Hi everyone,

I am car free but occasionally rent a car to go hunting at my parents farm.

I rented a chevy aveo from Enterprise expecting to get 35-40 mpg. I checked and I only recieved 26 mpg. : (

Which company has the most fuel efficient car and what will the ACTUAL mpg be....not that BS EPA estimate that is always about 30-40% off.

Thanks!!

Get yer foot outa the pedal.

VW turbo diesels...

They get about 90 mpg.

Maybe not that much outa the pedal.... :D

VW turbo diesels...

They get about 90 mpg.

Careful about renting a diesel, from my house you have to go about 20 miles to find diesel.
But from my country property, they have diesel at every stop ( maybe for the tractors?)

Can you rent a vw diesel?

I do not drive over 60 mph which means that when I drive 150 miles to the farm I get passed by 100's of cars on the 4 lane road and pass noone.

I think last year I made 6 trips and I passed 1 car.

VW turbo diesels...

They get about 90 mpg.


Sorry Sixty Fiver, but I think your claim of 90 mpg is pushing the truth. I checked it out and found this long term test of one...
http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/pb/06jetta_tdi.htm


5.2 L/100 km (54.3 mpg Imperial) Is still one of the best if not the best on the road and still very impressive. I think that even more impressive would be a car that runs on no petrolium products whatsoever.:) Also check out the Toyota Yaris, very efficient gas engine. However it depends on the size of vehicle you need. Go here for some good info...http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/personal/pdfs/most-efficient-vehicles-2007.pdf I hope that works, it is a pdf formatted file.

I used to own a diesel Jetta and realistically got around 5.5L/100kms

Also check out the Toyota Yaris, very efficient gas engine. However it depends on the size of vehicle you need. Go here for some good info...http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/personal/pdfs/most-efficient-vehicles-2007.pdf I hope that works, it is a pdf formatted file.

The Toyota Yaris is what I have. I don't drive it very much, but when you're stuck in a lease, you can't exactly sell the thing. The sticker advertised 41 mpg highway. I took it on a road trip not too long ago to Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, and Vermont. EVery time I stopped to fuel, I did the math. I never once got below 42.1 mpg. I once even hit 42.7 mpg. While I would love to be car-free, at least this car is about as efficient as possible, especially considering that I only drive it about once per week 10-20 miles.

What's amazing, though, looking at that link, is that Canadian vehicles seem to get better gas mileage. I wonder if that's because of increased safety standards here in the States?

Which company has the most fuel efficient car and what will the ACTUAL mpg be....not that BS EPA estimate that is always about 30-40% off.

Thanks!!


Since most rental car agencies will not guarantee you a particular car, why worry?

You probably don't have much choice. You can rent a "subcompact", whatever that happens to be, but don't be surprised if they upgrade you a size or two anyway. Most rental agencies only have one or two different types of cars in each size range. They'll all be automatics, probably gasoline powered, and similar size and MPG motors in the different brands.

What's amazing, though, looking at that link, is that Canadian vehicles seem to get better gas mileage. I wonder if that's because of increased safety standards here in the States?

If you are comparing mpg, Canadian data is in imperial gall whereas US data is in usgall so the Canadian mpg will be higher. 40 m/usg = 50 m/ig

David

If you are comparing mpg, Canadian data is in igpm whereas US data is in usgpm so the Canadian mpg will be higher. 40 usgpm = 50 igpm

David

I'm sorry. I'm a dumba s s.

Gas M.P.G. as displayed on the EPA window sitcker is a
fantasy number arrived at by a pro driver in an ideally
prepared car or by simple numerical calculations.

In the real world to get the best gas MPG out of any
vehicle think, good tune, on fully inflated tires, driving
55>60 MPH in a non-stop & go trip with a feather foot
on the gas pedal.

Otherwise.......forget it.

Can you rent a vw diesel?

I do not drive over 60 mph which means that when I drive 150 miles to the farm I get passed by 100's of cars on the 4 lane road and pass noone.

I think last year I made 6 trips and I passed 1 car.

No way did you get that bad mileage at 60mph.

I think that you actually got much better than 26mpg. What happened is that the previous renter filled the tank up, then drove another twenty or thirty miles before returning it. The gas guage still read full but the tank was down about a gallon.

The Aveo has disappointed many owners with poor economy. If you can get a Mazda 3, those get about mid 30's and are nice to drive. As long as it is the standard 2 liter model and not the higher powered 2.3.

I would look into a Prius if they will give you a free upgrade at a compact car cost. Sometimes they will upon arrival if you ask really nice n stuff. : ) Book a Corolla (also similar in economy to the stadard Mazda 3) and ask for a Prius if they can be so kind.

The wife's Aveo gets 32 to 35 freeway mpg, and that's on Cali gas. We booked a Malibu on our last trip for the extra space, V/6 power, and still averaged between 28 to 30 mpg, again on Cali gas.

No way did you get that bad mileage at 60mph.

I think that you actually got much better than 26mpg. What happened is that the previous renter filled the tank up, then drove another twenty or thirty miles before returning it. The gas guage still read full but the tank was down about a gallon.


WAY.

I checked it on the way down there....filled it up.....and checked it when I returned it.

Maybe I just had a bad car? I am renting another "economy car" from Enterprise on the 6th of october so I hope its not the EXACT same Aveo that I had before.

Don't forget, the mpg sticker is in ideal lab conditions. In real life, one must accellerate and stop more often, so the mileage will suffer.

I read a consumer reports article on it... EPA miles per gallon ratings are arrived at by driving the car on a car-treadmill with a mix of acceleration, braking, and constant-speed driving that they think represents real-world driving. I think resistance is put on the car treadmill to compensate for the wind resistance that a car of that size and shape will have.

The authors of the article considered the EPA test to be obsolete in the sense that traffic delays (which hurt gas mileage) overall have gotten worse since the test was made.

The actual values given for fuel economy might not be accurate, but it is a standardized test that gives you a solid basis for comparison. A vehicle which gets 5L/100kms on the test may actually get 7, but it will still outperform a vehicle that gets 7L/100kms on the test.

I read a consumer reports article on it... EPA miles per gallon ratings are arrived at by driving the car on a car-treadmill with a mix of acceleration, braking, and constant-speed driving that they think represents real-world driving. I think resistance is put on the car treadmill to compensate for the wind resistance that a car of that size and shape will have.

The authors of the article considered the EPA test to be obsolete in the sense that traffic delays (which hurt gas mileage) overall have gotten worse since the test was made.

EPA has also changed the way they are doing testing to more realistically mirror actual driving conditions, including more stop and go and higher highway speeds. IIRC it will reduce the older EPA estimates by around 10-15%. FWIW on most of my vehicles I have almost always been able to beat EPA ratings by 2-3 mpg by my conservative driving habits. My work truck is a F350 diesel. It doesn't have an EPA rating because it is too heavy. I typically have to drive around 220 miles out to my jobsite at the beginning and the end of the week. If I run the interstates at 70 mph (speed limit) it gets around 13.5-14.5mpg, if I cut back to 65 mph it will get 14.5-15.0. If I take an alternate route on old US highways and run 55mph the mileage goes up another .5-1mpg. And these are consistent numbers gathered over the past year. The total time difference between the 70mph and the 55mph routes is only about 20 minutes longer for the 220 mile trip. Head winds and tailwinds will make a noticeable difference too. YMMV:D

Aaron:)

Which company has the most fuel efficient car and what will the ACTUAL mpg be....not that BS EPA estimate that is always about 30-40% off.

Thanks!!

Hertz rents the Prius. They can get about 45-55 mpg in real world driving.