The government has a one size fits all mentality, but one size
does
NOT fit all.  My one son commutes 102 miles one way to work.
When he took the job he bought a small 30 MPG car.  He was in a
car pool and drove every fourth working day.  Since he was
running up, over mountainous roads he seldom got to run in fifth
gear.  He traded the econobox for a big Mercury Grand Marquis
with and EPA of 25 MPG.  Now he is in a five person car pool,
drives every fifth working day and gets around the same fuel
mileage as he did with
the smaller car because the big V8 easily runs the mountains in
top gear.   ;)

mike hunt

I'm sure you are right, after all it is the same American
consumer that is buying all the foreign products like Toyotas
that are hollering about their jobs going off shore  LOL

mike hunt

The rollover deaths in cars is far greater than in SUVs, as a raw
number.  Ten percent is a rather low statistical increase in
roll-overs in SUVs, considering there has been a 70% increase in
the number of SUVs sold in the US over the past five years. As
well as the fact the average SUV caries an average of three more
occupants on average.  To point to the total number of deaths
without equating it to passenger miles traveled and to the hugh
increase in the number of vehicle on the road is disingenuous.

The fact remains the death and injury RATE in all types of
accidents is going down, particularly among children in the US.
The US NHTSA attributes that decline to the greater number of,
properly belted, children riding in bigger, safer, SUVs.

That was one reason the US Senate declined to raise the CAFE for
light trucks and chose to leave it to market forces to determine
what vehicles consumers would chose to purchases

mike hunt

The EPA figures are to be used as a comparison among vehicles
that are all tested to the SAME standard, not the same USE.  Some
will drive mainly in cites and generally in lower gears.  Other
may drive only on the interstates.  Winter, summer, elevation,
humidity, etc. all effect fuel mileage.  That why it says on the
label 'your mileage my vary.'  My experience in this business
shows that most vehicles, on average, will do two miles less then
the city mileage if driven only that way and easily do three
miles more than the highway mileage when driven mostly that way.  

Like most owners, one tends to mention the best mileage not their
poorest or even average mileage. On a recent trip of 1,660 miles
though several states I averaged 25.7 MPG in the Mustang.  On a
trip to Montreal from Delaware I averaged 27.3 with the LS.  As
to average mileage my 1983 Continental Mark VI has a fuel
computer.  
I have never reset the average mileage accumulated setting over
nearly 90K and it reads 23.1  

My one son recently replaced a vehicle with a 30 MPG rating for a
larger vehicle with a 25 MPG rating, that he uses to commute over
100 miles one way to work over mountainous roads.  His average
MPG is only two MPG less with the larger safer vehicle because
the small vehicle need to be run in lower gears to clime the
mountains while the lager V8 will run the mountains is top gear.

Why anyone would chooses to ride in a small car, rather than a
larger safer vehicle to save a few dollars a week, does not make
much sense to me.

mike hunt