Ford Creates 62 MPG Gas Cars in Europe

[ensho]

http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/40782


In the US, Ford is still behind the 5 major foreign auto makers
in fuel efficiency, surpassing only GM and Chrysler. Yet Ford of Europe already achieves dazzling mileage that we Americans can only dream of.

Imagine a gas-fueled car that gets 62 miles to the gallon: “With start-stop, regenerative brakes and an Eco Mode system, the new Focus gets 62 MPG (U.S.) on the European scale and emits just 99 grams of CO2 per kilometer”� Available in Europe next Spring.

What is even more startling about this achievement by European Ford is that this mileage is achieved with just good old-fashioned tweaks on the traditional ICE gas car. There is no major technological breakthrough.

Why doesn’t Ford make cars like that here?
---------------------------


yeah, why?

[Shagbark Hickory]

1. There is nothing new about 60+ mpg in Europe.

I don't know why they don't sell their turbo diesel cars here.
Volkswagen is currently selling their Jetta with the diesel and drivers report 60mpg highway.
It's 50 state certified and all that.
It's also affordable.

There were some rumors of selling them here in the US but more recent articles indicate those plans are out.

[napi21]

2. My son & his family visited Italy last year & their rental small SUV

got 42mpg. Now it was a diesel but still.... I asked if we cant have cars like that. I assumed it was because the US eco laws, but my other son who lives there saaid their eco laws are stricter than the US!

[Fumesucker]

3. Getting good mileage is for Eurosissies..

Real Murkans don't need no stinkin' good gas mileage.

:eyes:

It only took a couple of months after gas prices dropped out of the stratosphere for the F150 to become the most popular vehicle in America again.

[napi21]

6. Actually that's very true! Europeans demanded better MPG's

because their fuel is so much more expensive than ours.

[Fumesucker]

7. Eh, I share an Expedition with the 5.4 engine and a towing package with my daughter.

She averages 13.5 mpg, I average 18.2 mpg in the exact same vehicle driving on the same roads. I can get considerably better mileage with a large, dual axle flatbed trailer behind the truck than she can with it naked.

The difference is that I pay attention to the real time MPG meter that came with the truck and drive accordingly while she keeps it set on miles-to-empty.

She was driving the same vehicle the same way when gas was $4.50 a gallon, she just doesn't seem to "get it" that it costs her quite a bit of money to be oblivious to the fuel economy. And she is far from stupid.

On a thirty minute trip she might beat me by a minute or two.

[napi21]

12. YEP! Fast acceleration, quick stops, agressive passing, , all

make a gas guzzler worse! I've almost always driven conservatively...always anticipating some other nut was going to do something stupid. Hubby & som OTOH drive like they're out to get somebody else! I've always gotten much better MPG than either of them.

[Fumesucker]

8. Dupe, self delete..

[TreasonousBastard]

10. Bingo! Much to the disappointment in some quarters...

the US has NEVER shown any real interest in fuel efficiency, and even less if it means the slightest inconvenience or loss of perceived status. After some people discovered smaller cars during Cash for Clunkers, they immediately started complaining about how small and miserable the econoboxes were. Same thing happened in the gas crunches of the '60s and '70s.

It's not the want of big cars and trucks that dives during gas crunches, it's the lack of ability to pay for them that drives the demand curves.

The sorry truth is that Ford, GM, and Chrysler had been making exactly what Americans want, but got caught when Americans suddenly couldn't buy them any more.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

18. You should see the shit I got on the lot when I was shopping for my car

I literally had a douchebag at a Ford dealer accuse me of being a homosexual when I indicated I was not interested in an SUV.

Ford Douche: "For your dollar, you shouldn't look any further than the Ford Edge, best cargo and towing capacity in its class"
Me: "I'm here to see the Ford Fusion"
Ford Douche: "You really have to test drive the Edge, there is nothing like it - drive it away today $25,000"
Me: "Uhh, I am going to be driving this car half a dozen miles up the 405 and back, not dragging a hang glider up the side of the mountain"
Ford Douche: "Why compromise? The Ford Edge gets best in class fuel economy!"
Me: "I don't care, I am here to see the Ford Fusion"
Ford Douche: "Oh, I see... well if your looking for something to impress the MEN, we just got a trade-in on a Sebring Convertible."

