The CarGurus Blog

Big SUVs: Coming back in style?

Whoa, put on the brakes folks because we need to take another look at gas prices.

Believe it or not, as of September 24, prices of our addiction had FALLEN for 6 straight days. And get this: during the summer, prices actually fell for 34 straight days.

There’s probably not any hope of prices going back to the comfortable good ol’ days of $2 a gallon, but with prices comfortably below $4, imagine what could happen if prices stabilize or even continue to fall.

It’s certainly possible that Americans will get used to our current prices and fall right back into our old habits of driving big SUVs. Before we know it, we won’t even think twice before piloting our Expeditions across town just to pick up a Blizzard from Dairy Queen.

Hey, it could happen. Just as auto manufactures begin panicking and shifting towards smaller more fuel efficient cars, the industry could just go back to the way it’s always been.  Auto makers would be in a real lurch after that!

It all makes me wonder if the current consumer demand for high MPG cars is a short or long term shift.

If prices stay where they are for a long period of time, I’d bet on our collective love for the SUV and even venture to say that instead of a backlog of Sequoias, we’ll see Sentras clogging dealers’ lots.

Hybrids? HA! If you have one, maybe you’ll have a relic of American history and laugh as you remember the time we freaked out and lost our faith in good ol’ gasoline.

So what do you think? Is now the time to pick up that Yukon Denali, while the value of SUVs are at historic lows?

-tgriffith

Have you heard of Tesla Motors?

If not, you will. And soon.

Tesla is a new kind of car company. Their Roadster is capable of going from 0-60 in a staggering 3.9 seconds. It’s peak torque is reached between 0 and 14,000 RPMs.  

All this performance and torque comes from an engine the size of a watermelon. Some super cars have 4 exhaust pipes. The Tesla has zero.

By now you may have guessed that the Tesla Roadster is an electric vehicle.

But this is no golf cart, friends.

It offers a range of over 200 miles per charge and the only oil it uses is in the single speed transmission.

The car of the future? It seems so. But there are some questions to answer before we get all gaga and announce our independence from foreign oil.

First of all is the price of entry: a lofty $109K. Still, for the cutting edge technology, environmental sustainability and the all-out performance this car offers, that’s not bad.

Even better is Tesla’s recently announced plans to offer a 5-passenger luxury sedan for about $60K.

So far we’ve got performance, real-world driving range, zero emissions and a reasonable price. What about maintenance?

Here’s where we run into a problem. Tesla Motors’ headquarters is in California, and anyone living within 100 miles of their service area is covered by the full 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty. For customers living outside a service area, the warranty still applies but they are responsible for all costs associated with transporting their car to the factory.

The good news here is that Tesla is opening stores and service centers in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami and Seattle.

Next question: How long will the batteries last? Will you spend $109,000 on a car, only to have to buy new batteries for it after 3 or 4 years? That’s a question that remains unanswered, and should remain a large variable in the long-term viability of these cars.

Is Tesla Motors the car company of the future? What questions would you have before parking a Tesla in your garage? 

- tgriffith

46% of survey respondents chose alternative-fuel (non-gas) cars

Diesels (19% of respondents) outpace hybrids (14%) as the preferred alternative-fuel car.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 27 — CarGurus® (www.cargurus.com), a leading online automotive community, today announced the results of its survey of more than 4,200 automotive consumers worldwide. Forty-six percent of respondents said they plan to purchase an alternative-fuel car (hybrid, electric, diesel, or hydrogen) as their next car purchase. A greater percentage of consumers stated a preference for diesels (19%) than hybrid cars (14%).

Gasoline still the leader - but not by much
When asked what kind of car they intend to purchase next, 54% of respondents chose a gasoline car as their next purchase. A total of 46% of respondents stated a preference for a car other than gasoline only. In addition to diesels (19% of respondents) and hybrids (14%), 13% of respondents stated a preference for more cutting edge power sources – electric (6%) and hydrogen (7%).

