Realistically? I don't think anyone buying a car here in the States takes the emissions or the fuel economy labeling seriously. Ok.. maybe a few diehard greenies do. But I think the rest of us just look at it as a "guideline". We know the fuel consumption will be higher since that test if flawed and we assume the same for emissions. Crash testing... maybe we take it a bit more seriously.
The fuel consumption test has been a joke since day one. No wind resistance... just run the car at certain speeds on a dyno. I understand now that part of this run on a test track. But way back when, if you dropped a 4 cylinder into a Cadillac instead of the 8 cylinder monster that was there, it suddenly got great mileage. It would barely move, but the fleet mileage goal became attainable since it was "an option".
Biting the hand that feeds IT
