last 120 miles. This is according to the MFD, and actual mileage is about 1.5 mpg less (according to calculations over a large number of fill ups). The variations were due primarily to changes in elevation, since I tried to keep my speed fairly consistent during the trip.

Dave M.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(turbonick @ Apr 4 2007, 07:26 PM) [snapback]417892[/snapback]</div>

The difference is probably more in expectations and how you are driving your Prius. If you drive it like most people drive you will get no where near 50mpg. If you are very conscious about how much fuel you are using it makes a huge difference. I have three Priuses in my extended family(in-laws) and one claims about 40 one claims over 50 and one has trouble getting 30 consistently. Two 05's and an '06.

 

They've also probably got their tires at the recommended pressure. Most of us that want good mileage increase the pressure a bit.

What Prius drivers do to increase mileage is what any driver could do. Ease to stops, gently accelerate, drive the speed limit or less (55-65 freeway) and keep tire pressure at optimum. (Maintain clean filters, etc. too)

I think the one thing most drivers neglect is the tire pressure. I did until I got a Prius. The MFD lets me know when I've been negligent and need to check it.

Any driver of any car can beat the "new EPA" if they just did those few things.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ewhanley @ Apr 4 2007, 09:09 PM) [snapback]417947[/snapback]</div>

Around here your driving style is not normal. (Normal being defined as what is done by the majority.) Braking from cruising speed to stop at the light is normal. In either car I'll be passed at least a half dozen times at every red light. Their reward is to wait longer at the light a pick up (maybe) a car length or two on me.

Test drives for reviews are probably short trips. Maybe the car is warmed up toward the end of the day. It certainly isn't early in the day. The audience of the writer is probably more interested in performance, handling, and comfort. I don't read the magazines. Do they report the fuel economy of every car they drive and complain if a Mustang or Corvette doesn't get the EPA number?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(2bits @ Apr 4 2007, 10:19 PM) [snapback]417917[/snapback]</div>

Hi 2bits,

I get my best driving in suburban secondary road driving. Its typical to put 2 or 3 bars at 75 then 100 mpg on the car in this driving. But, this is after thoroughly warming up the car during 15 or 20 miles of highway driving. As this is the final portion of my drive, I can push the electric, and end up with the battery at 4 or 5 bars when I stop. If I was to continue further, more engine would be used to charge up the battery and an average around the original EPA 60 mpg would happen (have done this).

The EPA "City" driving is similar to what I am calling suburban secondary road driving. There are well spaced stop lights and stop signs, and many oportunities to time the lights, and brake for a long distance as one can see 40 or 50 cars stopped at a light up to 1/2 a mile out. Speeds can reach 50 mph, but average about 30 mph. Chicagoland City driving is a completely different regime - a stop every 1/4 mile, lots of pausing at these stops, and the traffic precludes timing the lights. Sitelines are poor, and this precludes much planned accell/decell. I can see why the EPA did this though. Most small metropolitan areas (Dayton, Indy, Cincy, some parts of Detroit, Minneapolis, etc) are very similar to the Chicago suburbs.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(turbonick @ Apr 4 2007, 05:26 PM) [snapback]417892[/snapback]</div>

From another thread, most car magazine editors are enveloped in a cloud of bozone from the tailpipes of GMDCF. A few are just a plain ignoranus.

 

Car magazine editors are used to seeing how fast they can go from 0 to 60, or how many g's they can do on the skidpad. I would guess driving to attain maximum mpg does not come naturally to them.

 

IMO, one doesn't have to have mpg on the brain to get decent mileage (although unlikely to get best mileage). Generally, all it takes to get 45mpg or better is reasonable driving (exceptions include when hills, climate or short trips are a factor). But in those cases our whole reference point for what is decent mileage should change.

It is a sad state of affairs when the majority of drivers (and reviewers) are driving in a manner contrary to what is taught in practically every driving and defensive driving course.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(2bits @ Apr 4 2007, 06:19 PM) [snapback]417917[/snapback]</div>

In city driving I get around 58-62MPG. Interstate driving (i.e., 70-75MPH) gets me about 45MPG. I'm pretty sure most folks here would agree that city driving is where the mileage is at.

 

Regardless of mileage, referring to your original question: "Are car magazine editors idiots?", I think the answer is a resounding YES. My opinion is not based on scientific study, but on informal observation. From reading magazines and newspapers, and from the few news writers that I know personally, I'm not impressed with their general intelligence. Being able to write is no guarantee that you have anything meaningful to say (I submit this posting as an example of the previous claim.)

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ Apr 5 2007, 07:32 AM) [snapback]418154[/snapback]</div>

You're kidding, right? You really need to buy yourself a clue, or un-brainwash yourself. How many jobs has Toyota created in the United States over the past 20 years? Honda? Mercedes-Benz?

How many American workers has GM fired over the past 20 years? How about Ford? Chrysler?

You can thank your Union for that.

 

I red one of these magazines about a year ago. The writer was talking about how the prius has no power, only gets <35mpg, cant corner, cant pass, and basically is not fit for road use. Turn the page and they have a spread on high-end sports cars (ie Porsche, bmw, Corvette and stuff like that.) the same guy who did the prius review. Turns out he is the sports car guy. How can someone be expected to write a review on an economy car when all that person has been driving is cars with 500+hp and 500+pounds of torque that can pull 1+ lateral G’s and have 0-60mph times of under 4 seconds to write a fair and comprehensive report. This guy is used to testing the performance of a car in since of extreme speed and handling and not normal driving.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IAO @ Apr 5 2007, 09:49 AM) [snapback]418167[/snapback]</div>

They have biases like everyone else. I should say they have biases like almost everyone else, we all know that the folks at CR have no known biases. :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ Apr 5 2007, 09:32 AM) [snapback]418154[/snapback]</div>

Hmmmm....what does it say about Detroit when they had a chance to respond to Japanese cars since the 1970's yet they have steadily lost market share and consumer confidence? Explain in what way that Detroit's historical contempt for better fuel economy and greater incidence of repairs is Toyota's fault.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ Apr 5 2007, 09:32 AM) [snapback]418154[/snapback]</div>

Yes, anyone can tear up anything and can cite instances of such.