KEY POINTS:
Rocketing fuel prices are forcing motorists to seriously consider the cost of travel.
In particular, drivers are looking at the fuel economy of their vehicles, and weighing up choices when buying another car.
Fuel efficiency labels on cars for sale, introduced in April, estimate the fuel cost per year, based on average fuel price and distance.
In addition, fuel economy information has been collected and is available for vehicles that were both imported since 2005 and manufactured since 2000. The information is held in the database that sits behind www.fuelsaver.govt.nz
But how good is the information? The Herald test-drove the database, and compared it to a similar information system available to American drivers.
We chose three cars: a Toyota Corolla hatchback, 1.4-1.8 litre, petrol, manual; a Subaru stationwagon, 1.8-2.2 litre, petrol, automatic; and an Audi A4 saloon, 1.8-2.2 litre, petrol, automatic.
The database is easy enough to access, and the search options cover make of car, model, size/type, body shape, number of seats, engine size, fuel and transmission type. You make your choice, and the results include fuel economy in litres/100 km, and the estimated cost per year.
And here's where it starts to unravel. A search for a small Toyota hatchback with four seats and a manual gearbox brought up nine options, two of them stationwagons, two of them automatic, and all of them with five seats.
A line-up of large Subaru stationwagons with a maximum engine size of 2.2 litres included three hatchbacks, three estate cars with oversized engines, and _ three Saabs. Of the cars we chose, or didn't choose, the Saab 9-5 Aero Sport estate A had the worst fuel economy, with a yearly spend of more than $3700.
And all the Audi four-seater saloons had five seats. And one was diesel. It had the best fuel economy, though, and the cost per year, $2080, included road-user charges.
Consider, now, the US database, at www.fueleconomy.gov
Vehicles are listed from 1985 until 2009, and the range of cars, although tailored to the American market, is much broader. Car options change between years, as makes and models come and go. For example, Peugeots disappeared in 2000, but Kia, Hyundai, Lexus and Daewoo arrived. High-end cars such as Lamborghini and Maserati were listed in 2005, and the Hummer in 2006.
Select your year, make and model, and the options appear. As well as an estimated fuel economy and cost, you get a carbon footprint for each car, measured in tons/year of carbon dioxide.
The estimated fuel economies given on the US database closely match the New Zealand rates. For example, an average 32.5 miles/gallon for a 2001 Corolla 1.8 litre equates to 7.3 litres/100km (7.7 litres/100km here). An annual fuel cost of US$1957 is pretty close to New Zealand petrol costs, estimated at $2630.
By comparison, a 1985 Corolla will do 29.5 miles/gallon (8 litres/100km). But you won't find that out on the New Zealand website.
A spokesman for the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority (EECA), the body responsible for the Fuelsaver website, said it was not cost effective to provide information about the fuel efficiency of cars imported before 2005 or manufactured before 2000.
Manager of products Terry Collins said recent changes to emissions laws meant few cars manufactured before 2000 could be imported to New Zealand. Older cars that did not meet the new emissions standards would gradually be phased out as people upgraded to newer models. "We could buy information about the fuel efficiency of late 1990s Japanese cars, but unfortunately a lot of it is in Japanese so we would have to translate it," he said.
As for the majority of New Zealanders who drive pre-2000 model cars (the average age of New Zealand's road fleet is 12 years), EECA analyst Richard Woolford recommends looking up a newer car of the same shape and size as a guide.
Stella Stocks of the Automobile Association says that the association considers that any information is good information.