Clean diesel – coming of age
“With the advent of clean diesels, consumers can now enjoy great gas mileage and not have to compromise on performance and comfort,” remarked Langley Steinert, CEO/co-founder of CarGurus. “Take, for example, the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta Turbo diesel (TDI), which gets mileage figures not too far off those of the Toyota Prius (38 city/44 highway for the Jetta TDI vs. 48 city/45 highway for the Prius). For the same price as the Prius (about $22k MSRP), you get substantially better performance due to the higher torque of a diesel engine. In fact, you get about three times the amount of torque with a Jetta TDI – 236 lb-ft compared to only 82 lb-ft for the Prius. These are not your father’s diesels. They are quiet, smooth, and much cleaner than the old diesels we all remember.”

Survey Results
Across the CarGurus Network, 4,200 respondents answered the question: What kind of car are you going to buy next? Respondents answered as follows:

What kind of car are you going to buy next? (Total Votes = 4,200)

About CarGurus LLC
Located in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA, CarGurus LLC is a leading online automotive community founded by Langley Steinert and Nick Shanny, formerly co-founders of TripAdvisor LLC, the 3rd largest online travel site in the world. CarGurus’ founders, board, and investors bring a wealth of experience from such leading web companies as TripAdvisor, eBay, Expedia, and Yahoo. For more information about CarGurus, visit us at www.cargurus.com.

Chevrolet has been tantalizing us with the promise of an all-new electric sedan called the Volt.

Will this car revolutionize the cars we drive, or be the nail in the coffin for struggling GM?

Chevy hasn’t even committed to an official launch date for their much-hyped innovation, but the potential to score a major home run with it is huge. Yes, it’ll be expensive for a mid-size family sedan and yes, GM will still lose money on every one sold.

So how could this possibly be a winner?

It’s all in the facts, the marketing and the target audience.

The average commute for 75 percent of Americans is less than 40 miles per day. Hence the Volt’s range to run without using a drop of gas: 40 miles. At first not impressive, but when positioned as a daily short-range commuter it’s suddenly an environmentalist’s dream.

Pricing hasn’t been released, but initial estimates are the Volt will cost between $30K and $35K. GM’s cost on each one is rumored to run about $40K.

Simple economics point to the Volt being a terrible investment.

But we obviously don’t live in the times of simple economics anymore. While still a gamble for GM, the Volt represents the future of vehicle design. No doubt some company needs to step up to the plate and offer an alternative source of thrust for the cars that transport us. GM is doing just that; creating a car capable of hauling us to work or our families to the grocery store without ANY gas.

GM is hoping that early adopters with the means to afford one will buy about 15,000 Volts per year, thereby reducing the cost over time for the rest of us. Those people are out there, and the Volt could very well be the car that Earth has been waiting for.

What do you think: Is Volt a savior or a one-way ticket to bankruptcy for GM?

-tgriffith

Remember the Hindenburg?

The horrific explosion in 1937 of that zeppelin was arguably caused by use of hydrogen.

Have we learned nothing in the last 70 years or so? Is hydrogen really the answer to the world’s oil crisis?

Partly because of the publicity around the limited release of Honda’s FCX Clarity hydrogen-powered vehicle, the public is being misled into believing that hydrogen is a viable and immediate solution to our dependency on importing oil.

It’s not. I’m not saying hydrogen isn’t a possible source of powering our transportation needs in the future, but I have serious misgivings about any predictions of it being in use by the general public within the next 20 years.

And we can’t wait 20 years to do something drastic about our oil use. We need something today, right now, to substantially reduce the amount of fuel we use so it will last another 20 to 50 years before hydrogen, or whatever other source is discovered, becomes a truly viable option.

But surely, if Honda can offer hydrogen power to the public in 2008, the technology can’t be that far off, can it?

Oh yes it can.

While Honda’s FCX Clarity is a brilliant piece of engineering, it’s really nothing more than a publicity stunt by experts in the field of public relations and branding. Offering a hydrogen-powered car to the public is absolutely huge, and the press they have received goes a long way towards appeasing the green peace crowd. It also influences the rest of us into believing that Honda is on the cutting edge of eliminating the need for fossil fuels.

The FCX Clarity is a marketing gimmick. It’s an ad campaign. A brilliant one, no doubt, but Honda is no closer than any other car company in offering a mass-produced hydrogen powered vehicle.

And check this out: To implement and build the infrastructure required to support a nation of hydrogen vehicles would take 20-50 years alone. Folks, that’s just to put in the filling stations.

