And lets not forget that these MPG figures are based on the EPA test which is pretty far off from what most people get in the real world.

Updating the test AND increase CAFE standards, now that would be good.

well, the EPA's 40 mpg is better than the EPA's 27.5

So it may not be a true 40, but it's a lot better than our current rule

It's like school uniforms.. we all think they are dorky and would dread wearing them alone, but if everybody wears them, that would be a lot more tolerable.

It would be so much easier if people got tax breaks for already having vehicles that get 40mpg or better. Just a thought.

"The poll repeatedly shows that clean technology is not a bi-partisan issue."

You mean it /is/ a bi-partisan issue?\

*author note: quite right...fixed mistake...thanks

lots of people may want the 40mpg but they don't want the lower power ratings that come with it.

lots of people may want the 40mpg but they don't want the lower power ratings that come with it.

Camry Hybrid gets 40 mpg and has around 200 hp. I can remember when a Corvette had around that much horsepower.

If you want 40mpg cars...add a Carbon Tax. People will either buy efficient cars or pay to keep the status quo...trouble is what to do with the tax money?

"lots of people may want the 40mpg but they don't want the lower power ratings that come with it."

First of all, is limiting power the only way to get 40 mpg. I should hope folks with engineering degrees can figure out a way around that.

Second, I think more people would get more use out of 40mpg than a fast 0-60 time.

And I wouldn't be too worried about Detroit. They'll just continue to use the 8,500 pound loophole to make "light trucks."

Large parts of our urban areas are utterly miserable to drive anyway, owing to traffic. In those places, economy would make inroads because horsepower is irrelevant. What we need are all those hip young designers out there, who are now making video games, handbags, and other dreck, to concentrate on making a small, enjoyable driver cockpit. Small cars are usually cheap cars, and are horribly spartan.

"Small cars are usually cheap cars, and are horribly spartan."

That's something that is more or less true depending on where you are. In most places outside of the US, the size and horsepower of a car are decoupled from the quality of its interior and from it's driving dynamics.

Of course you can find cheap, crappy economy cars there too. But you can also find well-equipped and fun to drive small cars. That's what is missing from the US; car makers - I think - have been afraid to introduce these cars in the past because they make bigger margins on powerful and big cars. After all, it costs almost as much to design and build a small cars (engines are pretty much as complex, there are as many steps in construction and factories costs as much, etc).

It's more of an economic decision than a "but consumers wouldn't buy them anyway!" thing. Car makers pretty much create their own markets and tell people what they want (their ad budgets are bigger than all other industries combined, IIRC).

If they made quality, fun to drive and good-looking small efficient cars, they would sell.

German-owned BMW really stole a march on American companies with their Mini. The young people can't get enough of the Mini, and you can fit twice as many of them in the same size cargo ship.

Do you have a link for this poll? Or failing that the name of a print periodical where you saw it? Google was not my friend on this one.

Come on - of course everyone wants a 40mpg car - assuming that it can be made to magically occur in the context of everyone owning an SUV. The technology to do that affordably simply does not exist.

These types of surveys are bunk - if you give people a choice between saving cute puppies and sticking them in a blender, they'll pick saving the puppies every time. If you give them real choices, like "Should the government mandate a 40mpg fuel efficiency rating, even if that means you will no longer be able to buy a minivan?", the numbers would be very different. You simply cannot purchase a minivan that gets 30mpg, let alone 40mpg, and only one small hybrid SUV comes close (and it's in the mid-30s only in city driving).

Imagine the poll results that would show up if the question was "Should the government mandate 40mpg for the entire fleet of US vehicles, even if that meant that you had to junk your existing minivan and buy a compact car?" That, in theory, is what we should want, but there would be rioting in the streets if you tried to pull it off.

Automakers do not make minivans or SUVs because they want to destroy the environment and have no easier way to do so - they do it because of demand. Some of that demand is manufactured by advertising, but most of it is due to people actually wanting these vehicles.

You might recall that both the minivan and the family SUV are relatively new vehicles - one was introduced in the 80s and the other became dominant in the 90s. Both essentially replaced the family sedan/station wagon - which disappeared because of CAFE standards that 70s-90s technology couldn't economically meet.

The truest polling is the market - when 78% of people actually want to buy and can afford a desirable 40mpg vehicle, CAFE standards will be moot.

My vehicle gets at least 42mpg city AND does 0-60 in 3.3 seconds. It's called a motorcycle!

If more people rode motorcycles and scooters there would be more parking space, almost zero traffic jams, and fewer pedestrian fatalities.

People should just keep cars for horrible weather or for when they really need to haul stuff. Feeble people can ride trikes.

