People used to make fun of my car.

Well, I guess people still do make fun of my car. Frankly, people always will probably make fun of my car.

That's OK.

You see, I drive a 1991 Geo Metro convertible. I love it. It was inexpensive to buy. It's fun to drive. It's cheap to maintain. And - here's the best part - it gets crazy gas mileage.

Mary and I drove it to Bloomington to see the kids on parents' weekend a while back. My fuel efficiency for the trip was 48 miles per gallon. That included highway miles and driving around Bloomington for a couple of days.

(It would have been over 50 mpg if I drove 55 mph. I took I-69 south of Marion to I-465 around Indy. Most of that was in the 75 mph range.)

When I drive back and forth to work, I get around 38 mpg.

So with gas around $3 a gallon, at least some of the people who used to make fun of my choice of car are now thinking maybe it wasn't such a dumb automotive selection after all.

But really, my little car makes me wonder about the automotive industry in this country.

The other day I was watching a cable channel and there was this commercial for the Honda Civic hybrid.

The ad touted its 50 mpg fuel efficiency.

I thought to myself, OK, I have this little three-cylinder car that is fully 15-model-years old and it gets 50 miles per gallon.

And frankly, my mileage is actual. I'm sure if you read the fine print about a new Civic it will say something like: "Fuel efficiency depends on driving conditions and individual driving habits. Your actual mileage may vary."

Yeah, it'll vary alright.

See, the Environmental Protection Agency determines the average gas mileage you see on those stickers on new cars.

Problem is, the government doesn't drive like the rest of us.

The EPA tests are performed in a laboratory and assumes that nobody drives over 60 miles per hour. It also assumes things like nobody uses air conditioning, nobody accelerates to 60 miles per hour in under 16 seconds, and there is no stop-and-go traffic.

So, yeah, your mileage will vary.

In fact, the American Automobile Association tested a bunch of new cars and trucks.

Here's some of their findings:

AAA tested the popular Chevy Trailblazer SUV. The EPA says its combined average should be 18 miles per gallon, but the AAA found it got just 13.6 miles per gallon.

PT Cruisers? Sticker says 25 mpg. AAA, 17.5

Jeep Grand Cherokee - EPA estimates 18, AAA found 14.5.

So my guess is the Honda Civic hybrid probably gets less than 50 mpg.

A crazy thing about EPA estimates is that those are the numbers the automakers use when they are attempting to meet their government-mandated Combined Average Fuel Efficiency standards for their fleets of vehicles.

Even crazier yet is the fact that the least fuel-efficient vehicles are exempt from inclusion when figuring the CAFE standards.

So something like a 2002 Ford Excursion that's 19 feet long, 6.5 feet wide, weighs 8,500 pounds and trundles along at an EPA estimated 12 mpg, is not subject to "light truck" emissions standards.

Also alarming is the fact that, according to the Transportation Department, the overall fuel efficiency of the new passenger car and light truck fleet is actually less than what it was in 1988.

See, that just seems strange to me.

In fact, according to the EPA, model year 2005 light-duty vehicles are estimated to average 21 mpg. The model year 2005 average is the highest since 1996, but it's only at and at the midpoint of the 20.6 to 21.4 mpg range that has occurred for the past dozen years

It's also 5 percent below the 1987-88 peak of 22.1 mpg.

That's right. The peak - the best year for mileage - was 17 years ago.

Which brings me back to my little old Geo and the brand spankin' new Honda Civic hybrid.

One would think that by now the automotive industry would be able to at least replicate the mileage of my little Geo, which isn't a hybrid.

Seems to me the auto industry during the last 20 years hasn't really cared too much about fuel economy. Seems to me what they really cared about was profit.

The bigger the vehicle, the more options, the higher the price tag, the higher the profits.

Sure, I realize that to a certain degree the automakers are just satisfying the desires of the motoring public. But that argument only goes so far. Consumers respond to marketing.

Where did automakers spend the most marketing dollars over the past 20 years, on SUVs or compact cars?

Where did they devote the most engineering and research and design dollars, SUVs or compacts cars?

I think we all know the answers.

Now gas prices will force the issue. Automakers will be forced to make more fuel efficient cars.

But no one can tell me they didn't see this coming.

How disappointing that the biggest industry in the most technologically advantaged nation in the world chose to place profits ahead of economic and environmental sensibility. [[In-content Ad]]