As it stands right now, the cheapest fuel to power our transportation needs with is oil. The immediate solution is not hydrogen. The solution is for automakers around the world to step up and offer cars that average 40 MPG, not the current US average of 20.

What do you think: is hydrogen real or hype?

-tgriffith

Save the Polar Bear

They say driving 55 will save the polar bears.

They say driving 55 will bring world peace.

They say driving 55 will stop global warming.

They, the folks at www.drive55.org, might have a point. Though for most of us living in civilized America, the only way a polar bear is going to slow us down is if one is standing on the interstate.

If Americans are going to make a change, I think it’s pretty well understood that we had better see an immediate and measurable impact that benefits us directly.

It’s hard for me to believe, or even care, that getting from point A to point B a few minutes slower than normal will have any effect on a polar bear living roughly 6,223,989 miles away.  But tell me I could save 20 bucks and you’ve got my attention.

Gas costs around 4 dollars per gallon. And Americans use about a trillion gallons of gas per year. Yes, we probably should do something to reduce how much we use.

Normally I’m the first to write off a group like drive55.org as extremists, but this time, I could be influenced enough to agree. The math is simple: we drive slower, we use less gas, we pay less in fuel costs. Count me in.

Of course that also means we have to drive slower. A lot slower. Would Americans be willing to do that? Absolutely not. I think most of us would rather pay the speeding tickets than slow to a pace our grandfathers would approve of.

But what if the consequences were a little more severe? What if a revoked driver’s license loomed on the horizon if you crested it at 75 MPH?

If I were the boss at drive55.org, that’s what I would demand. If the group wants some serious attention, they should advocate for consequences that actually mean something close to home.

Saving the polar bears just isn’t going to cut it.

If this country is serious about reducing it’s consumption of gasoline, there are two things that will make a measurable impact immediately and require no new technology or infrastructure. The first has already happened: increased fuel prices. The second is lowering the speed limit, with severe consequences for breaking it.

- tgriffith

These days, most drivers are aware of the fuel efficiency of their cars. They have a general sense of the miles per gallon they get, and they know how that mileage impacts their wallets, especially when they pull up to the gas pump. But are you aware of your car’s carbon footprint, and how its carbon footprint can contribute to air pollution in your area and the environment as a whole?

According to the EPA, a carbon footprint is a measure of “a vehicle’s impact on climate change in tons of carbon dioxide emitted annually.” In simpler language, it’s a measure of a car’s emissions. Automotive emissions have been a concern for decades, especially in regions like Southern California, where car emissions have contributed to extensive amounts of air pollution in cities like Los Angeles. Other cities with air-quality problems include Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Sacramento, and Cleveland. In addition, carbon dioxide can affect the ozone in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.

So how can you determine your car’s carbon footprint? The EPA makes it simple by rating every car according to the tons of carbon it emits annually. Generally, a car’s carbon footprint relates directly to its fuel efficiency, with the burning of one gallon of gasoline contributing to 20 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. That means fuel-efficient cars like the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic Hybrid (above), the Toyota Camry Hybrid, and the Ford Escape Hybrid have low carbon footprints. According to the EPA, the Prius emits 4 tons of carbon dioxide a year, the Honda Civic Hybrid emits 4.4 tons, the Camry Hybrid emits 5.4 tons, and the Ford Escape Hybrid emits 6.6 tons annually.

Similarly, compact and sub-compacts like the Toyota Yaris (5.7 tons), the MINI Cooper (5.7 tons), the Toyota Corolla (5.9 tons), and the Ford Focus (6.6 tons) also have relatively low carbon footprints. On the high end, the Lincoln Town Car emits 10.2 tons per year, the Audi S6 emits 11.4 tons, the Ford Explorer 4WD emits 12.2 tons, the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG emits 13.1 tons, and the Bentley Arnage RL emits 16.6 tons annually.

Obviously, the best way to reduce your car’s carbon footprint is to choose a more efficient car when you’re purchasing a new vehicle. However, no matter which car you drive, you can take certain measures to reduce your car’s carbon footprint. For instance, you can keep the tires properly inflated, change your air filter regularly, avoid sudden acceleration, keep the air conditioning turned off as much as possible, and keep the car at 55 miles per hour on the highway. Of course, you could also car pool to work, ride a bike, or take public transportation whenever possible.

