Just noticed that there is $1000 gas guzzler tax on the sticker of the new S550's....yet they get 25mpg?!?!?!? Is this another way the stealership is making money? $1000 seems like a convenient round number and i noticed an M6 on ebay has $3000.....also a convenient round number. Im calling BS....anyone have proof that this isnt true?

T

 

A 2006 CL500 which gets worse gas mileage than the S550 also has $1000 gas guzzler tax.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Merce...QQcmdZViewItem

T

 

The issue is the combined CAFE mpg std by the US. Since luxury car manufacturer's total sales in most cases don't sell enough fuel efficient cars to offset the bigger ones, they charge what they are forced to pay (educated guess on my part but no proof).

 

We purchased an 07 SL550 which comes with the same engine/trans as the S550, weighs less yet mileage is worse at 14/22 MPG with a gas guzzler tax of $1700.

 

Ummmm, okay there conspiracy theorists. The dealer has nothing whatsoever to do with the gas guzzler tax. It is assessed by the federal government, as part of the Energy Tax Act of 1978. It is meant to incentivize the manufacturer to produce more efficient vehicles by punishing them for selling gas-guzzling vehicles. It is slapped directly onto the vehicle sticker, and passed along to the customer, to deter people from buying guzzlers in the first place. The tax is directly collected by the IRS post-sale. It is completely separate from the CAFE fleet standards, which penalizes a manufacturer with hefty fines if the company does not meet fleet-wide average fuel economy standards, which are slowly ratcheted upward year by year (although a company will obviously face higher fines if its fleet is predominantly guzzlers). For example, NHTSA collected $1,511,125 in fines from Ferrari/Maserati in 2004 for the failure of its passenger car fleet to meet CAFE standards.

The EPA calculates gas tax based on combined city/highway fuel economy, but a different measurement is used from the standard 55/45 that shows up as combined fuel economy on the window sticker. Instead, the formula (1/(0.495/x + 0.351/y)) + 0.15, where x = city fuel economy and y = highway fuel economy. This calculation increases a car's average fuel economy compared to the 55/45 measurement.



Vehicles are subject to the gas tax on the following scale:

If vehicle combined economy is vehicle > 22.5 mpg, no tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 21.5 < vehicle < 22.5 mpg, $1,000 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 20.5 < vehicle < 21.5 mpg, $1,300 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 19.5 < vehicle < 20.5 mpg, $1,700 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 18.5 < vehicle < 19.5 mpg, $2,100 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 17.5 < vehicle < 18.5 mpg, $2,600 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 16.5 < vehicle < 17.5 mpg, $3,000 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 15.5 < vehicle < 16.5 mpg, $3,700 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 14.5 < vehicle < 15.5 mpg, $4,500 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 13.5 < vehicle < 14.5 mpg, $5,400 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is 12.5 < vehicle < 13.5 mpg, $6,400 gas tax.
If vehicle combined economy is vehicle < 12.5 mpg, $7,700 gax tax.

Insanely, the gas tax is applied only to cars, not to the small pickup truck, standard pickup truck, minivan, van, sport-utility vehicle, or special purpose vehicle categories. And of course, vehicles weighing more than 8,500 lbs. in gross weight currently don't even have their fuel economy measured in the first place. Clearly, the law needs some tweaking given the new nature of automobile sales, with truck-ish things making up half of the market.

So, the S550 tests at 16/24 mpg, which converts to 22.1 mpg combined, subjecting it to the first tier of gas tax. The 2006 CLS500 has a rating of 16/22 mpg, and this comes to 21.48, which rounds to 21.5, putting it into the $1000 bracket as well.
The S550 4Matic will clock in at 20.6 mpg, requiring a $1,300 gas tax.
The S600, at 16.9 mpg, nets the $3,000 tax, while the S65 AMG's slightly better numbers give it a rating of 18.1 mpg, translating to $2,600.

So, don't complain, because the S550 tax isn't so bad. Consider the poor Bentley Arnage owner. With a 10/14 city/hwy rating, the Arnage buyer owes the government $5,400.

And at the very bottom, the Saleen S7 TwinTurbo ekes out just 11.7 combined mpg. That's $7,700 for the IRS.

So, it doesn't seem that the gas tax has made an especially effective deterrent, but it occassionally embarrasses a manufacturer. For example, the STS-V was the first Caddy to earn a Gas Guzzler sticker, which is hardly a badge of honor with gas prices where they're likely be in the near future. In the end, it just serves as a little poke, to remind people that they should be buying more economical vehicles, or at least chip in the extra dough to help the government search for energy independence.

Voila! Hope this helps.

 

I saw we rise against the government and rebel.
It's our duty.

 

I say we rise against Mercedes and tell them to find a way to squeeze some economy out of their damned engines. Hybrid turbodiesels, baby! Or full hydrogen-powered V-12s.

And count your blessings; at least they don't charge a luxury tax anymore. Although maybe they should restart it, with the treasury in the crapper and a half-trillion dollar bill from 2 wars.

 

We don't have a duty to rise against a company.
You can vote with your dollars though

The government should count their blessings for us allowing them to charge a gas guzzler tax, not the other way around

 

Perhaps, but I'd rather have the gov't. make an S-Class buyer pay an extra thousand or three than have it come from the guy working at the Shell station. After all, establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defence, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty is an expensive business, even before the moron-in-chief took us WMD-fishing. Even so, it'll take a lot of Benz sales to reach $8,553,477,589,705 (the debt as of last night). But enough debate about anarchy vs. central government, I think we're both getting I think the issue of the thread has been satisfactorily examined.

 

Too bad they didn't use my cross country trip (5500 miles) as the highway figure...I got 25.8. Although I didn't do the math, that would have gotten us in for no tax I think...

 

carsinamerica......that was an excellent analysis, and my conspiracy theory has been calmed...thanks.

That explains why the G and R class, which get worse fuel economy, dont have a gas guzzler tax.

You sound like a bright guy....welcome to the forum....looking forward to more of your insight.

T

 

This is a great topic...paid a few grand in guzzler taxes between our SL550 and S550 but just bought a 9 MPG F250 and paid nothing! Go figure!
Jan

 

WOW!!!

Thanks, good to know.