Thoughts On Fuel Efficiency and "The Big Three" - Buy a K&N Filter

I drive a foreign car. I drive a Lexus IS350. I've already defected and there won't be any coming back until I see compelling reason, and I certainly didn't see it in testimony today. 2 of 3 (chrysler being the loner) expressed the need to "invent" new more fuel efficient alternatives. But let me relate a story of my own experience and use this as a springboard for discussion.

The sticker on the car I bought said 21/27 EPA mileage. Anyone who has bought a car knows these numbers are ambitious. Even the dealers themselves hedge these numbers by stating it "depends on how you drive" - which is true.

What makes this important is that I bought a K&N aftermarket filter for $50 which is said to last a lifetime with cleaning and re-oiling. The fact that its cheaper than a factory replacement from the dealer,(and so I'll probably just order a new one) is interesting. I'd certainly have it re-oiled if I could find a shop to clean the K&N properly too. But let me come back to this in a minute.

The by-product of this filter is normally directed at additional performance, secondarily fuel efficiency. I'll be the first to say I can't tell if my car is any faster, but mostly because its really fast already. Where I can tell the difference is when the car's tank fuel mileage calculator went from struggling to get to 27mpg with a nursing foot to acheiving 30mpg all the while averaging over 70mph.

So, the additive 3mpg over a base of 27mpg is a greater than 10% increase in mileage which can be acheived perpetually if the air filter is cleaned or replaced on a normal basis. The fact that my car might be peppier is quite a trivial side effect.

If the increase from such a minimal expense is so great, I have to ask why K&N isn't THE provider for OEM air filters. And to add - I used a K&N on my previous car and experienced the same results! The fact that we need to develop and then hope to sell electric cars is ludicrous in its anticipated effect on the eceonomy on saving the buyer money and protecting us from a debated global impact. If the MPG increase percent were even 5% this would push the current combustion vehicle 3-4 years on the fleet MPG timeline for improvement instantly!

If, instead of sending checks out to buy more things, we could send out coupons for K&Ns to everyone that were worth 100% of the cost of a replacement air filter, the aggregate effect of this on fuel cost savings would tremendously outweigh the effect of the bailout to the automakers, direct cash to small businesses to install it immediately, and save the consumer 10% on fuel costs over the next 2 years. It would be more cost effective than bailing out the big 3 and paying $105K to say goodbye to overpaid workers while millions more lose their jobs.

This is just one example of something you'll never hear from anyone in a position to do something about it, but is so patently obvious to regular people. Its simple, its effective and thats why its not going to be taken up seriously....