Surprise! It costs more to fuel that big, heavy SUV or pickup

Canadian drivers like to complain about gas costs, Lorraine Sommerfeld says.

When Canadian consumers were asked the main reason for dissatisfaction with their vehicle, the most commonly cited concern was fuel economy.

That’s from a news release from Desrosiers Automotive Consultants, which conducted a Light Vehicle Study of 4500 car owners. As cited in Canadian Auto Dealer, Desrosiers called it a valid if unsurprising concern, given the public’s insatiable lust for bigger and bigger vehicles.

But it’s not valid, and it is surprising. How can you buy a vehicle that weighs twice what the gas-sipper next to it does and then complain about your fuel economy?

While nearly 21 per cent named “fuel economy” as their chief issue, 14 per cent struggled with technology and features.

Now, this is valid and unsurprising. If you get a car that is even a couple of years newer than the one you currently drive, you will sit in the driver’s seat wondering where to begin with all the screens and buttons and choices.

Sure, some features will take some getting used to, some will need a few lessons, and others will require your owner’s manual. But the fuel economy? That’s right there in big black numbers in a sticker on the window.

I’m aware of owner frustration with those numbers.

While they are significantly better than they used to be in terms of transparency, you’d probably have to drive like Granny in the Looney Tunes Tweety Bird cartoons to achieve it.

I get it. But those numbers are useful as a comparative measure. Compare them to each other, and it’s quick to see if you’re craving something that will get you 6.0 L/100 km, you’re going to get it in an Elantra and not in a Yukon.

The trend of buying bigger and bigger vehicles continues unabated. New-vehicle sales in Canada were down by 3.6 per cent last year over 2018, but light trucks are up by 1.6 per cent — and passenger cars are down by 16.1 per cent.

“As far as the new-vehicle market is concerned, year-end data is pouring in and almost all of it points to the same three words … trucks, trucks and trucks,” says the year-end sales review from Desrosiers.

“Light trucks accounted for just under 75 per cent of the market last year and in the last quarter were a few points higher than this.”

The Automobile Protection Association conducts buyer surveys, and its president, George Iny, has noted buyers consistently rank safety, reliability and environmental factors at or near the top of their buying list.

But when it comes down to the wire, he says, they always hinge on price.

Current offerings from manufacturers allow them to buy bigger than they planned, and elastic, creative payment programs allow them to go further into debt than they’d anticipated.

Desrosiers echoes Iny: “Consumers talk the talk, they don’t walk the walk. And look at the abysmal sales of EVs and hybrids.”

Manufacturers are responding to consumer demands, even if they’re doing everything they can to create those urges. You don’t need an enormous SUV, you deserve one, right? Marketing is a wondrous beast.

You can obviously buy whatever you like. You just don’t get to be surprised that a big, heavy vehicle, frequently fitted with AWD, costs more to fuel than that little hatchback across the showroom floor.

The North American infatuation with oversized vehicles is costly and wrong-headed. From the climbing fatality and injury rates of those they hit to every environmental argument literally exploding off the headlines, it’s difficult to spare a tissue for those bemoaning the cost of running them.