Adding All-Wheel Drive to a Hybrid Costs 14 MPG. On a Petrol Car It Costs 4.
We showed earlier that all-wheel drive barely costs fuel on a modern car. That turns out to be true for petrol engines and badly wrong for hybrids.
Cylinder Deactivation Is on One in Six Cars and Saves Exactly Nothing
The technology switches off half the engine when you don't need it, and it's fitted to millions of cars. I checked what it does to the EPA figures and got a result I had to run twice.
The Most Economical Petrol Car Ever Sold in America Is From 1986
I sorted every petrol car in the EPA database by combined economy, expecting something recent at the top. The winner was built in 1986, and nothing since has come close.
The Turbo Was Sold as an Efficiency Upgrade. At the Same Displacement It Loses 7 MPG.
Downsizing came with a promise: a small turbo engine does the work of a big one on less fuel. I compared them litre for litre, and the promise doesn't survive contact with the EPA database.
A V12 Loses 56% of Its Economy in Traffic. A Three-Cylinder Loses 20%.
Every car is rated twice — once for town, once for the open road. The gap between those two numbers isn't constant, and it gets punishing exactly where you'd expect it to hurt most.
Your Window Sticker Has Two Green Scores. They Don't Agree.
Every new car sticker carries two environmental scores, and buyers read them as the same thing. I compared them across 23,996 ratings and found they measure different problems — with different answers.
The Automatic Is More Economical Than the Manual. It Has Been for Years.
Everyone who learned to drive before about 2010 knows the manual uses less fuel. I compared them at matched engine sizes across thousands of EPA ratings, and the manual loses almost every time.
Repairing Your Own Car Costs Twice as Much to Insure in DC as in Hawaii
Collision cover is the part of a policy that pays to fix your car after you hit something. What it costs varies by more than double across the country, and for reasons that have nothing to do with weather.
All-Wheel Drive Uses Less Fuel Than Rear-Wheel Drive. Considerably Less.
Driving four wheels instead of two costs fuel — that's the assumption behind every AWD-versus-2WD comparison. The EPA figures say something else entirely, and the reason has nothing to do with drivetrains.
Each Pair of Cylinders Adds About $900 a Year to Your Fuel Bill
Cylinder count is the one specification everyone understands and nobody prices. I ran the EPA fuel cost estimates against it, and the increments are steadier than you'd expect.
Two 2025 Civics Can Differ by 18 MPG. Same Year, Same Name.
You look up a car's fuel economy, get a number, and assume it applies. For thousands of model years it doesn't — the same badge covers engines that differ by more than half.
The Most Expensive Hail Insurance in America Is in the Cheapest Insurance States
South Dakota has some of the cheapest car insurance in the country and the most expensive comprehensive cover. Both facts have the same cause, and it falls out of the sky.