It's amazing that I've compiled almost 60 blog entries so far without delving into the topic of automobiles. I'm sort of a car-guy. Not a gearhead, mind you -- I haven't done much more than change my oil a few times -- but a car guy.
My wife and I have different cars, but they come from sister companies. In fact, both of our cars have exactly the same engine and transmission.
Why, then, is hers rated 21/30 (city/hwy) for gas mileage, and mine 19/26? That's about a 10% advantage for hers in the city and 15% on the highway. The easiest culprit here would be weight, but mine weighs only 67 lb. more, according to Edmunds.
My car is taller than hers and probably has worse aerodynamic drag, but I wouldn't expect drag to come into play much for the city rating.
In real life, we get very similar mileage - around 23-26mpg, depending on the city/hwy mix. But I wonder if there's some kind of bias built into the EPA's testing.
3 comments:
I encountered something eerily not at all similar this morning.
I got 324 miles on my last tank, and the computer told me I had 40 miles left to empty. When I filled up, the computer told me I had 420 miles left to empty. Now I'm no mathematician, but... LIES!
(I know that I need to drive more efficiently and, the good lord willing, the math'll all work out next time ... I'm kinda just talking to see my own voice here.)
Swedish math.
bork, bork, bork...oh wait...that's Swedish cooking
Post a Comment