The U.S Department of Energy, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency have released their annual Fuel Economy Guide. This guide helps car buyers choose the most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets their needs.  

 

The Fuel Economy Guide provides detailed fuel economy numbers for model year 2012 light-duty vehicles, along with estimated annual fuel costs and other pertinent information for prospective buyers.  

 

This year’s guide includes for the first time, the numbers for plug-in vehicles. For most vehicles, except plug-in hybrids there are three fuel economy estimates: 

 

- City  - represents urban driving, in which a vehicle is started in the morning and driven in stop-and-go traffic

 

- Highway – represents a mixture of rural and interstate highway driving in a warmed-up vehicle, typical of longer trips in free-flowing traffic

 

- Combined – represents a combination of city driving (55%) and highway driving (45%)

 

Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs), which can use both gasoline and E85, have estimates for both fuels.  Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) have estimates for gasoline-only and electric-only operation.  

 

The annual fuel cost estimates are based on the assumptions that you travel 15,000 miles per year (55% under city driving conditions and 45% under highway conditions) and that fuel costs are $3.42/gallon for regular unleaded gasoline and $3.68/gallon for premium. Visit www.fueleconomy.gov to personalize fuel costs based on current fuel prices and your driving habits. 

 

When purchasing a new car keep in mind that the numbers in this guide are for researching purposes only.  They are a useful tool for comparing vehicles, but they may not accurately predict the MPG or the annual fuel cost estimates you will get.