I was looking at your website.. at this link: http://
www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/best/bestworstNF.shtml

which shows the most fuel efficient cars, and found an error in that
you're missing a car which is more fuel efficient, so I called the
877 number, and they told me to report it to the webmaster.

Under Large Cars, you list the Hyundai Sonata 24 city / 33 highway
milage, however, The Mercedes Benz, E320 CDI (diesel) which is
significantly heavier than the Sonata (and thus safer) rates at 24
city and 37 highway by EPA.. and I've getting better than 40mpg in
real world driving at 75mph..

This should be corrected.

Thank you

Sam X XXXXXXX
Phoenix, AZ

Dear Mr. XXXXXXX:

The Mercedes Benz E320 CDI is classified as a mid-size car in EPA's size
class system. The size class for cars is determined by measuring the
interior passenger and cargo volumes as described as described on the
page below:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/info.shtml#sizeclasses

Vehicles classified as large cars have total interior volume greater
than 120 cubic feet. (The volume of the E320 is 111 cubic feet.)

Thank you for your question.

www.fueleconomy.gov

thanks for the reply... odd how much lighter the Hyundai is, which lead me to assume it's the same category.

Either way, in "mid size" the Hyundai on your list is rated as 27/34 and the data on the CDI from EPA is: 27/37 (superior) so my point while misguided, still stands. I misquoted the EPA milage as 24/37 below.. sorry, it's in-fact better: http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/E-M...E320CDI-05.htm

Regards

Sam

On 27, Oct 2005, , at 11:02 AM, FuelEconomy wrote:


We agree EPA's classification system does result in some odd groups of
vehicles. We added the "Search by Market Class" in an attempt to make
it easier for folks to search for vehicles. Unfortunately, we're
required to use the regulatory classification scheme to identify the
"best" vehicles.

Thank you for your comments.

thank you again, and sorry to persist, but please read my reply more
carefully... what about moving the E into the mid-size category
then? The E IS more efficient than the Hyundai listed in there as top.

I.E. while I was wrong in classifying the CDI as a Large, it's
nevertheless more efficient than any other "Mid" size as the EPA
classifies it as well.

see this link to EPA (again)

http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/-ME...E320CDI-05.htm

On 27, Oct 2005, , at 11:44 AM, FuelEconomy wrote:

We are listing the most efficient automatic and most efficient manual in
each class. The most efficient mid-size automatic is the Toyota Prius.

www.fueleconomy.gov

I understand.. It's just kinda sad how our Govt. operates sometimes.. no common sense. To think a 76hp/82 torque, 2890lbs Prius is in the same size/weight class as a 3900lbs 201hp/376torque torque E-class takes my breath away.

Thanks again for your time to explain the bureaucracy to me.