Finally, in a recent meeting with top automotive executives in an attempt to reduce car emissions, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger identified a number of strategies that go “beyond the tailpipe,” according to the San Diego Times-Union. These strategies include synchronizing traffic signals so cars idle less, equipping more cars with GPS systems to they can avoid congested areas, and removing older, less efficient cars from the roads. All good ideas — and all valid goals as drivers, automakers, and governments work together to reduce carbon emissions.

Looking for a way to reduce your monthly bill at the gas pump? You’re not alone. All across the country and beyond, drivers stung by rising fuel costs are looking for relief, and many are taking action by trading in larger vehicles like SUVs for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Sales of the Toyota Yaris (above), for instance, soared by 46 percent in April, when compared to the previous year, while sales of the Ford Focus jumped 32 percent in April, according to reports.

It’s easy to see why — the Yaris with a manual shifter ekes out 36 miles per gallon on the highway, according to the EPA. Thanks to its 11-gallon fuel tank, you can fill it to the brim for 25 or 30 bucks or so, while drivers of big SUVs are shelling out $60 or $80 (or more) per fill-up. The Ford Focus manages a respectable 35 miles per gallon on the highway, comes with six airbags, and can be equipped with such high-end features as the Ford Sync voice-activated communication and entertainment system. These days, it’s a bargain in more ways than one (prices start at under $14,400), and it could represent the wave of the future.

In fact, many automotive observers and experts believe we’ve reached a tipping point, which arrived when gas prices crossed the $3.50 per gallon mark. Sales of compact and subcompact cars accounted for about 20 percent of total auto sales in April, a first for the industry, according to The New York Times. And many believe the trend will continue, with sales of small cars continuing to grow steadily while sales of larger vehicles, such as big SUVs, continue to shrink.

So what’s available in showrooms today for drivers who are looking for better fuel efficiency? Quite a lot, as it turns out, including some models you might not expect. The Pontiac G5, for instance, gets up to 35 miles per gallon on the highway, although Pontiac recommends premium fuel, which sort of negates any mileage benefits cost-wise (the car will run on regular gasoline but not at peak performance). The Chevy Cobalt with the 2.2-liter, four-cylinder engine and manual shifter manages 33 miles per gallon, while the Mazda 3 four-door sedan with the 2.0-liter double-overhead-cam engine (above) gets up to 32 miles per gallon while still delivering a respectable 148 horsepower.

Of course, trendy cars like the Honda Civic Hybrid (45 miles per gallon on the highway), the MINI Cooper (up to 37 miles per gallon), the Scion xD (33 miles per gallon), and the venerable Toyota Corolla with the four-cylinder, 1.8-liter engine (35 miles per gallon) all represent good options for budget-crunching drivers. The fact that those cars are imports is not lost on Detroit, which finds itself scrambling as drivers migrate away from profitable SUVs to less-profitable compacts and subcompacts. What will this mean for American automakers, and how will they respond to this fundamental shift in buyers’ driving habits? Stay tuned — we’re about to find out.

With gas prices inching higher every week, and predictions of four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline in the not-too-distant future, it’s not surprising that drivers are starting to look for alternatives. Hybrids have been receiving lots of press lately, but electric cars have been making news as well.

Last month, Subaru displayed its R1e electric car (above) at the New York Auto Show, and announced that two R1e vehicles will join the New York Power Authority fleet as part of a U.S. testing program. About 40 of the electric vehicles are currently in use in Japan, and Subaru plans to test an additional 100 cars in Japan in 2009. No word yet if or when the cars will be available in U.S. showrooms.

The two-seat R1e employs the latest electric-motor technology, including a fast-charge lithium ion battery that can take quick or partial charges without a decrease in battery life. In fact, it can be charged to 80 percent capacity in just 15 minutes, or fully charged overnight. The R1e, which Subaru envisions as an urban car, has a range of up to 50 miles on a single charge and a top speed of 65 miles per hour.

The R1e joins a growing list of electric cars that are in various stages of development. California-based ZAP, for instance, recently announced that it expect to start selling its three-wheel Alias electric car sometime in 2009, and has started taking reservations on its website. (The company is charging a $5,000 reservation fee for the $32,500 car.) The automaker notes that the two-seater will have a range of 100 miles on a single charge, a top speed of around 100 miles per hour, and reasonably quick acceleration, jumping out from 0 to 60 in 7.7 seconds. It’s one of a number of electric cars, including the Xebra sedan and truck, the automaker hopes to eventually offer to car buyers.