[boston bean]

17. you made me lol.. the post and you screen name, together! LOL nt

[enlightenment]

4. Someone commented (on DU) a while back that it has

to do with safety standards. That may be part of it, but I suspect it has more to do with simple demand. When a gallon of gas in Europe costs three or four times as much as it does here, the demand for high-mileage autos isn't just a murmur, it's a roar.

[Xithras]

19. Yes, safety standards and, often, other emissions issues.

The Europeans tend to prize low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions over other pollution issues, including NOX & hydrocarbons. It's the same reason why many European diesels can't be sold in the U.S. They get incredible mileage, but their particulate pollution levels exceed our standards.

The Europeans also tend to spend far less time on the freeway than we do, so their safety standards are lower than ours. High mileage European cars tend to be much lighter than anything available in the U.S., which permits them to be powered by smaller, less polluting engines.

There's also the fact that Americans tend to avoid small, underpowered cars. There have been several attempts to market 3 cyl engines in the U.S., and all were eventually canceled due to lack of sales. We like cruising down the freeway at 75MPH much more than the Europeans do, and that's a hard thing to accomplish with an itty-bitty engine.

[enlightenment]

20. I had a 3-cylinder car once. Chevy Sprint.

I bought it the first year they made them (imported them, I think) - after that they changed the name of the line to Geo, and I think they added a cylinder to the Metro because - well, because of what you said!

LOVED that car; it got about 70 miles to the gallon on the highway and around 60 in town. Granted, going up hills was an exercise in Zen meditation . . . but other than that it was perfect. I gave it to my son when he went off to college (it was over 10 years old then) and he managed to get it stolen. Broke my heart . . .

[Spider Jerusalem]

5. I drove a Ford Mondeo recently

(I'm in the UK); a full-size (for the UK anyway) car (comparable with something like a Honda Accord); 2.0 litre turbo-diesel, six-speed manual gearbox, and combined city/highway fuel economy of 47.5 miles per Imperial gallon (39.9 miles per US gallon). For purposes of comparison, the Ford Fusion (gasoline-engine, automatic transmission, based on the same platform as the Mondeo) sold in the US gets a combined 25 miles per US gallon. And the Ford Fusion hybrid's combined MPG numbers are the same as the Mondeo TDI.

[Shagbark Hickory]

21. The hybrids are a joke. The diesels are far better mpg and more fun to drive with manual transmisssi

[rollingrock]

9. Because the oil company lobby

and their paid for reps in the congress won't allow it here.

[cutlassmama]

14. there is that

[Strelnikov_]

11. Because it's God-Damned unpatrotic

This is the kind of car a proper American Homelander drives.

6000 SUX - An American Tradition



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl8mQhxhE_Q

[tabasco]

13. I rented a 3-cylinder Fiesta in Germany.

I'd get one here if I could.

[alfredo]

23. The Fiesta is coming to the US, but I'm not sure if the 3 cyl is

going to be part of it.

Look at the Mazda2. It is basically the same car as the Fiesta, different bodywork. It should be available soon.

Fiesta



Mazda2
sedan

Coupe

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. you can't guilt trip Europeans into buying American - you have to compete

While millions of Americans will salute the flag as they flush money down the toilet.

[Union Yes]

16. I bet they're illegal in 'Murikkka. knr nt

[meow2u3]

22. If Ford can make 62 mpg cars in Europe

then why the hell can't they make 62 mpg cars in the United States for Americans? It's that because they have a secret conspiracy with Big Oil to make as many gas-guzzlers as possible? :shrug:

[jpak]

24. They should rename it the "F-150"- it would sell like hotcakes here in "Merica

:D