The good thing about a controlled environment (I'm assuming that fuel blend
is also scrutinized), it provides a stable platform to compare the fuel
consumptions between various vehicles. However, in the case of Hybrids,
their test results is grossly inaccurate, regardless of real world or
controlled lab testing.

Pars

"Bucky" <uw_badgers@email.com> wrote in message
news:1113597048.495091.18170@f14g2000cwb.googlegro ups.com...
> No wonder the EPA estimates are so far off. If you look at the city/hwy
> schedules, they are very misleading.
> http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml
>
> What do you think of when you see "highway"? I think of cruising down
> the freeway at 65 mph. Well, the EPA thinks that highway means average
> speed of 48 mph and top speed of 60 mph. I can't think of any driving
> situation that matches that.
>
> What do you think of when you see "city"? I think of stop and go
> between 0-30 mph. The EPA's city test is mostly stop and go, but the
> top speed during the test is 56 mph! How can the top speeds for city
> and hwy test only differ by 4 mph?!!
>
> Also, the EPA tests on a "treadmill".
> http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/how_tested.shtml
>
> Supposedly, they account for drag: "The energy required to move the
> rollers can be adjusted to account for aerodynamic forces and the
> vehicle's weight." But do they actually vary the simulated drag
> differently for each vehicle's drag coefficient? Do they increase the
> simulated drag when speed increases? I'm very skeptical of the realism
> of the test because drag is a huge component of fuel efficiency at
> higher speeds.
>