When people complain about the high price of gas they inevitably bring their choice of transportation into the conversation. Over the past ten years the SUV became the preferred choice of transport to the American public. These all purpose urban assault vehicles have served as the mainstay of American transportation. They and many of the cars that tickle the American fancy excel in storage and seating space and are extremely versatile. The problem with a hungry vehicle is that we will be faced with five dollar a gallon gas prices in the near future.
The current vogue in auto conversation is now shifting towards gas mileage versus power and size. When people ask me what my economy car preference is I give them an answer that they normally would not expect. My choice for the perfect economy cruiser is a late model Corvette.
A well tuned C5 or C6 is capable of getting well over 30 mpg on the highway.
I chuckled the other day when a local news team was doing an investigative
report on the latest small cars that can get over 30 mpg. The list included
a very short list of foreign and American economy cars that are basically
one step up from a golf cart. If the news team had included the Corvette
on the list they would have been laughed off the air. Most people
don't have a clue as to how efficient this modern day muscle car really is.
The popular notion is that a small four cylinder engine placed in a small
car is the magic formula for high gas mileage. Those expectations are
unrealistic when equiping an underpowered four banger in a vehicle that has
the aerodynamics of a brick.
We were recently forced to take a long drive in a Japanese economy rental car.
Three of us had to take a trip across Florida's Alligator Alley while covering
an event in Miami. The car rental people at Hertz told us that because it
was tourist season in South Florida there were only a few cars available.
The car that we were assigned to was a four cylinder Corolla. As economy
cars go it was not that bad. There was plenty of luggage space and the
seating was adequate, the FM radio even worked. The agent at the Hertz
desk told us that he would let us take a brand new 08 Vette for the same
price as the rice burner. During the family tourist season they can't
give these things away. The problem was that there were three of us.
We should have made our sales rep take a bus.
The little rice burner was actually fun to drive around town, zipping in
and out of traffic was a breeze.
The problems associated with an underpowered vehicle became all too
apparent when we dove onto the Alley.
The "Alley" for those of you not familiar with South Florida, is a
notorious stretch of highway that connects the West and East coasts
of Southern Florida. This road is America's answer to the Autobahn.
The posted speed limit is 70mph. in reality average speeds are not
all that average. Most people drive the Alley at a leisurely pace of
about 85 mph. At this speed the State Troopers won't really take too
much notice. There are only four to six FHP cars assigned to
the one hundred plus miles of this road at any one time so people tend
to get a little carried away when it comes to obeying the speed limit.
As I said our rice burner was perfect at speeds under 40 mph. The "Alley"
with its 90mph plus flow of traffic presented us with a very different opinion.
At 85mph the little motor was screaming for dear life. The end result of
this outing was an average highway gas mileage figure of around 21 to 22 mpg.
If we had obeyed the 70mph speed limit the little wonder would have squeezed
out a few more miles to the gallon.
The high gas milage figures that are advertised
for these economy cars are at what the manufacturers call highway speeds.
Highway speed is 55 mph. When was the last time you saw anyone driving 55mph.
55 may be the average speed on congested urban roads like
the Long Island Expressway in NY. 55 is not the norm however for other parts
of the country.
The moral to this story is that smaller and underpowered is not always better.
We took the same trip in a 03 C5 and we averaged 31mpg doing an
average of 85 mph. The car we drove had an automatic and the standard 2:73
rear end. At 90 mph the tach was barely moving past 1700rpm. Yes folks the
best economy car in the world is made in Bowling Green not Tokyo.
The Corvette can attribute its miserly thirst for fuel to its overall
sleek shape and a big efficient V8 that does not have to strain once
it gets rolling. The Vettes low coefficient of surface to air friction,
high torque and top end gearing makes it the perfect highway economy car.
Talk about having your cake and eating it. So the next time you get into a
converstaion about economy cars tell it like it is, even if you get laughed at.
