Anything on E85

City/Highway: Minus 25 percent

E85, a blended fuel consisting of 85-percent ethanol and 15-percent gasoline, has been championed (by GM in particular) as a viable and green solution to the petroleum problem. Unfortunately, both adjectives are a stretch. You could fill volumes with debate over the benefits and social, fiscal, and environmental costs of ethanol, at least the starch-derived strains, so we won’t.

What you need to know is that E85 reduces the fuel economy of any vehicle burning it by about 25 percent. For example, the grand-prize glugger of the full-size-truck segment, the Dodge Ram 1500, gets 12 mpg in the city and 16 on the highway. Fill ’er up with E85, and the fuel “economy” falls to 9/12. That’s right, a single-digit mpg number, something the average person only experiences in Uncle Dwayne’s RV or when renting a U-Haul truck. Or take the Dodge Avenger V-6, which gets a semi-respectable 19 city/27 highway. Pour in the corn juice, and watch mileage drop to an SUV-like 13/20.

Pres. George Bush recently announced a proposed mandate for 35 billion gallons of ethanol production by 2017, so you’ll probably see more vehicles so equipped, regardless. An upshot of an ethanol/alcohol future is that we tired journalists will have a whole new hamper of words and terms involving alcoholism and ethanol overindulgence to reach into.

2008 Jeep Liberty

3.7-liter V-6, 4-speed auto, 4-wheel drive

15 mpg city/21 mpg highway

Jeep makes it known its Liberty is indeed a Jeep by offering two all-wheel drive systems, the part-time Command-Trac and full-time Selec-Trac II. It’s too bad the only available engine is a stinker, and not because it’s a diesel; the previously available diesel didn’t meet 2007 emissions standards.

The 3.7-liter PowerTech V-6 follows in a grand Chrysler tradition of dubiously optimistic names like Caravan Sport. Plenty of equally sized engines make more power—Nissan’s 3.7-liter VQ37 makes 120 more horsepower—and although it does have overhead cams, that’s about where the tech ends.

The only Jeep worth having is one with four-wheel drive, and most customers choose an automatic. So equipped, the Liberty returns fuel economy of 15 mpg in the city, 21 on the highway. The Liberty’s mechanical (and arguably aesthetic) twin, the Dodge Nitro, is offered with a 4.0-liter V-6 producing an additional 50 horsepower and 30 pound-feet of torque, with just a 1 mpg highway penalty.

Much like the Wrangler, the Liberty’s salvation lies in the return of a diesel or doing something about the more than two-ton curb weight. Chrysler might, however, have it right: People would rather line the pockets of the oil barons every time they fuel up rather than pay more money up front for a more-fuel-efficient vehicle.

With an average national fuel cost currently hovering around three bucks for a gallon of regular, fuel economy matters. Over the past decade, the driveways of mainstream America filled with SUVs whose fuel-swilling was, at the time, not a concern. Fuel costs almost doubled from 1996 to 2006 and grew another 20 percent in the past year. The average U.S. household income, meanwhile, rose only 35.8 percent in the same 10-year period.

The associated shift in vehicle sales is telling. In 2007, sales of Chevy’s Tahoe full-size SUV fell by 9.4 percent from 2006, while retail sales for the unlovable but frugal Chevrolet Aveo leaped by 82 percent. GM’s John McDonald wrote this off as these vehicles' being “deferrable purchases,” implying that land barges hold some kind of inherent allure and that Americans would prefer to drive dump trucks if gas were free. This is, of course, entirely possible.

But gas is not free, and we don’t drive dump trucks, and as car buyers search for better fuel economy, they increasingly don’t want to drive trucks of any kind. R&D dollars are focused on unibody crossovers that ad campaigns tout as more fuel efficient than the trucks they replace, with even Ford’s Explorer headed for a frame-free future.

