2008 Fuel Economy Guide

One of my favorite scenes in The Jerk is when the phone book arrives and Steve Martin excitedly runs around with it saying, “The new phone book is here.” Within the story, the event is important because it means he is “someone”. I love the scene because of the exuberance shown by the character regarding a seemingly mundane event.

So it is for me and the EPA’s 2008 Fuel Economy Guide. Although it will probably be a couple of years until I replace my 1999 Nissan Maxima, the FEG is for me now what the Sear’s catalog was as a kid: something to pore over, dream about, and create a wish list. OK, where cars are concerned, the list is one item, but it is really exciting to me.

Green Car Congress has a nice piece on the guide, compiling a top 10 combined city/highway mpg list.

If you check out the guide, remember that the EPA is using a new methodology this year. You cannot directly compare the mpg numbers from this year to previous years. However, because the new methodology is based on data that the EPA has been collecting all along, they have provided a way to lookup the ratings for older cars based on the new methodology. Sadly, this allows me to see that my 1999 Maxima, with new mpg estimates of 18 city/26 highway, is no more a gasoline hog than a 2008 Maxima at 19/25. OK, the new one accelerates faster and lugs around a lot of airbag weight that hopefully reflects improved safety, but it is not encouraging to see such a lack of progress in fuel economy.

Anyway, I’m going back to the FEG and dreams of future Priuses and Escapes.

Advertisement