Like many Chicago-area residents, Deborah Splingaire recycles much of her trash and is careful about conserving water. “When you have kids, you’re always concerned about the environment,” says the West Chicago resident.
When it comes to driving, however, Splingaire is somewhat proud to say she owns a gas-guzzling, highway-hogging Ford Expedition.
The large sport-utility vehicle, which Splingaire and her husband purchased in May, has a V-8 engine and gas-hungry devices such as four-wheel-drive and an automatic transmission.
Splingaire estimates that the Expedition gets about 12 miles per gallon in the city, about half of what her previous vehicle, a Dodge Caravan, got. The Environmental Protection Agency rates Expedition at 13 m.p.g. city/17 highway.
Splingaire is far from alone.
For the last several years, car buyers have heartily embraced gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles and trucks while shunning smaller cars that get more than two to three times the gas mileage.
The larger vehicles are not only gas hogs because of their size, but also because of such features as four-wheel drive and the ability to haul boats and trailers.
It’s an interesting trend, say environmentalists and auto industry officials.
People will haul cans and bottles to the curb for recycling, place grass clippings in a compost heap, conserve water, turn down the thermostat or put a light on a timer. But they won’t give up their low-mileage vehicles.
For example, four of the top five-selling vehicles in 1996 (the Ford F-Series pickup, the Chevrolet C/K pickup, the Ford Explorer and the Dodge Ram) are low-mileage, according to auto industry figures.
The only car in the top five was the Ford Taurus, which clocked in at No. 4 in 1996.
And last year, Ford stopped making the Aspire, its most fuel-efficient car. Aspire, introduced in 1993, was rated at 34 miles per gallon in the city and 42 miles per gallon on the highway.
“The Aspire has gone away because of a lack of interest,” says Ford spokesman Jim Bright, who noted Ford sold only 50,000 to 60,000 Aspires in its last year.
But Ford hasn’t been able to make enough Expeditions, its least fuel-efficient vehicle, to keep up with the demand.
There are a number of reasons for this, experts say.
The first is that sport-utility vehicles and trucks are the hottest segment of the automotive market and buyers justify the extra fuel.
“Because of land patterns, many people have no choice but to drive,” says Susan Mudd, the Wisconsin director for the Citizens for a Better Environment group. “So people say to themselves, `Since I have to drive, I might as well be comfortable.’ “
“Everyone believes in higher fuel efficiency and cleaner air, but the prevailing attitude is `Let someone else do it–I have my own special requirements and need to be in the car I choose to be in’ or `I’m recycling and that’s my share,’ ” says David Cole, director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
“People are aware of the environment but on a superficial level,” says Cole.
Cole says that even Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards are in question. “The automakers do meet CAFE standards, but they’re on the ragged edge.” Cole explained that automakers can borrow from past and future gas misers to meet the fleet average.
“I believe there’s a conscious decision being made in (choosing a low-mileage vehicle),” says Steve Ramsey, brand manager of the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban full-size sport-utilities. “When a customer comes into a dealership, they’re measuring their own needs and expectations as it relates to vehicle choice. And they balance that against what their own social conscience and feelings are toward the environment.”
In addition, many consumers lean toward gas-guzzlers because they like size.
“In our society there is a myth that bigger is better,” says Mudd. “People like big.
“I know people who say they never thought they would own a sport-utility vehicle or truck,” says Mudd. “And they justify owning it because they’ve got one or more children, they’ve got to haul them around and they live in a place where their children can’t get around any other way.”
In addition, many feel bigger is safer.
“A lot of people, especially women, like the higher vantage point you get in a truck or sport-utility vehicle,” says Bright. “You feel more in control of the road and you feel safer. The attitude is `If I’m in a large vehicle and bump into something small, guess who is going to win?’ “
The stable cost of gas in the U.S. figures into the equation.
As gas prices have held around $1.50 per gallon, consumers have realized that it costs maybe $3 more a day to drive a large sport-utility or truck versus a smaller fuel-efficient sedan.
For example, Cole says gas (at $1.50 per gallon) to drive a car that gets 40 m.p.g. 10,000 miles a year costs about $375 per year. A car that gets 12 m.p.g. would cost about $1,250 a year.
“In a consumer’s mind, the added cost of driving that bigger vehicle is only a few dollars a day,” said Cole. “On the other hand, the cost of not driving that larger vehicle is a less safe vehicle, less passenger space and luggage space, and a less romantic vehicle.
“At these fuel prices, there is no incentive for people to conserve,” he adds.
And, finally, there’s the “romance.”
“Our Expedition is much more fun to drive than a mini-van,” says Splingaire.
“Our vehicles are an extension of our very souls,” says Cole. “I think we live vicariously through the products that we buy. Consumers think, `I have a car that I can drive into the mountains and go camping with. I’m never going to do that and I don’t need to do that because people who see me in this are going to think that’s my lifestyle.’ “
“There’s a lot of judgments made about people and their worth in our society by the kind of cars they drive,” Mudd says. “There’s a lot of status associated with what people drive.”
Mudd believes consumers embrace gas-guzzlers until gas prices in the U.S. rise to the levels of other developed nations–as much as $4 and $5 a gallon.
“Getting hit in the pocketbook will be the most effective way of getting people into more fuel-efficient cars,” she says. “I don’t think news about global warming will affect people as much.”
Splingaire says gas would have to reach $3 a gallon before she would reconsider her Expedition. “In the meantime, there are so many pluses with the car.”