Tesla recently started production of its electric-powered two-passenger Roadster, which will run for 220 miles on a charge, and accelerate from 0 to 60 in just 3.9 seconds. The entire 2008 production run has sold out, and the company is currently taking reservations for the 2009 model year. The automaker also plans to add a five-passenger sport sedan in 2010.

Finally, across the pond, U.K.-based Lightning Car Company has started taking reservations for its super-sleek, electric-powered GTS Roadster, which has a top speed of more than 130 miles per hour. A high-efficiency Hi-Pa electric drive, developed in Great Britain, powers the GTS. The powerplant also include NanoSafe batteries, which can be charged in about 10 minutes and deliver more power per unit than conventional lithium batteries, according to the automaker.

Features include an antilock braking system, traction control, regenerative braking, a satellite navigation system, and leather interior trim. You can reserve yours by visiting the automaker’s website and plunking down 15,000 pounds (just under $30,000 dollars). And may we suggest Electric Lightning Blue for the exterior color. It seems appropriate.

With new fuel-efficiency standards recently mandated by Congress (see previous post), we thought we’d take a look at the mileage offered by cars currently available at your local dealer. According to the Energy Independence and Security Act, which was passed by Congress on Tuesday, Dec. 18, and signed into law by President Bush the following day, cars and light trucks, including SUVs, much achieve a fuel-efficiency standard of 35 miles per gallon by the year 2020. Of course, many cars available today already achieve that mileage — and that number will continue to grow in the years to come.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the most fuel-efficient car currently on the road is (ta-da!) the Toyota Prius hybrid vehicle (no surprise there). The Prius currently achieves 48 mpg around town and 45 mpg on the highway. (If we all bought Priuses tomorrow, we’d exceed the government’s mandated standard in just a few days, instead of 12 years. But why rush things?) The Honda Civic Hybrid (40 mpg in the city, 45 mpg on the highway) also already surpasses the new government standards.

But you don’t have to buy a hybrid to be fuel efficient. The MINI Cooper (37 mpg on the highway), Toyota Yaris (36 mpg on the highway), and Toyota Corolla (37 mpg on the highway) are all high achievers when it comes to fuel efficiency. Of course, those are also all compact or sub-compact cars. So will we all have to start driving tiny cars (a bummer for soccer moms and drivers with long legs)?

Heaven forbid. Many roomier cars are already close to achieving the new standards. For instance, the Volkswagen Passat Wagon, with a four-cylinder engine and manual transmission, achieves 29 mpg on the highway — it just needs a bit of a nudge to reach that magical 35 mpg goal. The Mercury Mariner Hybrid SUV, introduced a couple of years ago, and the Mazda Tribute Hybrid (pictured above), which is available this year in a limited production run of about 350 vehicles, both achieve 34 mpg, which is certainly in the fuel-efficiency ballpark.

So what are the worst gas guzzlers, according to the Department of Energy. Many are in the exotic car segment — the Lamborghini Lurcielago (just 8 mpg around town), the Bentley Azure (9 mpg), and the Aston Martin DB9 Coupe (10 mpg) are among the worst offenders. Of course, those are all 12-cylinder cars, and you probably wouldn’t jump in them to drive down to the corner 7-11 for a gallon of milk (or maybe you would).

Among the worst “normal” cars, gas-mileage-wise, are the eight-cylinder Cadillac STS (which gets 13/19 mpg in city/highway driving), the Audi S4 (13/20), the Saab 9-3 (15/24), and the Pontiac G6 (15/22). Of course, all those numbers will probably change for the better in years to come, as automakers begin to incorporate lighter-weight materials, like aluminum, rubber, and plastic, as well as carbon-fiber materials, and less steel into their cars, and seek to squeeze more gas mileage out of more efficient engines.

Also, keep in mind that the new mileage standards are fleet-wide, meaning that the average mileage of all of an automaker’s cars must be 35 mpg by 2020. That means you can still have a gas-guzzler in the crowd, as long as it’s offset by another vehicle that achieves somewhere in the vicinity of 60-70 mpg. And those cars may be showing up soon at your local dealer.