It’s not just big trucks that get lousy fuel economy, either. The culprits of poor fuel economy are many, but common underlying causes include portly curb weights, older drivetrains, and the conscious exclusion of fuel-saving technologies to keep production and purchase prices down. Before you spend your money on a new car, make sure you pay attention to the equipment list, because with the wrong engine or transmission choice, heinous fuel economy is sometimes just a checkbox away.

2008 Saab 9-7X Aero

6.0-liter V-8, 4-speed auto, 4-wheel drive

12 mpg city/16 mpg highway

Saab has expanded its ranks by making stepchildren of some decidedly un-Saabish vehicles. It started with the 9-2X, a.k.a. the Saabaru, a Subaru WRX wagon with a Saab schnoz and nice interior. Then came the 9-7X, a Chevy TrailBlazer with only slightly more-becoming clothes. As any Saab purist will tell you, it’s not a real Aero unless you need Popeye forearms to do battle with the huge, turbocharged torque steer, absent here in spite of 395 pound-feet, thanks to the TrailBlazer’s four-wheel drive.

The 9-7X Aero is fast, however, as you’d expect of nearly anything with a 390-hp Chevrolet LS2 V-8 under the hood. If you need more evidence that the 9-7X is as Swedish as General Tso’s chicken, it comes with 20-inch polished wheels. Ostentation is to Swedish culture what showmanship is to the NFL’s Manning family.

The 9-7X is the first Saab ever not to feature unibody construction, instead relying on body-on-frame technology proven road- and trailworthy by the Donner Party. Although lesser 9-7Xs already manage only questionable fuel economy—the thriftiest engine is rated at 14/20 mpg—let yourself be talked into the top-of-the-line 9-7X, and you’ll be looking at quite a bottom line at the gas pump. The Chevy LS-series V-8s can be relatively frugal when properly geared, but with a four-speed automatic, all-wheel drive, and 4800 pounds to lug, this 6.0-liter returns a bottom-of-the-list 12 mpg in the city and 16 on the highway.

2008 Jeep Wrangler

3.8-liter V-6, 4-speed auto, 4-wheel drive

15 mpg city/19 mpg highway

That Chrysler’s most rugged product, the Wrangler, is capable of transporting you farther into the wilderness than almost any other production vehicle while doing a knock-up job of spoiling it is a head shaker.

We understand that a Wrangler is heavy by virtue of super-extra-beefy parts and a frame that could double as a railroad truss, that a rock crawler’s engine needs to be dead reliable and much proven, and that this true mudslinger needs to be held to a low price point, but c’mon. We realize it’s cheaper to use really thick steel than forge stuff, but if the compact Wrangler didn’t weigh two tons, it might get better gas mileage than the much-larger six-cylinder Grand Cherokee.

Jeep’s “modernization” of the Wrangler’s powertrain for ’07 meant replacing the venerable 4.0-liter straight-six, not much evolved from what you got with an AMC Rambler American in 1965, with the 3.8-liter pushrod V-6 designed to have its oil-change intervals neglected by 1991 Chrysler Imperial owners. Mileage is stuck at 15 city/19 highway regardless of transmission choice.

No one expects a Wrangler to be anything but torquey, something easily accomplished with things such as engine stroke and proper gearing but also quite well handled by diesels. As a known spray-tan solvent, that fuel might compromise the lucrative fraternity market, but we’d love to see Jeep drop in a Mercedes diesel or wait for DDC Cento, which supplied the unit in the now-extinct Liberty CRD, to clean up its act.

2008 Saturn Vue XE

3.5-liter V-6, 6-speed auto, 4-wheel drive

15 mpg city/22 mpg highway

Not unlike much of the population, too much curb weight is the main culprit affecting the Saturn Vue’s efficiency. How GM could pack 4350 pounds into a vehicle fewer than three inches longer than a Honda Civic is beyond us (perhaps it got a great deal on leaded Chinese paint).

