Big List of Fuel Economy: January 2012

The Mazda 3's FE numbers continue to impress!

Going by the prices around me of $3.15 for regular gas and $3.75 for diesel, the Mazda 3 works out to be $50/year cheaper to run than the Jetta TDI.

Any way to add a (p) for those using premium?

You need a 6th column: miles in fleet or you need to change the Mileage column to only indicate how many miles have been driven while the car is in IL's possession. Knowing that the NSX has 51k miles on it doesn't mean anything in the context of IL's observed fuel economy. What would me meaniningfull is how many IL driven miles are represented by the average fuel economy figure.

Yeah, I'm disappointed by the Camry too. I would have expected at least one mostly highway tank into the 30's by now.

The 3 continues to do well. Considering that it's within the margin of error of a developmentally challenged car like the Fiat, you have to either give Mazda some credit or knock Fiat a bit. That said, its still below the EPA number, but at least it has a shot at reaching it. Keep it up Mazda, you're slowly changing my mind.

What I always find interesting about these lists is that unless it's a hybrid/diesel/subcompact, pretty much everything falls in the 18 to 22 mpg range despite huge variances in powertrains and curb weights.

I agree, bankerdanny.

+1 Bankerdanny

Take it to the bankerdanny.

I know I sound like a broken record, but so does IL.

IL is playing "let's see who can get the highest mpg" games with the Jetta. As long as that's the case, it's misleading for IL to compare results. Add to that, it takes different fuel than the other vehicles.

At the same time, the car IL beats on the most is at the bottom.

Nice showing by the Mazda 3 - if the new SkyActiv is anything like the older MZR as far as break-in you should see MPG improvements until ~7500 miles. IL - now would be the perfect time to throw an Elantra Limited or Focus SEL/Titanium in the mix to compare to the 3. :)

Very surprised by the Camry - this is the 4 banger right? There has to be something going on here for such a low showing.

I'm not to surprised by the Camry. I had a 2011 last year for a month and only got 22 mpg over 3 tanks. No better then our beater Taurus with its ancient vulcan V6.

More disappointed by the Sonic and the Explorer. The Sonic will likely improve but the Explorer has a truly pointless drivetrain.

"IL is playing "let's see who can get the highest mpg" games with the Jetta. As long as that's the case, it's misleading for IL to compare results. Add to that, it takes different fuel than the other vehicles."

Why don't you accept that diesels get great mileage?

I've known lots of people with TDIs over the years and while the cars may not be perfect they really do get remarkable fuel economy. Rather then working hard to get good mileage you have to drive really hard to get bad mileage on these engines.

The Explorer continues to disappoint. The selling point on this model is the economy and it's just not terribly impressive. I get 1 mpg less in my CX-9 and it has a 3.7L V6 with AWD. I like turbo fours (loved it in my Legacy GT) but I think it's becoming clear that the benefits of a turbo 4 in a large crossover are not that huge. Since Edmunds got the Ecoboost Explorer in part to evaluate the powertrain, it would probably be nice if you could get your hands on a FWD V6 Explorer. While the Ecoboost beats the FWD V6 Explorer on the EPA test cycle, I have a feeling that the V6 might hold it's own in real world driving.

Lots of folks have done long-term TDIs - C&D, I think Autoweek, maybe one or two others.

The TDI numbers are for the most part real. I think C&D got 38.5 mpg over 40k miles.

When you read these numbers, you have to keep in mind that these cars are driven by people - and people drive them the way they're intended to be driven...so you see them kinda trying to get good mileage with the TDI and the 3 SkyActiv, and beating on the Mustang.

Do you read the posts about doing burnouts with the Mustang? The ones from everyone on staff about how the NSX sounds at 8k rpm? How do you think they found out how it sounds at that engine speed? The A8L gets only 1 mpg better than the Mustang GT per EPA - but it's getting 3 mpg better in actual use - that's because of the use profile. A huge, loaded lux sedan gets picked for a 3.5k mile road trip rather than a Mustang with a kinda small back seat and trunk - who would guessed that?

The Nissan, Honda and Toyota minivans all got real comparable mpg - that is because they are all similar vehicles, and also they get real close to their combined EPA estimates. It's because they are driven...like minivans - nobody really hypermiling, nobody beating the daylights out of them.

IL staffers are all car people, and they are all trying to find out "what'll she do" based upon the strong points of the vehicles in question. Just human nature.

Did the MINI Countryman get a quiet kick to the curb? The last entries don't really give the full story as I recall.

firstwagon: "Why don't you accept that diesels get great mileage?"

It's not that I don't accept good numbers out of the Jetta. It's that I don't accept IL's publishing comparison data, while not bothering to control variables that are very controllable.