Used to be with a full-size pickup or SUV, you got 12-15 mpg. That was unless you had a big block, in which case, you got eight, or maybe six mpg. With a minitruck, you could get 17 or 18, which was fine as long as you didn't need to move anything big or heavy. These days, things are different. All of a sudden, full-size pickups and SUVs are getting 20 mpg and better--and that's a big deal.
By moving trucks up to 20, 22, and 26 mpg from their previous lows, huge savings in fuel become possible. A recent report in Science Magazine quoted a Duke research team that studied the benefits of better mileage in trucks. The team noted that replacing a large vehicle that gets 10 mpg with one that gets 20 saves five gallons of gas for every 100 miles. But replacing a small vehicle that gets 25 mpg with one that gets 50 will only save two gallons per 100 miles. "The reality that few people appreciate is that improving fuel efficiency from 10 to 20 mpg is actually a more significant savings than improving from 25 to 50 mpg for the same distance of driving," explains professor Richard Larrick.
So the greatest fuel savings come from improving the efficiency of the biggest gas-guzzlers--trucks.
Better mileage is welcome in a full-size truck, as long as capability remains comparable. Here we've listed a sampling of the newest high-mileage trucks and SUVs, whenever possible including their towing capacities and performance characteristics. Their gains are enabled by such technologies as high-pressure direct fuel injection, aerodynamic design, turbocharging, and hybrid drive systems. Many offer the option of using renewable fuels such as biodiesel and E85.
The questions are, what are these technologies, where will they appear first, and what do you have to give up to get better-than-mini-truck mileage in a full-size truck? In a nutshell, the tradeoff will be expense. As with any new technologies, initial costs will be higher.
Still, many of the vehicles you see here--even luxury vehicles like the Mercedes diesel SUVs--qualify for the federal Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit. For example, the Mercury Mariner hybrid qualifies for a federal tax credit of up to $3000, and the hybrid GMC Yukon up to $2200. To find out more about that, check www.fueleconomy.gov.