Yamaha is not the first manufacturer to tout the fuel efficiency of its line of scooters, but it is the first to go so far as to list the estimated fuel mileage on each of its website's product pages. Scooter riders will be happy to see that Yamaha is claiming 124 miles per gallon from its Zuma, though its two-stroke engine likely emits more pollutants than a comparable four-stroke. Thankfully, both the Vino Classic and C3 use four-strokers and still do better than 100 miles per gallon. If higher speeds are a necessity for you, perhaps the Vino 125 will do with its 96 mile per gallon rating and 50+ mile per hour top-speed. Moving up the line, the futuristic Morphous and its 250cc four-stroke engine manages 56 miles per gallon and is freeway capable. Yamaha's top-of-the-line Maxiscooter, the Majesty, offers a 400cc engine which still delivers over 50 miles per gallon.

The fuel efficiency of various scooter models has been under discussion as of late. Most outlets agree that 100 miles per gallon is only really possible on 50cc machines, but their larger brothers are still capable of figures which are well beyond what the average automobile is capable of. We'd expect other manufacturers to follow Yamaha's lead in making fuel efficiency a selling-point for scooters and small-bore motorcycles as gas prices continue to climb.

[Source: Yamaha]

Car buyers can be a fickle group. Put another way: we hate pumping gas, but we love chugging coffee while we drive more. General Motors reports that consumers say good fuel mileage is the third-most-important consideration, right there behind styling and value, for customers looking to purchase one of their vehicles.

That may be true, but are their customers willing to pay for high mpgs? All things being equal (which is rarely the case), the answer is usually no, if Mike J. Jackson from AutoNation is to be believed. He says that the only way to force consumers to choose fuel efficient vehicles is to price gasoline higher, which we agree would probably do the trick. Since that's not likely to happen, the government is forcing the automakers to build the types of cars that consumers may not want. According to Jackson, that could be a boon to the used car market at the expense of the newer more fuel efficient cars.

Related:

• Fuel economy slips in car-shopper priorities

[Source: Forbes via Wired Autopia]

Perhaps this story has more to do with the proliferation of the Internet than it does about green car trends, but here we go anyway. We all know that you can check fueleconomy.gov to find out what the fuel mileage of current and past cars is or was. Anybody who carries an internet-capable cell phone in their pockets also knows that navigating sites which are not optimized for mobile browsers is rather difficult from the average phone or internet tablet without a full browser. With that in mind, the government has seen fit to introduce a new mobile version of their fuel economy site, fueleconomy.gov/m. Easy enough, right? From the mobile site you will be able to see the mileage ratings from vehicles from 1985 through today.

We think that this service should prove rather useful as a tool for checking the mileage of used cars on dealers lots that don't have window stickers on them. Whatever works, we say. Also present on the mobile site are calculations for figuring how much you'll spend on gas each year and your resultant carbon footprint. Yay, technology!

[Source: Detroit News]

You may have noticed that Autoblog has added a new writer to their staff. John McElroy is the host of Autoline Detroit which you may have seen on television. In his latest posting, McElroy, speaking of CAFE standards says, "This whole debate has focused on how many miles per gallon our cars get. That's the wrong approach. It does not solve the problem. All CAFE does is kill us slower. What we really need to focus on is getting the kind of fuels that will really solve the problem, not trying to force the auto industry to come out with cars that burn this poison more efficiently."

This is not the first time that this argument has come up, and it probably won't be the last. While our readership on AutoblogGreen might appreciate the cleaner and more fuel efficient cars that CAFE standards may force, what does the average automotive enthusiast think? Read through some of the comments on McElroy's post, and you might be surprised by what some are saying.

In conclusion, CAFE standards are not the best way to reduce our consumption of oil. They do, however, serve the purpose of raising the fuel mileage of our fleet of cars. So, until real game-changing technology is implemented, the consumer might just be forced to work with what we have, and the automotive manufacturers might be forced to work with the laws that they are given.

[Source: John McElroy \ Autoblog]