Gas-guzzler

"Gas-guzzler" commonly refers to a vehicle that makes inefficient use of fuel.

The term came into wide use to describe the "Gas Guzzler tax" and after that while discussing environmental concerns related to climate change and smog.

Nowadays, gas-guzzlers are often SUV's or other semi-large vehicles that qualify as light trucks, so they do not need to obey the minimum fuel economy regulations of cars, however, gas-guzzler can also refer to classic cars (mostly American ones with large displacement V8 engines) and other cars that get poor fuel economy. For example, a Lamborghini Murcielago, a Plymouth Roadrunner and a Chevrolet Tahoe might all be classified as gas-guzzlers, though they are very different as cars.

Common examples of 'gas-guzzlers' include:

• SUVs
• Pickup trucks
• High performance supercars
• Some luxury cars.
• Most old cars can be regarded to have bad fuel economy when compared to modern vehicles.

Reasons for bad fuel economy

There are generally three large reasons for bad fuel economy in all of the cars mentioned:

• Large displacement engines. A large displacement engine requires more fuel to run it than a smaller engine, with the only exception applying to charged engines.
• Heavy weight. A heavy vehicle requires more power to move it at the same speed than a lighter vehicle, which in turn accounts to larger fuel consumption due to the need of a larger displacement engine.
• Large drag coefficient. A less aerodynamic vehicle must defeat more air to move at the same speed than a more aerodynamic one, which in turn requires more power, requiring a larger displacement engine which consumes more fuel.

As we can see, most SUV's and pickup trucks share all the qualities needed to be inefficient, whereas for instance, supercars usually have only a large displacement engine, making the light truck market with their added popularity, very criticizable for causing increase in the use of fuel.

Light trucks in work use

Light trucks such as pickups and SUV's are often used in working environments, due to their powerful engines which generate a lot of torque and horsepower required in heavy hauling and towing of trailers.

Vandalism upon gas-guzzlers

Gas-guzzlers have in fairly recent history also been the target of 'environmental vandals', who often use arson and other vandalism against gas guzzling vehicles due to the large fuel consumption and subsequent environmental damage. This is however very questionable action, seeing that it's illegal, and generally, burning for instance a Hummer H2 generates a lot more of smog-forming pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides than running the vehicle for a considerable amount of time.

Means to decrease fuel consumption

The increasing trend is to make engines smaller yet more efficient, for example removing a V8 and replacing it with a supercharged V6, which results in much better fuel economy but not compromising on power or ability. This trend is mainly caused by the declining popularity of fuel inefficient vehicles due to rising gas prices.

Gas-guzzlers are not only seeing a scale back in engine size and weight but also in the type of fuel used to power it to prevent environmental damage caused by the use of fossil fuels. For example hydrogen fuel technology is being adopted by some light truck manufacturers such as Hummer in order to provide the consumer a vehicle with a much lower running cost. The problem with these alternative fuel technologies is that they are either too expensive for widespread use and/or they are scarcely available especially in smaller countries.

Diesel technology is widespread in light trucks especially in Japan and Europe, but the bad reputation of diesel fuel, and the previously bad quality of the fuel has led to the rarity of such vehicles in the U.S market. The Audi R8 is one of the first supercars to offer a diesel engine, though a gasoline engine is also offered. The excessive particle emissions of diesel engines have also been cut back with particulate filters, which are offered for most modern diesel engines. The introduction of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel in the U.S. along with rising gas prices might make diesel-powered vehicles popular again in the U.S.

Gas Guzzler Tax

The U.S government introduced the Gas Guzzler Tax as a part of the Energy Tax Act. The tax was introduced to tax the purchase of fuel-inefficient alternatives. The tax is applied on a sliding scale, with more tax depending on the number of how many miles per gallon the vehicle gets. For instance most SUV's, pickup trucks and sports-/supercars fall under the taxable category.