Consumer Watchdog Goes After the Elantra… The Watchdog's Losing Argument Will Be?

[ALS]

Originally Posted by atlaw4u

Wayne, it looks like you should be called by the defense as an expert witness.

Hell, give me the car for eight hours and I'll tell you whether it's the car or the driver.
I'll even throw in a full tank of gas out of my pocket just to make the point.

[phoebeisis]

Heck
Just set the CC to 60 mph if you trust the on board mpg reading
Almost all current vehicles will get 10-20% better than EPA at 60 mph by just setting CC to 60

Yet somehow these folks get under 30 mpg Hy with 40-45 mpg cars ??
Usually it is a pedal problem-go pedal pressed too hard
and stop pedal pressed too often because
they press the go pedal when they should be lifting off.

Yeah pedal problem

Just how often has anyone every come across a new car that actually was "at fault"?
I remember a 2003 Honda Pilot that would get good mpg after it went thru some sort of "reset" but then it would degenerate and unlearn -that one wasn't the owners problem-the car would get under 18 mpg at 60 mph!!??
Otherwise I can't remember it being "something wrong with the car"-

[MaxxMPG]

About a year ago, I bought a Casio keyboard. I think it's twelve note polyphonic, and it has fifty-something full size keys.
I can't play Beethoven's 72nd symphony, 9th movement, without it sounding like a piano being pushed down a flight of stairs.
So I guess I should sue Casio because they claim that the keyboard can make beautiful music?

And while I'm at it, I bought a jigsaw years ago, and yet I am unable to use it to craft the ornamental ballustrade I noticed in one of the many pictures shown on the box the tool arrived in. Should I sue the tool manufacturer for my own inept and hamfisted attempts at woodworking?

Pause while I dial 1-888-SHARK4ME to see if there is a fast-talkin' slick-haired advocate eager to take my case in order to support his Two-Audi-A-Year habit.

Suggestion for Hyundai - nobody gets a dime until they go - at owner's expense - to an EPA-certified lab and are forced to drive their own car on the dynamometer, following the acceleration curve flawlessly and signing off on the result. Anyone performing the exact HWFET in the lab, who is unable to get a result of at least 40, gets a $1000 coupon on a new Hyundai.

Question for fast food restaurants - Even though you list your KrustyBurger as having 600 calories without additional toppings, I feel the need to decorate the burger with 25 packets of synthetic mayo-like product, sugary simulated ketchup substance, a half dozen slices if Virtual Cheeselike Colloidal Butyl Compound, and many other calorie-laden condiments and additions. Then when I eat a bunch of them and gain 100 pounds, should I sue you because each burger-mound I consume provided far more than the 600 calories I noted in the little spreadsheet on the back of your placemat? I don't think I should have to change the way I eat just to get a 600 calorie hamburger! Your placemat clearly stated 600 calories, but the monstrosity I am consuming is more like 1000 calories. Where is my stuffed suit and his/her tacky counterfeit-labeled designer briefcase?!

[Die2self]

Nice one Maxx

It is still about this SUE happy culture, how do I get something for nothing.

sad state of affairs

[Carcus]

Monroney sticker:
Put Steady State mpg chart from 40 mph to 80 mph at sea level, no wind 60 deg F on every Monroney sticker.



Problem solved.


/ ok, well. .. maybe not completely solved. But it should significantly reduce the manufacturer's EPA gaming and help the consumer understand efficiency.

[PaleMelanesian]

Oh how I would love to see that!

[phoebeisis]

Yeah forget that overly complicated EPA profile-
Carcuses 40-80 steady would be fine
A reasonable City "guesstimate" would probably be something like 50% of the 50mpg number
Might teach folks to not drive 80 mph

Heck just give me the 60mph number--for the most part the vehicle that is best at 60 mph- is best everywhere anyway.(unless GM comes out with a Basjoosed Suburban)

[herm]

Then the manufacturers would game the test by putting an overdrive in the transmission... ohh wait!

[RedylC94]

Originally Posted by phoebeisis

Yeah forget that overly complicated EPA profile-
Carcuses 40-80 steady would be fine

Yes! That's what I've thought for a long time. Give people something easy to reproduce and easy to understand. People don't bother trying to understand the complicated EPA highway test, which leads to misunderstandings. We still need a city test or hill test to account for the effects of excess weight in a "a Basjoosed Suburban."

[ALS]

Originally Posted by herm

Then the manufacturers would game the test by putting an overdrive in the transmission... ohh wait!

Yep, Honda wouldn't be pleased that they would actually have to gear their cars for the highway.

Can you imagine the looks on peoples faces when they realized that driving 55 over 75 mph would gain them ten to fifteen mpg on the highway.
They're not as stupid as we make them out to be, money talks BS walks.

The sticker has EPA rating of 35 mpg highway yet it also says you can get 43 mpg at 55 mph, you're going to see a whole lot of light bulbs going off.

My Prius gets 23 - 25% better than EPA at 55 mph. My Volvo is rated at 24 mpg yet I can pull 31 mpg at 55 mph which is 30% above EPA.