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Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out there'

Discussion in 'Other Cars' started by cycledrum, May 12, 2011.

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  1. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

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    Way to go Ford, bending the truth to sell your little Ford Fiesta.

    In their commercial, the graphic designer girl says 'This Ford Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most of the hybrids out there'.

    OK, wow, so your Fiesta SFE package gets better fuel economy than an RX450h down to a BMW X6 hybrid ..... wooohooo. (Everything above the RX450h beats Fiesta SFE in fuel economy).

    She forgot to mention they sell most of those hybrids in the two digit numbers / month. Lame.
     
    #1 cycledrum, May 12, 2011
  2. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    What the heck !?!

    33 MPG combined (29c/40h) isn't even close to what Prius offers.
    .
     
    #2 john1701a, May 12, 2011
  3. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    In the transcript for President Obama's environmental speech last Month, he said Detroit had non-Hybrids rolling off the line now at 50 MPG. I asked what car is he talking about? and no one here on Prius chat had an immediate answer.

    Obama speech "And our automakers will build more innovative products. Right now, there are even cars rolling off the assembly lines in Detroit with combustion engines — I’m not talking about hybrids — combustion engines that get more than 50 miles per gallon."

    Name that car? Could it be an over-hyped Fiesta? Not sure.
     
    #3 wjtracy, May 12, 2011
  4. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    I answered this in some other threads. Note that Obama was speaking CAFE, not EPA. Cruze Eco gets 54 or 59.7 CAFE mpg, depending on transmission. I should dig up the list to name the others that also beat 50 on this scale. (Prius is north of 70 on this scale.)

    Re: Consumer Reports Survey: Americans want better fuel efficiency--but don’t want to pay extra for

    Re: Motley Fool article claims 58 mpg on the highway - with a Chevy Cruze
     
    #4 fuzzy1, May 12, 2011
    1 person likes this.
  5. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    I look at www.fueleconomy.gov sometimes ...

    basically goes like this - midsize conventional cars average about 25 MPG

    Compacts to subcompact conventionals average from about 30 to 33 MPG.

    There is nothing remarkable in any conventional, anywhere, IMO.

    Yours truly the Volt's premium gas carbon footprint is 5.1

    Ours truly, Prius footprint is 3.8

    From what I see, only the Leaf is 'greener' than Prius right now.
     
    #5 cycledrum, May 12, 2011
  6. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    OK Thank you, somebody did say this before but I did not grasp there was a difference between EPA vs. CAFE. Holy mackeral, one needs a PhD in Car Talk to survive these days.
     
    #6 wjtracy, May 13, 2011
  7. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    Also see:
    "CAFE vs. EPA: Obama's MPG targets are closer than you think" Edmunds Daily
    Fuel Economy: Doublespeak at its Best - AutoObserver
    http://www.autoobserver.com/2010/10/white-house-briefing-puts-2025-cafe-goal-in-47-62-mpg-range.html

    If one wants to see the mileage a car gets for CAFE purposes, download the appropriate file at Download Fuel Economy Data and look at the Comb Unadj FE column.

    Side note: If you want to learn more about the EPA tests, see http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...uth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html. Prior to model year 08 (starting sometime in the 1980s), the raw EPA dyno numbers were fudged, err adjusted downwards by 10% for city and 22% for the highway test prior to going onto the Monroney (window) sticker.
     
    #7 cwerdna, May 13, 2011
  8. cyclopathic

    cyclopathic Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    From Edmuns:
     
    #8 cyclopathic, May 13, 2011
  9. billnchristy

    billnchristy Active Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    I haven't seen that commercial and I am frankly surprised because they are one of the few that actually ever mentions city MPG. It is probably more due to Chevy and their constant hwy mpg trickery that they felt a need to catch up.

    That being said, they don't need to bend the truth on the Fiesta. It consistently gets over its rated numbers and there are guys in the mid 40s and even low 50s through a tank with one.

    Ours has been a city queen and is averaging 31.8mpg, not a Prius but we also paid 8k less than our Prius.

    And she's a cutie too:
    [​IMG]
     
    #9 billnchristy, May 13, 2011
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  10. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    Yeah I guess technically. Rather disingenuous, though.
     
    #10 Skoorbmax, May 13, 2011
  11. scottalan

    scottalan New Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    I gave some serious thought to getting a Fiesta prior to buying my used 2010 Prius. I really would have liked a new car, but the better mileage was the difference maker for me. Shame on Obama for confusing people with CAFE numbers when most people think of the EPA numbers in reference to a vehicles mileage. Just another political spin I guess.
     
    #11 scottalan, May 13, 2011
  12. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    I see, said the blind man.

    This is a little like Degrees Farhenhiet vs. Degrees Celcius. As an engineer I bear the burden accurately describing any number. Perferrably I will give both 100 C (212 F) to really communicate clearly. So I just assumed MPG was MPG, but you know what they say about *assume*...
     
    #12 wjtracy, May 13, 2011
  13. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    Ha!

    The worst part is the MPG isn't always MPG. Sometimes, MPG is quoted using larger Imperial (UK) gallons. 50 miles per US gallon = 60.04 miles per UK gallon. And then people/press mix the larger gallons w/totally different European tests. :( For instance, the 3rd gen Prius gets 76.3 mpg (in UK gallons) on the Imperial Extra Urban test per Select a search : Directgov - Car fuel data, CO2 and vehicle tax tools.

    I posted about this at http://priuschat.com/forums/diesels...pean-driving-cycles-co2-gallon-sizes-etc.html. Most of the vcarcarfueldata.org.uk links are dead/moved now.
     
    #13 cwerdna, May 13, 2011
  14. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    This isn't Obama's fault. Bush also used the CAFE scales when he pushed up the requirements. Congress and all executive branch agencies also use this scale for just about all their fuel efficiency discussions. EPA scale varies with time, while CAFE scale is constant, making it a better reference point for many purposes.

    And doesn't Prius top 90 mpg on one of the Japanese tests? And that is even U.S. gallons, not Imperial.
     
    #14 fuzzy1, May 13, 2011
  15. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    Agree it's not his fault. It's been going on well before he became President. It's really annoying that the media helps perpetuation the confusion and many people have no idea.
     
    #15 cwerdna, May 13, 2011
  16. UsedToLoveCars

    UsedToLoveCars Active Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    such a little penalty box.

    edmunds consumer reviews reporting many failures of the DSG

    consumer reports gave it a 65/100.

    sat in one in the auto show... it seemed like it was upholstered with burlap.
     
    #16 UsedToLoveCars, May 14, 2011
  17. Corwyn

    Corwyn Energy Curmudgeon

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    What, he isn't capable of qualifying the units he is using? He couldn't have said "50 CAFE MPG"?
     
    #17 Corwyn, May 14, 2011
  18. billinmd

    billinmd Member

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    I wouldn't assume that it is a capability issue as much as a choice. As a previous poster said, they always speak in terms of CAFE standards.
     
    #18 billinmd, May 14, 2011
  19. Corwyn

    Corwyn Energy Curmudgeon

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    Right, so he choose to say something confusing. Therefore any confusion is HIS fault. He knew his audience, correct?
     
    #19 Corwyn, May 14, 2011
  20. car78412

    car78412 Member

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    Re: Ford Takes the Low Road and Advertises 'Fiesta gets better gas mileage than most hybrids out the

    it's all bush's fault!!!!!
     
    #20 car78412, May 14, 2011
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