The High Cost of Driving Less

One factor that has irrevocably marked life in the U.S. is the unfettered joy with which we can climb into our cars and drive. We drive to the mall, or to our favorite burger joint, or to the beach, or to Grandma’s house or to our favorite national park.

At least we used to. Apparently that picture is changing. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) – you can see the DOT’s press release about it here - shows that from November 2007 to October 2008, America’s miles-driven total fell more than it’s ever fallen before.

The number of miles not driven is staggering. According to the DOT, we drove 100 billion fewer miles this year than we did last year. What’s especially interesting is that we cut back on our driving even as gasoline prices were in a nose-dive.

Yep, even as gas prices swooned from well above $4 per gallon this past summer to the current levels of about $1.50 per gallon, we’ve resisted the urge to jump into our cars and go.

Looking for 80 MPG?

Well, it appears that the assault on our bank accounts by the price of fuel has been beaten back - at least somewhat, at least for now. But that doesn’t mean that we can stop being vigilant about saving a buck or two whenever we fill our cars’ tanks, or when we think about shopping for a car with better fuel economy than we’re currently experiencing.

So we noted with great interest a story from a British magazine called "Fleet World." This story tells us of something called the "2008 ALD Automotive/Total Excellium MPG Marathon."

ALD Automotive is a fleet-management service, Total is a petroleum company. Together, they sponsored an event in which 39 vehicles participated in a 400-mile flog around Britain that was designed to include all kinds of speeds, roads and conditions.

Winner? A Toyota Yaris 1.4L D-4D. That’s the diesel version of this cheeky little car. The Yaris’ diesel is actually quite an interesting engine. It’s a turbocharged, all-aluminum unit that produces 89 horsepower, is capable of sprinting from 0 to 60 mph in about 10.7 seconds and offers fuel economy estimated at about 62 mpg by British authorities.

Fuel Efficiency for Every Lifestyle

We like lists, as you probably can tell from the occasional post we do that is based on a list compiled by somebody, somewhere, at some publication or Web site. And we’ve just found another list that we like.

This one is titled, "Fuel-efficient Picks for Every Lifestyle," and can be found here. We like some of the selections because they include several of our vehicles.

For instance, if you’re a middle-class person who would like a nice car, but who is not ready to head for the nearest luxury dealership, one of the cars the piece suggests is a Camry. This choice makes sense, the piece says, because the Camry is "available with luxury options that won’t break the bank." It points out that the 2009 Camry, when equipped with its standard engine and optional automatic transmission, is rated by the EPA at 21 mpg/city/31 mpg/highway and 25 mg/highway.

If, on the other hand, you’re a "mature professional with an established, successful career," the piece recommends a splendid assortment of choices that starts with the Prius and then transitions to the Lexus RX 350h hybrid, GS 450h hybrid and LS 600h hybrid.

Prius or Pickup: Gas Prices and Vehicle Sales

In this autumn of our economic discontent, the numbers that reflect housing foreclosures and unemployment are trending one way and the numbers that reflect the value of the stock market, and of our 401(k) plans, seem to be trending in another direction. Nothing but bad news, it seems, no matter where we look.

Except at the local gas station. There, against all odds, gas prices seem to be in a swoon, a veritable swan dive, from highs last summer approaching $5 per gallon for premium-grade fuel to levels that now are less than $2 per gallon for regular, in some areas of the U.S.

Or so we learn from a story in a recent edition of the Los Angeles Times.

Meanwhile, auto manufacturers reported their lowest sales since the end of World War II. Is this a temporary phenomenon that will end with the coming of not just a new year, but also a new administration in Washington D.C.? Or is it a new reality?

The Case for Crossovers

We’ve noticed that as gas prices have gradually returned to something like the levels they held prior to the summer’s gas-price craziness, interest in Sport-Utility and Crossover Vehicles has again warmed up. In fact, we’ve noticed that when we see freshly sold vehicles these days, ones still wearing the paper registrations that indicate that they’ve just rolled off a dealer’s lot, they’re most likely either SUVs or Crossovers.

And why not? If you’ve got a family, or stuff to haul or tow (and don’t most of us?), they’re pretty hard – maybe even impossible - to beat.

So it was with considerable interest recently that we came across a list titled "10 Most Popular Sport-Utility Picks," on a site called AutoInTheKnow.com. And wouldn’t you know it, two of the 10 vehicles selected were Toyotas.

The piece does quite a nice job of listing some of the reasons people like these vehicles. It notes that, "Crossovers deliver the capabilities of truck-based SUVs … along with a more car-like ride and fuel efficiency."

