What's the deal with the poor emissions rating? Most cars in this class are ULEV or better... heck, there are some big cars like Lexuses that are rated ULEV... can anyone explain this?

 

The LEV rating used ot bother me a lot. I'd say initially this was the #1 con i had with buying the fit

But the reason it doesn't bother me is the deeper meaning of these ratings. First, understand CARB has some corruption to it. EPA emissions ratings have a lot of politics, and yes, emissions ratings can make a polluting cars seem clean

Second, that rating is based on how much gasoline evaporates. a ford focus or a VW rabbit are rated "PZEV" (teh same rating as hybrids (exlucidng insight manual transmisison, which gets a regular ULEV)). Seem suspicious these 28 EPA mpg cars get such a "clean" rating? Well, the reason they get PZEV is b/c less fuel evaporates. Gasoline is not a big global warming molecule as carbon dioxide. So this rating is pretty much useless. Another example is the non-hybrid camry, a tank of a car, is also SULEV (pzev)

The fit being LEV means more than desired gasoline is evaporated to the air. You can interpret this fact however you want. to me it means nothing, b/c burning that gasoline might actually lower mileage (increase CO2). In the end, mileage matters the most in terms of pollution. the emissions rating is more of a conservationist than environmental isse.

 

well i think you might be wrong concerning the politics of emissions ratings gordio, at least as it applies to the fit.

remember, the fit is an older design and was not designed with an eye to the stricter emissions controls
i dont' know the technical specifics of this, but my understanding is that all car manufacturers have markedly improved emissions with this in mind for new car models, you will notice that the new generation civic is rated ULEV-2 with a larger engine than the fit, which one might think would emit more emissions.

the next generation fit will undoubtedly be rated ULEV-2

 

Wel, there are politics in CARB. CARB (if you saw "who killed the electric car") is one of the culprits why electric cars died. The leader was appointed to that position by a gas guy.

you're right about hte fit's outdated design. But like I said about LEV, it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. Cuz a camry is a tank, and it gets pzev. it doesn't make sense that a fit is dirtier than a camry.

 

i'm not sure of the particulars regarding CARB (i have seen the documentary you mention), but i dont' understand what political agenda would be at work that would allow the civic to qualify for ULEV-2 and not the fit.

i think it has everything to do with changes made to the newer models (once again, i'm not familiar with the technical specifics), but a car which is better fuel-efficient wise is not necessarily polluting less than a car with a larger engine. btw, the camry's powerplant is most commonly the 2.4L 4 cyl, compared to the fit's 1.5 L, so it isn't really that much larger.

volkswagon stopped producing their diesel vehicles for several model years while they work on making them qualify under the new emission standards.
these vehicles get amazing fuel economy, but are big polluters.

apparently lawn mowers and scooters pollute more than most new model cars.