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Cars Fail to Meet Consumption Numbers, But New Laws Could Be Bad for You

It's no secret that cars have been getting steadily worse at achieving what it says on the box. And by that, we mean that they rarely meet the officially declared fuel consumption numbers.
Four Cars Fail to Meet Consumption Numbers, But New Laws Could Be Bad for You 1 photo
Photo: YouTube screenshot
Things are especially bad in Europe, where the NEDC tests are done in unrealistic conditions. The engine is tested separately from the car, which explains why a Fiesta and Focus might get the same numbers with a 1.0-liter turbo, despite the weight differences. Also, acceleration and braking are done in an unrealistic manner - go from 30 to 50 kph in 60 seconds and other stuff like that.

This video by Carwow starts by showing how four different cars don't come anywhere near the officially claimed numbers. We're talking about a Ford Fiesta, Opel/Vauxhall Astra, Audi RS4 and Nissan X-Trail. Even though the UK mpg system makes things confusing everywhere else in the world, you'll  still get a sense of how most cars get around 70% of the official fuel consumption. There are websites out there which give you real-world consumption numbers based on other people's experience, and numbers above 90% are rare.

NEDC dates back about two decades, and there's a new system called WLTP which is replacing it. The good news is that the official fuel consumption numbers will be a lot more realistic so you'll know what you're buying, but there's also a downside too.

CO2 emissions are proportional to average consumption, so when the new regulations come into effect, new cars will cost more to tax. Because dealers have stockpiles of unsold vehicles, there's a small window in which huge price cuts will be available.

Another piece of regulation called RDE (short for Real Driving Emission) is carried out on the road, not in a lab. We've heard it's so bad that Volkswagen plans "closure days" this fall. Not only do some of its TDI models run the risk of not complying with the regulations, but there just isn't enough testing equipment to find out.

You can read more about WLTP and RDE in our in-depth auto guide.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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