The article says that big savings for a consumer can come from small improvements to inefficient vehicles. Of course if you don't need an inefficient vehicle then the smartest thing is to get something else. But assuming that you have a big family or haul things or whatever, this basically lines up with GM's two-mode hybrid strategy - Nail the least fuel-efficient vehicles first. Who'da thunk?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/20/f....ap/index.html
Quote:
With the price topping $4-a-gallon everybody wants to save gas, but depending on those miles-per-gallon ratings may be misleading.
Improving fuel efficiency by just 1 mpg can save hundreds of dollars a year, a new report says.
Strange as it may sound, rating cars at gallons-per-mile may be more useful, say a pair of university researchers.
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"There are significant savings to be had by improving efficiency by even two or three miles per gallon on inefficient cars, but because we communicate in miles per gallon, that savings is not immediately evident to consumers," said Soll.
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Gillis calculated that at $4 a gallon, over 10,000 miles, an improvement from 12 mpg to 13 mpg would save $256. For the owner of a 33 mpg car to save that much, mileage would have to go up to 40 mpg, he said.
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In other words, if you need to replace a car and plan to buy a similar one, a small MPG improvement saves more dollars than the same MPG improvement in an econo-car.