The 222-hp, 3.5-liter pushrod V-6 in the all-wheel-drive XE is from the same “High Value” engine family as the 3.9-liter in the Pontiac G6 on this list, but any value buyers see up front will be quickly negated by the 15/22 mileage figure. Spend a bit more cash for the XR or Red Line model, and you get a 3.6-liter V-6 that, despite being only 74 cubic centimeters larger, makes 35 more horsepower and 29 more pound-feet of torque and returns better city fuel mileage (if only barely). That engine is a lower-horsepower version of the same all-aluminum, direct-injection “High Feature” V-6 found kicking ass in the Cadillac CTS.

The mileage issue is a shame, because the Vue is a surprisingly good vehicle, offering tremendous value, luxurious appointments, and refinement beyond others in this class and some more expensive SUVs. The Vue doesn’t have to be such a lush, as proved by the front-wheel-drive Green Line hybrid version, which gets 25 mpg in the city and 32 on the highway. Moreover, the Vue will shortly receive GM’s excellent two-mode transmission and will be the first genuine plug-in hybrid sold by the General.

2008 Pontiac G6 GT Convertible

3.9-liter V-6, 4-speed auto, front-wheel drive

15 mpg city/22 mpg highway

Pushrods are really not okay. There, we said it. GM gets special dispensation for its LS-series V-8, which is so good that conspiracists should look into extraterrestrial involvement in its development.

The 3.9-liter V-6 under the hood of the Pontiac G6 GT hardtop convertible gets a double raspberry for unimpressive power production and subpar fuel economy. GM calls this its “High Value” engine family, which means it’s GM's coffers receiving the value, not yours. At least the 222 thundering horsepower—15 fewer than found under the hood of a Honda S2000, despite an extra 1.7 liters—sound decent.

The G6 still only 15 mpg in the city and 22 on the highway. This isn’t just the engine’s fault: It’s not unfair to round the G6 GT’s curb weight to two tons, and with only four gears in the automatic transmission, some compromises have been made in ratio selection. As long as your days don’t cover many miles, the G6 GT offers good value and comfort, but if you’re a hardtop-down road tripper, the similarly priced VW Eos offers roughly 40-percent-better fuel economy.

2008 Mazda RX-8

1.3-liter 2-rotor, 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive

16 mpg city/22 mpg highway

The little Japanese automaker that can, Mazda consistently produces vehicles that make us smile. No other company imbues its entire product line—including entry-level vehicles—with such focus on driving fun. This focus apparently isn’t lost on the public, as Mazda’s sales numbers grew more than any other major automaker's in 2007.

An unavoidable trade-off for entertaining driving, though, is fuel economy. The RX-8 scores worse than some might expect because of its rotary engine, a design inherently thirstier than a piston engine. Displacing just 1.3 liters, the RX-8’s 232-hp Renesis rotary with 159 pound-feet of torque sucks down fuel like Homer Simpson chugging Duff at Moe’s—returning just 16 mpg city and 22 highway.

We like the RX-8 enough that it made our 10Best list from 2004 to 2006 and won its last comparo despite being in its fifth year of production, but the rotary is certainly not without its compromises. The bingo-and-buffet-express Honda Accord V-6 runs a quicker and faster quarter-mile, and the Chevrolet Corvette makes 204 more horsepower and 269 more pound-feet of torque yet bests the RX-8 by 4 mpg on the highway.

It is rumored that the RX-8 will receive the next iteration of the Renesis rotary, dubbed the 16X. It weighs less than the current 13-B but gets a bump in displacement, and with the more precise fuel metering of direct injection, it is entirely possible that more horsepower and torque could be coupled with more mpg. We love 9000-rpm redlines and hope the rotary’s flatulent exhaust note will pour from generations of Mazda vehicles to come.

2008 Mazda CX-7

2.3-liter inline-4, 6-speed auto, 4-wheel drive

16 mpg city/22 mpg highway

The best interpretation of the term crossover we’ve seen yet, the Mazda CX-7 appeals to people who want something that looks sporty and drives better than most cars while providing some pretense of outdoorsiness and a DIY spirit to perpetuate the great SUV lie. Good thing they require only pretense, as the latter two requests are pretty much quashed by a modest amount of usable space and limited off-road talent.

