MPG Stickers and Going Green

Recently we were thinking about replacing my 1999 Corolla, but when we started shopping for cars, we discovered that only a handful met the four criteria that we had set in place. 1) It had to get 23-28 miles per gallon in the city/on the highway. 2) It had to have stellar safety ratings. 3) It needed to be versatile; for example, it could carry four passengers comfortably or a bicycle if the seats were folded down.4) It needed to be cost-effective, preferably under $23k.

The criteria limited us to a handful of hybrids, such as a Highlander, and a Honda CRV, a RAV4, or a Mazda 3/5. We initially looked at the Caliber too, but according to several sites, such as Edmunds.com, the actual cost to own a Caliber was higher than other choices. We considered the possibility that this information could be affected by locale and lifestyle, but there was also the fact that the Caliber does not retain its value as well as the other choices, but we are still hoping that the Caliber will prove to be a possible choice for consumers like ourselves as new models are released.

The requirement, however, that most limited our choices was the gas mileage, which brings me to the Miles Per Gallon sticker that appears in large black letters on most cars. These numbers are derived from emissions tests. This fact sounds good until one finds out that cars are never actually subjected to real road conditions to arrive at the city/highway numbers. In tiny print, on the big black sticker, a range of mpg will appear for the car. For example, the RAV4 gets 23 mpg in the city, according to the big black number, but the fine print explains that it could be as low as 20 mpg or as high as 26 mpg. 20 mpg was the absolute minimum that we were willing to accept.

Also, the guidelines for testing mpg have only been updated once. The last time, according to an MSN article, was in 1985. The bottom line is, to be assured of getting at least 20 mpg off the lot, the black sticker needs to state that the car will get 23 or 24 mpg in the city. The sad truth is that many auto companies are still not making it easy for those with active lifestyles to be green.

In the meantime, we are keeping the Corolla and holding out for another two years. We'll be expanding our search to include cars that use bio-diesel fuels. We hope that a plethora of cost-effective and fuel efficient cars are just around the corner.