Toyota, Acura, Volvo Forget Fuel Efficiency
BY CHARLES KROME
Oct. 24, 2008: Okay, maybe “forget” isn’t the right word here. Maybe something closer to “ignore” might actually be more appropriate, at least for Toyota and Acura’s owner, Honda, which obviously can build fuel-sipping cars when they put their corporate minds to it.
| Over at Honda, the powers that be have decided that, to compete with other premium brands, the next Acura RL has to be a rear-wheel-drive model packing a V8.
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But, equally obviously, that’s not always their focus.
For example, also showing just how brainwashed some of the media remain regarding Toyota, Ron Kiino at Motor Trend recently provided a Long-Term Update on the 2008 Scion xB. Among Kiino’s comments: “The 2008 Scion xB is still frugal at the pump, delivering about 23 mpg over its nearly 16,000-mile tenure.”
Sorry, Ron, 22.7 mpg, the exact number notched by the xB, is not my idea of “frugal.”
Over at Honda, the powers that be have decided that, to compete with other premium brands, the next Acura RL has to be a rear-wheel-drive model packing a V8. Naturally, the word is that this new engine will have a full complement of fuel-efficiency technology. But to paraphrase mothers everywhere: “If the other premium brands jumped off a bridge ... .”
Then there’s the new Volvo XC60, a small SUV that’s supposed to launch here in the spring. I’m usually a bit leery of complaining about Volvo fuel economy, which isn’t that good, because of all the safety equipment it puts on its vehicles.
There’s no way around it: Extra safety features necessarily mean extra weight, and that means lower fuel efficiency. This is one of the reasons there aren’t cars like the Geo Metro around anymore. Running a 49-hp three-cylinder engine, the Metro was rated at 43 mpg city and 51 mpg highway. But I don’t want to even imagine something like a Metro vs. Nissan Titan collision.
So I can see how Volvo’s attention to safety might lower the fuel efficiency of the new XC60. But that being said, why would Volvo also want to give this SUV enough engine to take it from 0-60 mph in just over 7 seconds? That probably doesn’t do much for the ol’ mpg numbers. In fact, that probably explains why the XC60’s estimated mileage figures are a meager 15 and 22. And remember, this is a “small” SUV; for comparison, although the Ford Escape also gets 22 mpg, that’s its city number. On the highway, it can get 28 mpg.
All of which means it’s going to take more than just getting U.S. automakers to emulate the imports to turn around the market.
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