Truck Gas Mileage

Pickup truck gas mileage is ripe for improvement. With today’s most fuel efficient small pickup trucks only reaching the mid-twenty mile per gallon (MPG) range on the highway, it’s clear that there’s much work to be done. At one point in time, not all that long ago, America had a domestically produced 45 MPG pickup truck. Decades later, the best truck gas mileage we can do is roughly half that amount. It’s sad but true.

One basic change could be made to improve our trucks gas mileage results: replace the gasoline engines with diesels. But as of this writing, not one manufacturer has committed to selling a small pickup truck with a diesel here in the United States. The problem, in many ways, is related to our country’s lack of a coherent energy policy that would put diesel fuel on the same footing as gasoline. Per gallon pricing is the barrier … and the opportunity.

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AWD Gas Mileage

There’s no better time then the dead of winter to test AWD gas mileage. (As I write this, I’m in the midst of reviewing an AWD 2009 Mazda CX-7 GT. While the official estimates are par for the course, I’ve been able to exceed the numbers on the window sticker.) Unfortunately, AWD gas mileage is nearly always lower than the FWD variant … when all four wheels are driven, fuel economy always suffers. It comes down to simple physics. Even the best gas mileage AWDs top out in the 30 mile per gallon (MPG) highway range.

2010 Audi A3 2.0 TDI at NAIAS 2009 ... can an AWD Quattro be far behind?

A good number of the current AWD gas mileage champs use hybrid technology. I’ve put the Lexus 400h, Ford Escape Hybrid, and Toyota Highlander Hybrid to the gas mileage test over the past year and have achieved excellent results with each vehicle.

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Senator Corker Goes to Detroit

From the looks of the mob of reporters and cameras, one might have thought that a pop culture icon had descended upon the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) floor.

But it was not a Grammy-winning diva or Hollywood actress flocked by paparazzi … it was a man in the running for the Motor City’s least favorite Washington politician, Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee.

After exiting from a proverbial back room, Corker made his rounds of the NAIAS show floor, starting with the GM booth, where he received a car-by-car briefing on the latest designs and technology from the largest of the Detroit Three.

Senator Corker gets an education at GM

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Dinner with Ford’s CEO, Alan Mulally

On Sunday evening, I had the good fortune to have dinner with Ford’s CEO, Alan Mulally and a number of Ford executives. I was the lone wolf mad dog blogger at the table, surrounded by conventional journalists from America and the UK. Needless to say, I was nervous as could be, not having previously met a single person in the room. I compensated by throwing down three pineapple vodka infusions – the house specialty at the Capital Grille in Troy, Michigan (and for good reason, I must say) – in rapid succession while twittering and waiting at the bar.

All in my best attempt to summon inspiration from the late great Hunter S. Thompson.

As the outsider not knowing a soul, I felt a bit uneasy as I eased into my spot at the corner of the table. I was only guy not wearing a tie (although I did have a proper navy jacket). My non-corporate arrangement of facial hair du jour couldn’t have helped.

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US Diesel Production = National Security

With a month to go in the Big Oil administration, it’s time that we get right down to it.

This country must immediately examine the precise reasons that have inflated the price of diesel fuel (which have lead to runaway inflation in the cost of nearly every product). We run on diesel; long-haul transportation (trucks and trains), construction, farming, municipal and emergency services, home heating, are all dependent upon the fuel.

The price of crude has cratered. Why is diesel fuel still as much as a dollar more than regular grade gasoline, when it has historically been on a relative (yet orbiting) par?

Yes, we changed the formulation of diesel fuel for environmental reasons. And that’s a good thing. But the move to low sulfur diesel fuel added less then ten cents to the cost of each gallon.

Where is the lion’s share of the cost increase coming from?

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