[geeks] What is Microsoft planing with this?

[Kurt Huhn]

On Friday, December 13, 2002, at 09:08 PM, Rick Hamell wrote:

>> Ya know, why is it that so many people have such a problem with this? 
>>  I
>> drive a SUV.  I do a a semi-decent reason for having it, but even if i
>> don't, what the hell does it matter to you?  (just try to pick up and
>
> 	Because they're not environmentally friendly? They're not
> regulated like cars are to meet certain minimum MPG limits. I saw a
> statistic somewhere that stated something like "If every SUV on the 
> road
> today got 1 MPG better, it would save more oil then all there is" [in 
> that
> wildlife preserve that they wanted to drill... I can't remeber the 
> name.]
>

Light trucks (which SUVs fall under) most certainly *are* regulated in 
gasoline consumption.  The CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) for 
all manufacturers takes light duty trucks (the type sold in 
dealerships, even 1-ton DRW pickups) into the equation - as a seperate 
group, but they are regulated nonetheless.  Today, I believe the CAFE 
for the light truck devision of all manufacturers is 20.5MPG.  Cars are 
at 27.5MPG.  The CAFE standards for trucks haven't risen in seven years 
- they have held steady since 1996 or 1997 (can't recall exact date).  
There are some proposals by various politicians to increase those by 
various rates, but all were shown to be either cost prohibitive or 
simply innefective for various reasons.  I believe the current proposal 
is to raise light trucks to 22MPG while the *cars* will remain static 
at 27.5MPG, where they've been since **1990**.

> 	But... if you have a reason to have one - more power to you. Most
> people don't though. I was car shopping myself recently... It 
> surprises me
> how low of a gas milege most SUV's DO get... my requirements were 15MPG
> City, and 18 highway... none could match that, yet most every car and
> minivan I looked at could. :( Even ones as old as 1995.
>

I routinely get 15MPG in my truck (5.2l Dodge Ram) in mixed highway and 
city driving.  I know guys with 5.9l Rams that get 18MPG in mixed 
driving.  Diesel Rams are known to get over 25MPG after some 
inexpensive (~$300) addons, but routinely get 19MPG in stock form.  
Karin's truck (5.2l Durango) has an average MPG (taken from the onboard 
computer) of 16.5MPG in mixed driving, and we are *not* easy on the 
loud pedal.

I've seen SUVs that have estimated mileage of 20MPG or over, IIRC from 
when I was truck shoppping a few months ago.  They're not very powerful 
SUVs, and they have small[er] engines, but that's the tradeoff.  You 
want power, you need a big engine, and your fuel mileage will suffer to 
do increased feeding requirements of all that displacement.
--
Kurt
kurt at k-huhn.com