Wheels Blog: Wheelies: The Price of Efficiency Edition

Wheels Blog: Survey Shows Strong Support for Fuel Efficiency Standards

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images A Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid takes shape at the General Motors Detroit Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Hamtramck, Mich.

A new survey has found that consumers want more fuel efficient cars and also support the new federal fuel economy standards that the federal government plans to reach by 2025.

The survey, conducted by the Consumer Federation of America, polled 1,001 adults by telephone. The results, released on Monday, indicate strong public support for the 54.5 mile per gallon federal fuel economy standards. It also suggested strong intentions on the part of most vehicle buyers to seek improved fuel economy on their next vehicle.

According to the survey, 85 percent of respondents said they supported the 54.5 m.p.g. rule and 54 percent strongly supported it. Those results cut across political lines, according to the poll, with support from 77 percent of the Republicans surveyed, 92 percent of the Democrats and 87 percent of the independents. Eighty-eight percent of those participating in the poll said that fuel economy would be an important factor in their next car purchase, the survey said, and 59 percent said it would be a “very important” consideration.

Respondents now driving 24 m.p.g. vehicles told the federation that they expect an improvement to about 31 m.p.g. in the next vehicle they buy. And 57 percent of those who said they planned to buy an S.U.V. said they expected it to achieve at least 25 m.p.g. The federation also pointed to the increasing popularity and availability of 4-cylinder engines.

Mark Cooper, the federation’s director of research, said in a telephone interview that concern about fuel economy had increased sharply among American car buyers.

“Even 10 years ago, it was not much of an issue,” he said. “But subsequent gas price hikes got people thinking about it. The automakers needed a good framework for dealing with efficiency, and that’s why we think the federal fuel economy standards are very effective — they arrived at a time when the market was ready.”

Jack Gillis, a federation spokesman, said in a telephone interview that consumers weren’t just talking about buying the more efficient cars that are increasingly available to them; a look at the most popular vehicles shows that they’re actually buying them.

A random telephone survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, released in February, reached similar conclusions about market intent. It said that two-thirds of car buyers expected their next car or truck to provide much better or somewhat better fuel economy than their current one.

Around the Block: Diesel Efficiency With a Solar Enhancement

TESTED: 2013 Volkswagen Beetle TDI convertible

WHAT IS IT? The only diesel-powered convertible available in the United States.

HOW MUCH? $28,690 base, which is $2,900 more than the base gasoline-powered convertible; $29,990 as tested with the Sound and Navigation package.

WHAT’S UNDER THE HOOD? A 2-liter in-line diesel 4-cylinder with turbocharging and direct injection; 6-speed manual or dual-clutch 6-speed automated transmission.

IS IT THIRSTY? Not at all: at an E.P.A.-rated 28 m.p.g. in town and 41 on the highway, it’s the stingiest droptop in the nation.

In 2006, I drove a Saab 9-3 diesel convertible in Italy. Aside from an unfortunate incident when a bird guano-bombed my head near Lake Como, the top-down experience was remarkably pleasant.

Diesels are no longer stinky, and I find their signature mechanical growl quite appealing — the muted compression-ignition clatter and whistle of a turbocharger remind you that you’re piloting a machine and not just playing a realistic car-themed video game.

Further, that punchy Saab could eke out around 40 miles per gallon at sub-autostrata speeds. Saab didn’t sell that car in the United States, but I returned home wondering why not.

Diesel convertibles make all sorts of sense, given the relaxed, torque-heavy power delivery of diesels and the mellow mien of top-down driving. But if you want such a vehicle, your decision tree is simple indeed: in America, all paths lead to the Volkswagen Beetle TDI convertible. I suppose you could try to build your own diesel convertible, but that would be quite a project. Ask me how I know.

Volkswagen offers the droptop diesel Beetle with a 6-speed manual transmission or a 6-speed DSG automated manual.

Because only a subset of Beetles are convertibles, and a minority of Beetles convertibles are diesels, and the bulk of those will be automatics, a manual diesel convertible like the one I tested will be rare. I’m thinking they’ll build about five of these.

And those five cars, I’ll wager, will be bought by people who may not otherwise consider a Beetle.

This is a car that trades heavily on its styling, because design is the main differentiator between a Beetle and a Golf, Jetta or Eos. But because you can’t get a convertible Golf or a diesel Eos, the Beetle is the sole conduit to the droptop diesel experience.

I happen to like the shape of the recently redesigned Beetle, which went in a distinctly Porsche-like direction, but this is still a polemic machine. The Beetle convertible is a car for extroverts, a fact reflected by its jaunty color palette, rife with names like Yellow Rush and Denim Blue. For added attention in traffic, the power top can operate at speeds of up to 31 m.p.h.

Volkswagen says it used a cloth convertible top because it “allows for a roofline that’s more like the original 1949 type 15’s.” All right, if you say so. VW also allows that the decision may have had something to do with the fact that a folding hardtop would have required about an extra foot of rear overhang or a small trailer in which to stow it.

As it is, the soft top’s seven-layer sandwich of rubber, fabric and insulation does a tidy job of keeping rain and noise outside. Retracted, it piles itself into a neat little stack behind the rear seats, preserving the 7.1 cubic feet of trunk space.

Thicker windshield pillars, under-floor bracing and an automatic pop-up rollover-protection system contribute to the convertible’s 223-pound weight penalty over an equivalent TDI coupe. But at 3,296 pounds, the softtop Beetle is still amply motivated by the 2-liter diesel’s 140 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque.

The TDI convertible exudes a feeling of easy power, marshaling that impressive reserve of torque to muscle off the line and lazily cruise uphill without demanding a downshift.

The little diesel runs out of breath relatively quickly, but hey, man, what’s the rush? The top’s down. Enjoy yourself.

Watch the boost gauge on the dash binnacle swing over as the turbocharger spools up. Use the adjacent lap timer to ensure that you reapply sunscreen at appropriate intervals. The Beetle’s lap timer is like the Porsche Sport Chrono’s laid-back acoustic-guitar-playing cousin who’s on the seventh year of his undergrad degree.

While you’re driving about listening to chill tunes and looking for tasty waves, the TDI will be squeezing a federally rated 28 miles per gallon in town, and 41 on the highway, from each gallon of diesel fuel.

Volkswagen says those numbers make this the most efficient convertible on the road today, but the key word is “today,” because the 1992 Geo Metro LSi Convertible managed 41 m.p.g. on the highway and 35 in the city.

I don’t think VW needs an asterisk on its claim, however, because the Geo had 3 cylinders under the hood, and if you started a 0-to-60 m.p.h. run in 1992 you might not have finished it yet.

So if you want the wind in your hair and 41 miles per gallon, you really have only one choice that does not involve a motorcycle license, a preowned Geo or moving to Europe.

Stay away from the unleaded pumps and watch out for birds.