gasoline

Top Ten Scooters Part One: Gasoline

khallgeisler — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Two weeks ago, a carless friend of mine sent me an instant message. She was tired of relying on public transportation every day; could I help her find a good scooter? Two days ago, another friend of mine who owns two cars sent me an instant message. He was sick of paying so much for gas; could I help him find a good scooter? But of course.

I figured if a public-transportation lover and an editor at a sports car magazine were interested in scooters, a lot of people likely were in the same boat. Here, then, are my top five picks for gas-saving scooters. I'll list the five ultimate gas savers, electric scooters, in Part Two.

Note: Mileage and prices are guidelines for shopping, not written in stone.

Vespa (old-school): The scooter that started it all is still going strong. If you're a fan of "Quadrophenia" or "Roman Holiday," this is the scooter you love. It's a good choice for tinkerers, collectors, and people who love wrenching. It is not a good choice for first-timers or people who want the reliability of a Camry. Mileage and price vary wildly, depending on state of repair.

Vespa (new-school): Still solid, still quality, but no longer so fussy, brand-spanking-new Vespas have automatic transmissions and style to spare. They're also spendier than most other scooters, so you're paying as much for the badge are you are the build. 72 mpg; starts at $4,199.

Piaggio MP3: This new scooter from Vespa's parent company is a departure from the norm: it has three wheels, two of which are in front. The wheels are close together and designed to tilt with the rider for exceptional stability. The radical design has won over most testers, though it has far more power than scooter newbies would require. Starts at $7,199.

Kymco People: Full disclosure -- I've been riding a Kymco People 50 scooter since 2002, and I love it. The tires are larger than most scooters, which lends a feeling of stability. It's made in Taiwan, so the gauges are in metric, but there's a gas guage and clock, which are nice. 88 mpg; starts at $2,599.

Honda Metropolitan: By far the cutest scooter on the market, with lots of colors and even patterns to choose from. It's small, but it has a four-stroke engine, making it cleaner than the two-stroke scooters out there. Great for city streets. Owners report getting 100+ mpg; starts at $1,899.

Image courtesy of Piaggio.

Car Makers Face Stricter Fuel Efficiency Rules

khallgeisler — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

On Earth Day this week, Secretary Mary Peters of the Transportation Department announced a proposal that would require car makers to raise average fuel efficiency at a faster pace than Congress asked for last December. Congress set a baseline of a 3.3% increase each year from 2010-2015; the new proposal would raise that to 4.5% each year.

That means the current average of 25.7 miles per gallon for passenger cars would go up to 35.7 mpg by 2015, while light trucks would be raised to 28.6 mpg by 2015. According to a New York Times article, car makers are already headed in the right direction, thanks to consumer demand. Since buyers are increasingly interested in better fuel economy for ecological and economical reasons, the current average of cars purchased and driven off the lot is over 31 mpg.

It could be worse for car manufacturers -- if they didn't accept this proposal, they might have had to take on California's far stricter fuel-saving measures. The new standards fall between California's aggressive policy, which would raise fuel economy to an average 42.5 mpg by 2015, and the wimpy regulations passed by Congress, which required automakers to hit 35 mpg by 2020.

The general car-maker consensus seems to be relief at not having to deal with patchwork, state-by-state rules or, worse, a bunch of states aping California's tough stance. Given that our dollars have already upped U.S. fuel economy above the requirement, and the fact that Hummer sales are down (yay!), we little people can have more of an influence on clean air and gas-guzzling than than we think.

Photo by constantskepticupdates.

Honda Civic GX Tops List of Greenest Cars

jplatt — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:47:28 -0400

For the fifth year in a row, the natural-gas powered Honda Civic GX has received the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's ranking as the greenest car on the market.

According to Honda, "This is the eighth year in a row that a Honda vehicle received the number one ranking and the seventh consecutive year that Honda vehicles held at least four positions in the top 12."

Other top-ranking vehicles included the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid, Nissan Altima Hybrid, and the Mini Cooper.

Vehilces at the bottom of the list (what ACEE calls the "meanest vehicles for the environment") include the Volkswagen Touareg, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Hummer H2 and four models from Mercedes-Benz.

To create its lists, the ACEE ranked vehicles according to their fuel economy, health-related pollution impacts and global warming emissions.

If you're in the market for a new car, your own mileage using this list may vary according to what "green" ranking elements matter most to you. The Honda Civic GX may have had the highest "green" rankings due to its low emissions, but it only has a fuel ecomony of 24 MPG city / 36 MPG highway. The Toyota Prius, meanwhile, gets 48 MPG city / 46 MPG highway.

