Government EPA Estimates Wrong

The government requires EPA mileage ratings to be posted on the window sticker of all new vehicles. Many automotive consumers depend on these figures to help them make decisions about which vehicles to buy.

However, Consumer Reports magazine recently found that those figures were too high -- often much too high -- on 90 percent of the vehicles they tested. And the discrepencies are becoming greater with each year model.

Consumer Reports recommends that consumers discount the posted EPA city mileage rate by 30 percent for conventional cars and trucks, by 35 percent for larger hybrids, diesels by 36 percent and small hybrids by 42 percent.