This Just In: Oxford Dictionary Goes Hypermiling!

We here at Open Road love words, love ‘em almost as we love efficient, value-laden cars. So we were more than a little amused to learn recently of this year’s batch of new words selected for inclusion in the New Oxford American Dictionary.

There are some real doozies (and in keeping with the theme of this post, we’ll offer cash and prizes – virtual cash, virtual prizes, of course - to those who can elucidate on the etymology of the word "doozie").

The words in contention for "Word of the Year" honors are interesting. They include "frugalista," "rewilding" and "staycation."

While we liked some of these, the one we liked the best was the word selected by the publishers of the New Oxford American Dictionary as WotY.

A Camry Hybrid Fueled by CNG

As you very likely know, we’re big believers in the concept of hybrid vehicles. We build gas-electric hybrids in several styles; one of them, our Prius, is the most fuel-efficient vehicle in America.

But we also believe that there’s more than one way to solve a problem. One problem we’d like to solve involves the unpredictable nature of gas prices.

Gas prices are relatively low now, but they were incredibly high last summer, and could well revert to those high levels. But the price of compressed natural gas (CNG) remains fairly stable, and there’s a strong, reliable domestic supply of CNG. It just happens to be one of many alternative fuel applications being explored in Toyota’s broad sustainable mobility research and development strategy.

That’s why we built a special concept CNG Camry Hybrid that we’ll display at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Wednesday.

Engines of Change

When Toyota came to the U.S. auto market in 1957, it did so with an unassuming little sedan called the Toyopet. How unassuming? Well, it was powered by a four-cylinder engine displacing just 1,453 cubic centimeters – that’s 88.66 cubic inches, for you non-metric folks – that produced a torrid 60 horsepower.  

The 1957 VW Beetle produced 36 horsepower from its tiny air-cooled engine and the Beetle became one of the best-selling cars in history. The Toyopet, meanwhile, was the wrong car at the wrong time for the wrong market. It faded into ignominy.

I noticed a couple of days ago while working on a piece that involved the Yaris and the Aygo, a city car that we don’t sell here, that the Yaris’ four-cylinder engine is, at 1,500 cc, about the same size as the Toyopet’s. And the base engine for the Aygo, at 998 cc, or about 61 cubic inches, is much smaller.

(For those of you bemused by the cubic-centimeter-to-cubic-inch conversion factor, it’s easy: Just remember that 1,000 cubic centimeters, aka one liter, is 61 cubic inches. Actually, for those with a penchant for precision, 61.0238 cubic inches equals exactly 1,000.00 cubic centimeters, which is about as precise as we’re going to get here.)

Bang for the Buck

Bang for the buck is a terrific, and very American, concept. It’s really easy to understand: It speaks to value for money, to getting the most for the least. So we’re pleased by a recent story found at TheCarConnection.com.

This story named our Prius as one of the six "Best Bang for the Buck Cars." Prius was named "best" in the "green" category.

The folks at CarConn took a look at Prius, then listed their likes, and also their dislikes. They liked the Prius’ stellar fuel economy, of course. The EPA rates the Prius at 48 mpg/city, 45/highway and 46/combined. Who wouldn’t like those numbers?

This Just In: MPG is Important. So is Sustainability

We noticed a story in the Detroit News a while back that indirectly cuts to the core of what we’re about.

The story is about the choices that new-car buyers are making. It says that a recent survey reveals that nearly 20% of those surveyed cited insufficient gas mileage as a reason for not buying a given model.

From our earliest days, we’ve worked hard on fuel economy. In spite of the fact that we sell fullsize, V8-powered pickups and SUVs alongside our smaller vehicles, our Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) number is the highest of all the major manufacturers.

It doesn’t surprise us, therefore, that Gotmpg, for instance, lists the Prius, the Camry Hybrid, the Yaris and the Corolla among the vehicles on its Top-10 Best MPG list.

Likewise, Autobytel lists the Prius and the Corolla on a similar list, and Automedia lists the Yaris, Prius, Avalon and RAV4 as "Best Mileage Models for your New Car Money."

Here’s why: The Prius is rated by the EPA at 46 mpg combined, the Camry Hybrid at 34 mpg combined, the Yaris at either 31 or 32 mpg combined, depending upon which transmission is chosen, the Corolla is rated at either 29 or 31 mpg – again, depending upon transmission, the Avalon is rated at 22 mpg combined and the RAV4 at 21 to 24 mpg, depending on drivetrain.