For more information, check out:

15 Tips For Better Mileage -- Want to Get 70 MPG in Your Toyota Prius?

The Hype About Hypermiling

Two Wheels Are Greener Than Four

Driving Green = Fewer Greenbacks

Five Tips to Find the Cheapest Gas Near You

Top 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars: Save Gas, Save Money

Record Month For Selling Gas -- Saving Cars Getting Better Than 30 MPG

Driving Green = Fewer Greenbacks

khallgeisler — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

As of this moment, gasoline prices in America have not yet hit $4 a gallon, but with oil hitting an all-time-high $100 a barrel in late February, European-style petrol prices may be around the corner. Eek.

To lower your chance of a gas-pump related coronary, here are a few tips and calculators gleaned from across the magical World Wide Web to maybe keep a few extra pennies in our pockets.

AutoblogGreen posted a reader’s homemade calculator, which computes and graphs your individual most economical commuting speed. It takes into account the distance from home to work and the fuel efficiency of your car, as well as your pay rate. This online app only figures highway speeds; if you’re driving below 60 mph all the way to work, you’ll have to work it out for yourself.

In a similar vein, MPG Genie figures the commuting costs of various new vehicles. This will come in most handy when you’re sick of $100 fill-ups on that Suburban and wondering exactly how much a Ford Escape hybrid will save you. (The answer to that one is $70 a month. Totally worth it.)

An often overlooked (and admittedly mundane) way to boost gas mileage is to make sure your tires are inflated properly. There isn’t a web site that can check and fill your tires for you, but Bridgestone/Firestone will send you a monthly email to remind you to get out the gauge. None other than race legend Mario Andretti endorses the practice in a video on the site’s home page.

If none of these fills your hunger for fuel economy, but you’re not yet ready to be seen in a Zap Xebra, check out this Mother Jones story on hypermilers. These guys wring 100-mpg-range fuel efficiency from everyday cars, as well as hybrids, by braking as little as possible, hugging the white line, and bravely shutting off the engine for downhill stretches. Since the power in “power steering” and “power breaking” comes from a switched-on engine, this last strategy is not for the faint of heart.

And don’t forget the boring but infallible boosters of fuel economy: take your foot off the accelerator as far ahead of a stop light as possible, no mashing the gas pedal with your foot after every stop sign, and use cruise control on the highway.

Photo courtesy mag3737.

For more information, check out:

15 Tips For Better Mileage -- Want to Get 70 MPG in Your Toyota Prius?

The Hype About Hypermiling

Two Wheels Are Greener Than Four

Honda Civic GX Tops List of Greenest Cars

Five Tips to Find the Cheapest Gas Near You

Top 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars: Save Gas, Save Money

Record Month For Selling Gas -- Saving Cars Getting Better Than 30 MPG

What's So Smart about a smart Car?

khallgeisler — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:59:37 -0500

The smart fortwo is
finally hitting our shores after fifteen years of European development and
production. In 1993, Daimler-Benz and Swatch (makers of equally cool and
colorful watches) teamed up to create a car that could park easily on narrow
European streets. Daimler provided the engineering know-how to build a car as
long as most other vehicles are wide, while Swatch provided the funky design.

For a decade and a half, the smart fortwo (and its
short-lived brethren the roadster and forfour) were available in the U.S. only
as gray-market cars. They could be imported, but there were dozens of hoops to
jump through to do it legally. Some dealerships, like EnVironmental Motors in
Glendale, Calif., jumped through the
hoops on behalf of customers and sold a few cars on the showroom floor. Most
Americans, though, first encountered smart cars while on European vacations, only to find that these cute-as-a-button cars couldn't be bought at home.

Now, in 2008, U.S. drivers are getting their paws on these
little guys in a big way. The first run of 30,000 cars destined for the states has already sold out, and orders are being taken for the next round. Why so popular? The fortwo's biggest plus, besides its supreme parkability, is its gas
mileage. The fortwo, in either coupe or convertible form, gets 33 mpg in the
city, where most of them will be driven, and 41 on the highway and puts out 5
tons of carbon dioxide a year. By contrast, the Toytoa Prius emits 4 tons of
CO2, while a Ford F150 kicks out over 11 tons in a year.

In a country where SUVs and trucks with gargantuan tires still
reign supreme, potential smart buyers may be put off by the idea of being
squashed like a bug by the aforementioned F150. While it doesn’t address the
squashing aspect specifically, this 5-minute video demonstrates the strength of
the smart’s “tridion” safety shell at 70 mph – by ramming it into a 20-ton concrete
barrier.

The other issue for American buyers may be space. Like the
Citroen 2CV of the 1940s, the smart was designed for two people and a case of
beer. Maybe that should be updated to two people and their laptop go-bags. In
any case, it is not a grocery getter; more like a take-out picker-upper, and
then only as long as you’ve ordered fortwo. But, as they say, 30,000 preorders can’t be
wrong.