{"id":5393,"date":"2012-05-28T05:00:11","date_gmt":"2012-05-28T10:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=5393"},"modified":"2012-05-27T23:13:32","modified_gmt":"2012-05-28T04:13:32","slug":"consumer-reports-survey-americans-say-fuel-economy-most-important-car-buying-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2012\/05\/28\/consumer-reports-survey-americans-say-fuel-economy-most-important-car-buying-factor\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer Reports Survey: Americans Say Fuel Economy Most Important Car Buying Factor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly three-quarters of drivers would consider an alternative fuel vehicle for their next car<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ConsumerYonkers, NY<\/strong> – With fuel prices at near record levels, consumers are driving less and contemplating a move to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, according to recent survey by Consumer Reports.<\/p>\n

The survey found that 37 percent said their leading consideration when shopping for their next car will be fuel economy. A distant second was quality (17 percent) followed by safety (16 percent), value (14 percent) and performance (6 percent).\u201cThese results make it clear that high fuel prices are continuing to impact driver behavior and influencing future purchase considerations,\u201d said Jeff Bartlett, Consumer Reports deputy auto editor. \u201cWhile quality, safety and value are still important, this may be foreshadowing a market shift by folks seeking relief at the pump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some two-thirds of owners surveyed said they expected their next vehicle to get better fuel mileage than the one they\u2019re driving now. While gasoline costs (90 percent) were the number one reason cited for wanting a more fuel-efficient vehicle, more than half of respondents also had other reasons, including a desire to be more environmentally friendly (62 percent) and concern about dependence on foreign oil (56 percent).<\/p>\n

Women disproportionately said they were motivated by the environmental benefit of better fuel economy (65 percent vs. 58 percent of men), more concerned about dependence on foreign oil (63 percent vs. 49 percent of men), and impacted by changes on the home front (38 percent vs. 31 percent).<\/p>\n

For more information regarding Consumer Reports\u2019 fuel economy survey, helpful fuel economy tips and advice on selecting the most fuel-efficient car for your needs visit www.ConsumerReports.org\/fuel.<\/a><\/p>\n

The survey, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, found that car owners were open to different ways of saving at the pump, from downsizing to looking at hybrids, electric cars, or models with diesel engines. In all, nearly three quarters (73 percent) of participants said they would consider some type of alternatively fueled vehicle, with flex-fuel (which can run on E85 ethanol) and hybrid models leading the way. Younger buyers were more likely to consider an alternatively-fuel or purely electric vehicle than drivers over the age of 55.<\/p>\n

Of those who said they plan to move to a different type, owners of large SUVs were the most open to downsizing, frequently planning to move to a smaller SUV. Small cars were the leading category targeted by survey respondents for their next vehicle, followed by larger sedans and midsized SUVs. Further illuminating a future market shift, larger sedans (18 percent) and minivans (7 percent) are on fewer participants\u2019 radar relative to their current model.<\/p>\n

With the federal government expected to finalize new fuel efficiency standards later this year that would require manufacturer\u2019s average fuel economy to reach 54.5 miles-per-gallon by 2025, some 90 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statements \u201cAuto manufacturers should offer a greater variety of cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles in the near future.\u201d Almost 80 percent felt the same about the statements “Fuel economy standards should require auto manufacturers to increase the overall fleet average to at least 55 miles per gallon,” (79%) and “I am willing to pay extra for a more fuel efficient vehicle if I can recover the additional cost through lower fuel costs” (81%).<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen gas prices are high, it\u2019s always tempting to rush to trade-in for a more fuel-efficient car to save at the pump. But our research has shown that you\u2019re often better off financially to stick it out with the vehicle you have if it\u2019s less than three years old, because a new vehicle will cost you more in depreciation than you would save on gas\u201d said Bartlett.<\/p>\n

The Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted the random, nationwide telephone survey in two waves, April 5th-7th and April 12th-15th, 2012, contacting 2,009 adults. The Center interviewed 1,702 adults in households that had at least one car.<\/p>\n

For more information regarding Consumer Reports\u2019 survey on fuel economy, visit www.ConsumerReports.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About Consumer Reports<\/h3>\n

Consumer Reports is the world\u2019s largest independent product-testing organization. Using its more than 50 labs, auto test center, and survey research center, the nonprofit rates thousands of products and services annually. Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has over 8 million subscribers to its magazine, website and other publications. Its advocacy division, Consumers Union, works for health reform, food and product safety, financial reform, and other consumer issues in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly three-quarters of drivers would consider an alternative fuel vehicle for their next car Yonkers, NY – With fuel prices at near record levels, consumers are driving less and contemplating a move to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, according to recent survey by Consumer Reports. The survey found that 37 percent said their leading consideration when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[6618,678,3397,6619,3826,6617,5589,6620,3956,3365],"class_list":["post-5393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-car","tag-consumer-reports","tag-diesel","tag-electric-car","tag-ethanol","tag-fuel-economy","tag-fuel-efficiency","tag-gas-prices","tag-oil","tag-yonkers-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5395,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5393\/revisions\/5395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}