My vehicle gets at least 42mpg city AND does 0-60 in 3.3 seconds. It's called a motorcycle!

Yes, and you're also about 30 times more likely to die than someone in a car, truck, or SUV.

when 78% of people actually want to buy and can afford a desirable 40mpg vehicle

A new Camry Hybrid is $25K, below the average price for a new vehicle in the US. The Camry is desriable enough to be the best-selling automobile in the country.

The tech and price point are already here. It's only going to get better.

My vehicle gets at least 42mpg city AND does 0-60 in 3.3 seconds. It's called a motorcycle!

If more people rode motorcycles and scooters there would be more parking space, almost zero traffic jams, and fewer pedestrian fatalities.

People should just keep cars for horrible weather or for when they really need to haul stuff. Feeble people can ride trikes.

Yes and your motorcycle pollutes more than your standard SUV. Probably more than 3 SUV's. Motorcycles and 4 wheels vehicles are not held up to the same standards.

But riding a bike is more fun, that's for sure.

Yes, and you're also about 30 times more likely to die than someone in a car, truck, or SUV.

Usually at fault of some car driver. If a majority of vehicles were bikes there might be less accidents.

A new Camry Hybrid is $25K, below the average price for a new vehicle in the US. The Camry is desriable enough to be the best-selling automobile in the country.

But even the Camry just barely misses the 40 mpg mark according to fueleconomy.gov. It's close enough to say it is there though.

Usually at fault of some car driver. If a majority of vehicles were bikes there might be less accidents.

Since a majority of vehicles won't be bikes, that's a moot point, if even accurate. The risk of a motorcycle has more to do with the outer shell being a human body, and the fact that two wheels are inherently less stable than four.

But even the Camry just barely misses the 40 mpg mark according to fueleconomy.gov.

You're absolutely right. It only gets 39 mpg instead of 40 mpg.

There is also an automobile version of the Snackwell Effect. If we make cars more efficient, people will just drive all the extra miles they can afford.

In Brazil, you can hail a motorcycle taxi, and you climb on the back and it takes you anywhere in town. Very efficient and very nao faz mal! Also a great micro-capitalist undertaking.

A minivan can't get 30 MPG? That's BUNK! I had a 1993 Dodge Caravan with a completely stock engine and transmission, over 200,000 miles on the clock, and I got 25 MPG during a bad week. I took it on a trip via I-95, from Bangor, ME to Presque Isle, ME... I had to check my math twice to make sure I was doing it right, because when I filled the tank at Presque Isle, my calculated gas mileage was 35 MPG. That was a 3.0L V6 and 3 speed transmission.

If that old POS can do it, surely modern technology could produce a minivan that gets 30 MPG. After all, the 1989 Dodge Caravan with 2.5L Turbo I4 engine, and 5 speed manual transmission got 28 MPG on the hihgway, according to the EPA... but for some reason, nobody wants a manual tranny anymore. Despite better response and economy.

You'd also be surprised at some of the shit put on cars motors that have absolutely no purpose other than limiting horsepower, and simultaneously limiting fuel economy as a side effect. Required by our wonderful moronic gov't. You see, if we all got 40 MPG, where would their gas tax money be coming from?

In regards to motorcycles:

"Yes, and you're also about 30 times more likely to die than someone in a car, truck, or SUV."

Absolutely not true. If this was true, traffic fatalities in countries such as Italy in which many people ride 2 wheeled moto's would be much higher. They are not. And in any case, you are much less likely to kill someone riding than driving a 4 wheeled vehicle. Shouldn't you consider your harm to others rather than just yourself? Or is it just me, me, me in America!?

"Yes and your motorcycle pollutes more than your standard SUV. Probably more than 3 SUV's"/

Not true. Simply wrong. A properly functioning modern motorcyle have catalytic converters, are held to very high standards (at least in California -- the requirement for new motorycles are higher than they are for cars). And the much higher mileage they get compared to cars does not hurt either.

Motorcyels are one of the answers, and if you don't think so, probably it is because your mommy made you afraid of them.

Bush is a dumb ass he likes to procrastinate it should be at least 35 already hes only delaying cause all that money he would loose out on like I said he an idiot cause were going forward weather he likes it or not or we all die from global warming oh yeah I forgot he thinks god will save him cause he has money Its ok to be religious but give me a break he thinks he can buy his way into heaven well I guess according to the pope LOL

What ever happen to the Geo Metro Car that made City: 39 MPG - 44 MPG Highway: 42 MPG - 48 MPG . Yet we say we are trying to make this type of vehicle that are already have been made. The Geo Metro (Standard) I had , made on average 53 MPG. Too bad they don't make that car anymore. Yes are Country is trying -- VERY TRYING
Remember are Past, to know are Future.