The CX-7 shares its engine with the late Mazdaspeed 6 and various chassis bits and layouts with the Mazda 3. Depending on equipment, it weighs an Al Pacino or Calista Flockhart less than two tons. The high-tech, direct-injection 2.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder produces a sporty 244 horsepower, helping produce a respectable 7.9-second 0-to-60 time but, unfortunately, gulps a gallon of premium every 16 miles in the city and 21 on the highway. The competing Toyota RAV4 V-6 with all-wheel drive, however, sprints to 60 an immense 1.6 seconds faster, yet gets three more mpg in the city and four more on the highway. It does not, however, look anywhere near as cool or drive nearly as well.

The CX-7 is Mazda’s first mid-size SUV since it rebranded the Ford Explorer as the Navajo—not a high point for the Mazda. Despite the poor fuel economy and questionable utility, the CX-7 is undoubtedly a Mazda, and the most rewarding crossover to helm.

2008 Volvo S80

3.2-liter inline-6, 6-speed auto, front-wheel drive

16 mpg city/24 mpg highway

If you need proof of interdepartmental political wrangling in the automotive industry, look no further than to head scratchers such as the following: The all-new-for-’07 (but you might not notice unless we told you) S80, Volvo’s top-of-the-line Ã¼ber-sedan, is offered with three engines—all of which get within 1 mpg of one another. There is, however a spread of 76 horsepower and 89 pound-feet of torque between the least and most powerful offerings.

In the best-case fuel-economy scenario, the S80 with the 3.2-liter, naturally aspirated inline-six gets 16/24 mpg; competitors such as the Lexus GS and Mercedes E-class provide better fuel economy with more powerful engines. An obvious solution is a diesel, such as the 2.4-liter turbo-diesel five-cylinder available in the European S80 that generates 182 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. Volvo wants to launch a diesel here by “around the end of the decade,” according to company reps.

Even equipped in its most expensive guise with the sculptural and guttural Yamaha-built 311-hp, 4.4-liter V-8, a C/D editor described the S80 as offering “all the flavor of Wasa crisp bread, which is like eating particle board.” For those whose driveways are littered with bricks that refuse to die and who will buy a Volvo regardless, our advice is this: If you’re going to spend $40,000 on a 235-hp, 3.2-liter S80, spend $43,000 and get the 281-hp turbocharged 3.0-liter.

2008 Pontiac Solstice/2008 Saturn Sky

2.4-liter inline-4, 5-speed auto, rear-wheel drive

19 mpg city/24 mpg highway

Talk about lose/lose: The naturally aspirated versions of the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky twins get worse gas mileage than the significantly faster and more interesting turbocharged Solstice GXP and Sky Red Line. As equipped with the forced-induction 2.0-liter Ecotec and an automatic, the pair streaks to 60 in a screaming 5.2 seconds. With the base 2.4-liter Ecotec under their sculpted hoods, they’re two seconds slower to 60 and lose 2 mpg on the freeway.

It comes as little surprise that Lotus Engineering was responsible for much of the Ecotec’s development, certainly having a greater impact on versions such as those installed in the GXP and Red Line. The turbo 2.0-liter—also installed in the Cobalt SS and HHR SS—is a techno powerhouse, featuring cutting-edge bits such as direct injection and a twin-scroll, quick-spooling turbocharger. The 2.4-liter features high-compression variable valve timing and makes decent numbers, but decent isn’t good enough when your little roadster weighs a ton and a half. Even the porkmeister A4 cabriolet gets 21 city and 30 highway.

Given the environmental benefits, it’s obvious to us that the turbocharged Ecotec should fill the role of base engine, with a 300-hp twin-charged version taking over for the hot-rod Red Line and GXP.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io