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A comment on U.S. to release oil from reserves in coordination with other countries. Parent comment

Re:U.S. to release oil from reserves in coordination with ot... by _huayra_ on Tuesday November 23, 2021 @11:32AM (#29319796)
What 4-cylinder crossover is getting mid-20s (at least hwy mpg)?

Certainly a lot of these lil crossovers with natural-aspirated 4-cylinder engines can really strain to heft a bigger vehicle up from a stop (I'm looking at you, Subaru!), but once one is driving hwy speeds they are really quite fuel-sipping.

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Re:U.S. to release oil from reserves in coordination with ot... by eptcyka on Tuesday November 23, 2021 @01:32PM (#29321339)
The examples listed are Honda Element and Nissan Murrano, which are decidedly not small, fuel efficient vehicles but instead blown-up heavier counterparts built on a shared platform with a 4 cylinder engine. These cars are often less practical than their smaller, more fuel-efficient counterparts. So these are not exactly arguments against buying smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient cars.

One reason why SUVs are as popular as they are is that car manufacturers are allowed to produce less efficient cars if they are larger and with off-road capability. This allows bigger, less efficient cars compete with the more efficient ones because the sale price ends up being close enough to the more efficient counterparts for this to not matter.

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Re:U.S. to release oil from reserves in coordination with ot... by rsj_hn on Tuesday November 23, 2021 @02:05PM (#29321831)
> One reason why SUVs are as popular as they are is that car manufacturers are allowed to produce less efficient cars if they are larger and with off-road capability

This was true like in the 1990s. It hasn't been true in a very long time (almost 20 years now). The only limit at which these standards don't apply is truly heavy duty (5000 pounds) and not even a hummer is over that threshhold.

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Re:U.S. to release oil from reserves in coordination with ot... by rascul on Tuesday November 23, 2021 @06:45PM (#29325110)
> The only limit at which these standards don't apply is truly heavy duty (5000 pounds) and not even a hummer is over that threshhold.

Edmunds has the 2004 H1 at 7,608 lbs. [0] and the 2009 H2 at 6,614 lbs. [1] 2004 and 2009 are the newest Edmunds has for those models. Looks like the new GMC Hummer EV is going to be over 9,000 lbs. [2] The lightest 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe that I could find on Edmunds was 5,473 lbs. [3]

[0] https://www.edmunds.com/hummer/h1/2004/features-specs/

[1] https://www.edmunds.com/hummer/h2/2009/features-specs/

[2] https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022-gmc-hummer-ev-pickup-ed...

[3] https://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/tahoe/2022/features-specs/

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Re:U.S. to release oil from reserves in coordination with ot... by rsj_hn on Tuesday November 23, 2021 @08:09PM (#29325823)
My mistake, the limit isn't 5000 but 8500 pounds. In 2027 these will also be covered under fuel-efficiency standards.

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/why-dont-heavy-duty-trucks-have...

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Re:U.S. to release oil from reserves in coordination with ot... by SkyPuncher on Tuesday November 23, 2021 @01:59PM (#29321745)
Basically the entire segment: https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/suvs-best-gas-mileage

Now, keep in mind, I'm talking about actual fuel usage. Not "ideal testing conditions". For example, my Chevy Equinox is supposed to get 32 highway - but it really only gets 26 (cruising at 70mph with no traffic).

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Re:U.S. to release oil from reserves in coordination with ot... by stickfigure on Tuesday November 23, 2021 @01:21PM (#29321191)
My 2009 Honda Element gets 22-24mpg. A friend had a Nissan Murano that got similar.
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