Why would a Corvette be hit with a gas guzzler tax without the CAGS, yet they get 30 mpg on the highway ... and yet my sluggish 3 liter Mazda B3000 pickup is not, when struggles to get 18?

Is it just a matter of perception?

 

GM has to make a certain CAFE number.. the better the number the less they pay in taxes/fees, etc... So by having the stupid CAGS in the vette and having it make just a bit more MPG... it helps GM with its entire lineup....

 

I guess it's guilty by design.
Where is this tax??
Remind me not to go there.
The state tax here in Ohio is bad enough.
They say when you remove all the taxes that a gallon costs about $0.68.
In addition to that, Thursday night starts the gouge. Gas goes up 9 to 20 cents a gallon then Sunday nights it drops right back down.
The state gas starion owners alliance chief said there is no gouging.
Oh, and the titanic never sunk either.

Regards.

Jim

 

Trucks may have different rules, I know they do in other emmissions areas.

zo6vettepilot

 

Vehicles obtaining less than 22.5 MPG, are hit with a gas guzzler tax. SUVs, Pickups, etc., are not hit with the gas guzzler tax; at this time. There is a push to include these vehicles in the tax. However, as you can bet, the big three and all other car companies are pushing not to include these vehicles in the tax.

The GTO auto gets hit with the tax, while the manual does not.

As someone already stated, the real reason is CAFE, not the gas guzzler tax for the CAGS. CAFE (Corporate AVERAGE Fuel Economy) standards require the auto manufacture to have a corporate average of 27.5 miles per gallon for passenger cars and 20.7 miles per gallon for light trucks. With GM selling all those Large Caddys, Buicks, Hummers, Escalades, Trailblazers, etc., they need to raise the corporate fuel economy where they can.
So, the small SUV such as the Saturn VUE, Chevy Equinox help to keep their light truck CAFE down (these SUVs are classified as trucks), meanwhile, small cars help to keep the corporate average down. However, since small cars are not selling, GM needs to squeeze as much fuel economy out of every car made. Therefore, if they can squeeze a half mile or one mile out of the testing with CAGs, it helps the overall average for cars.

I was also told one-time, that if a manufacturer uses a shift idiot light in a car, they gain one-half a mile per gallon credit for that particular vehicle. Not sure if that is true or not, but there has to be some reason they put this annoying idiot light in our clusters.

 

The CAGS was designed to work during a specific EPA test. The EPA tests must be performed exactly to procedure. The test may or may not reflect real world conditions, but is made to be repeatable. GM used the test procedure to design the shift point for the CAGS to maximize its performance on this test.

 

I installed the CAGS Eliminator on mine so I don't have to worry about the idiot light any more.

 

Doesn't your light still goes off? You just dont have to pay attention anymore....

Wish that worked for Red Lights and those Leo Lights...

 

Yes, the light still comes on but the CAGS eliminator is the best thing I have done to my car and probably the cheapest. I just wonder how many low speed rear end collisions have resulted from M6 owners being locked out of second gear in heavy traffic situations and the driver behind them naturally thinks that the Vette in front is going to continue to accelerate rather than start slowing back down after taking off. Two or three times I found myself in the situation of almost being hit because I was struggling to find a gear to shift into to speed on up to avoid being run over.

 

WTF

How can the vehicles that get the worst milage not be included That's just plain

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of Government Bureaucrazy, with the emphsis on "crazy"

 

So is there a Gas Guzzler charge on the H2? That thing must get really bad mpg....

If not this world is not fair....

 

The CAGS is not what eliminates the Gas Guzzler tax.

If it were, the A4's would be paying the tax.

It's the specs of the car itself, the MN6 with the 3.42 axle and the A4 with the 2.73 or 3.15

The GTO pays the Gas Guzzler tax ($1000) for the A4 cars ONLY, they both (manual & auto) have the 3.46 rears

 

2 Things here. One being if you ever have an LS1 edit done they can turn the CAGS light off. Also if anyone here is considering a H/C package, I would go as far to say CAGS eliminator would be a must. Big cams do not like low RPM's and she would buck like madd if you tried a 1st to 4 shift. The eliminator was my 1st mod, I could not agree with you more about being in traffic without it.

 

Glenn

I think that the CAGS is part of the solution for no guzzlers tax along with the other points you mention.

 

Now there is a revelation.................

 

If they put a gas guzzler tax on SUVs 2/3 of Texas would be paying it - man could they rake in some cash...

That's the one thing I don't like about Dallas/Texas - BIG SUVs and trucks EVERYWHERE. For those of you that don't live here it really is insane - every parking lot is 90% SUV...

What's worse is that they reduced the highway speed limit in Dallas from 70 mph to 60 mph due to the EPA saying that Dallas would have to start paying some fines if we did not reduce emissions...so now, I run the risk of a ticket going 70 down a brand new 4 lane highway in my 30mpg car so people who don't need the 3 ton SUV can drive it anyway...