I have been watching with interest the offerings of new car manufacturers over the last year or so. It seems we Canadians are far more reserved when it comes to buying cars than our neighbors across the border. We tend to purchase more small cars even though our weather is worse. This contradicts the notion that we all need SUVs to survive our winters. In many cases a front-wheel-drive car is not only better on fuel, but equipped with good snow tires it is more practical in the winter as well.

Both Pam and I have opted for more fuel-efficient vehicles as our daily drivers. I am not including my big bad 4x4 because I use it so little - over the course of a year it consumes a relatively small amount of gas. On the other hand, I put a lot of miles on the Toyota 4Runner and that's partly why I retained the 22RE. The next vehicle I plan to build for 4WD will also keep fuel consumption as low as possible.

Horsepower ratings have gone up by leaps and bounds the past few years. When you consider my Chevy Duramax is rated at 365hp and a new Hemi engine is in the same range, we are getting a lot more power than even a few years ago.

But, do we need it?

Why are we not getting better fuel economy from our vehicles? During the 1970s gas-crunch, it was a huge priority, but recently that priority seems to gotten stagnant.

Each manufacturers line-up is rated at an overall fuel rating. This allows companies to produce cars like the Viper and Ford V-10 and 8-litre Chevy gas engines yet keep the over-all fleet fuel economy in check by offsetting them with hybrids and alternative power vehicles. I saw a study that showed if we raised the average fuel economy of vehicles by just one mile-per-gallon, we would save millions of gallons of fuel each year. Why does it take so long to make these changes? In that time they have regulated everything from third eye brake lights, anti-lock brakes, daytime running lights, air bags and more - but the fleet fuel rating has not significantly improved.

It seems that unveiling the odd Hybrid is sufficient to meet their efficiency targets. Chevy claims that their entire fleet will be E85 Ethanol Fuel ready (85% Ethanol 15% gasoline) in a year or so but the fuel is nearly impossible to find. I drove a Chevy Yukon that was E85 ready, but never got a chance to fill it with any. These vehicles can run on E85 or part E85 and gasoline or full gasoline.

In Europe, there has long been a big push to use small diesel engines. Virtually every vehicle make and model has a diesel option and 50 percent of vehicles on the road there are diesel powered. It is interesting that so few 4-cylinder diesels have made it to our roads. They are coming, but painfully slowly - I only recently got the invite to drive the new Grand Cherokee with the diesel engine. If Volkswagen can make a TDI that gets 60 MPG, why are the cars and small trucks not here to give us more options? After buying and driving my Duramax, I don't think I will ever return to driving a gas-powered truck. It is quiet, smoke free, and gives me all the pulling power I could ever need, all the while giving over 20 mpg unloaded on the highway. While many of us won't soon give up the power edge in our off-road vehicles, there is no reason why we shouldn't be getting more fuel economy from our daily drivers. It's time to put more pressure on - we can have our power and fuel economy too!

Albert Vandervelde
Editor, 4WD Magazine