The Environmental Protection Agency EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have released the 2005 Fuel Economy Guide to help consumers make well-informed choices when purchasing a new vehicle.

Topping out at an estimated 61 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city, hybrids again lead the list of fuel-efficient vehicles for the new model year. Debuting at 12th in overall mileage this year is the Ford Escape hybrid two-wheel drive sport-utility vehicle (SUV), which at 36 mpg in the city leads the SUV class. The Ford Escape joins the Honda Insight, Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius in the hybrid market. In addition to being fuel-efficient, hybrids are among the cleanest running vehicles available.

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Interesting, they list the HCH as two separate cars, one with lean burn, and one without. Anyone know what the deal is with that?

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Actually, they list the HCH "*4*" times, with the manual and the "lean burn" manual two separate cars as are the CVTs.:

2005 Model Year Fuel Economy Leaders:
Rank, Manufacturer/Model, MPG (city/highway)
1. Honda Insight (hybrid-electric, manual), 61/66
2. Toyota Prius (hybrid-electric), 60/51
3. Honda Insight (hybrid-electric, automatic) 57/56
4. Honda Civic Hybrid (automatic, lean burn) 48/47
5. Honda Civic Hybrid (automatic) 47/48
6. Honda Civic Hybrid (manual, lean burn) 46/51
7. Honda Civic Hybrid (manual), 45/51
8. Volkswagen New Beetle/Golf/Jetta (diesel, manual) 38/46
9. Volkswagen Jetta Wagon (diesel, manual), 36/47
10. Honda Civic (manual), 36/44

And they list the CVT as the "class leader" instead of the manual. I wonder why, since technically the manual has a better "combined" MPG than the automatic:

Manual is 46/51, so 46+51=97 divided by two is 48.5 combined average
Automatic is 48/47, so 48+47=95 divided by two is 47.5 combined average

So shouldn't the manual be "best in class" by averaging 1 more MPG than the automatics?

And how does one know if one owns a "lean burn" model or not? Are they talking PZEV and ULEV?

I e-mailed the EPA and got a response within an hour !! I asked them why the HCH was listed as 4 models. Here is their answer:

"EPA has to certify each individual model, so we list the different models individually."

I aksed them "What is the designation of "lean burn?" Are you talking about PZEV and ULEV vehicles?" and this was the answer:

"Lean burn is something other than an emissions designation. Lean burn refers to engine technology that burns "leaner" under a light load. It does that by increasing the air-to-fuel ratio under light load. Incidentally, this is a cleaner-burning technology as well, by virtue of the fuel savings."

I asked why the Auto tranny was rated higher than the Manual tranny, and this was their answer:

"When considering combined mileage, the added 10 % weight given to city mileage means that the automatic lean burn edges out the manual. EPA assumes a 55%/45% mix in city/hwy driving, then averages the two numbers. Hope that makes sense!"

So there you have it. I still do not know how a person can know if they have a "lean burn" model of the car or not.....?

Wayne, any ideas?

Wow. You got a response that fast? Looks like they may be the target of my inquiries for one of the next GreenHybrid interviews.

*hint, hint* Tomorrow there just may be a pretty high-profile interview...

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Hi Lars-ss:

___I believe the EPA is misinformed … I have never read of a non-leanburn HCH let alone a non-leanburn ICE receiving better fuel economy in either city or highway tests then the exact same ICE with leanburn. Even Honda lists the ICE in the HCH w/ manual or CVT as an iDSI lean-burn 1.3 for both.

___You can look up the 03/04/05 Civic HX Coupe w/ 5-speed manual (36 City/44 Highway) as another example of a leanburn 117 HP 1.7 L ICE vs. the std. 03/04/05 Civic DX/LX Coupe w/ 5-speed manual and a non-leanburn 115 HP 1.7 L ICE rated at (32 City/38 Highway).

___I am currently involved in an refueling outage right now so it is 16 hour days until the end of the month. When I have more time, I will look into this question with a bit more depth because maybe the EPA is right? I highly doubt it in this case however …

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net