Gas Guzzler Tax (For Automatics Only) [WEBSITE FIXED]

[Dogtown]

Anyone else notice this? Wow, that is going to hurt!

"*Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. Tax, title, license, dealer fees, $1,300 gas guzzler tax and optional equipment are extra. Gas guzzler tax is required only with automatic transmission."

http://www.pontiac.com/specs/specs_c...d=solstice#TOP

-DT

[brentil]

Ok, wow, that sucks. Incentive NOT to get the automatic.
Maybe because the Automatic will get less then 20MPG, is that the cut off # or something?

[brentil]

Here's how to determine gas guzzler tax.

http://www.liberalartsandcrafts.net/...zzlertax.shtml

After reading the chart I think the gas guzzler tax thing might be an error. Because according to that chart it would have to get worse then a combined 22.5 MPG.

[Dogtown]

Originally Posted by brentil Ok, wow, that sucks. Incentive NOT to get the automatic. Maybe because the Automatic will get less then 20MPG, is that the cut off # or something?

at least 22.5 No tax
at least 21.5, but less than 22.5 $1000
at least 20.5, but less than 21.5 $1300
at least 19.5, but less than 20.5 $1700

I guess you have your mpg for the Auto now...

-DT

[Dogtown]

Now see you had to go out and answer your own question again.

-DT

[Delnari]

Looks like the automatic has a bad MPG rating. I know the GTO has this same issue, and GM worked around it by making the automatic standard equipment and the 6-speed optional. The manual is still little cheaper, but its less than half the $1300 addon for gas-guzzler tax.

Automatic Transmission would be rated 19 City, 25 Highway for a $1300 tax.

[Liam1694u]

That can't be for the Solstice. "GTO Only"

I think that is just part of a general tag that they put on all of their cars pages on the website. So, even though the tag is listed, it might not apply to the solstice. My guess is that it is for the GTO only.

If it were for the solstice, it would also apply to the grand am,bonneville, grad prix, etc. Just about every car expect for the Vibe and Sunfire. And I know that can't be true because I just bought this past fall an 04 Grand Am 3.4V6, which gets similar gas mileage, and did NOT get hit with any gas guzzler tax.

And my friends Mustang get even worse gas mileage and he didn't pay any gas guzzler tax either.

[brentil]

The formula listed on that site is wrong. It should be;

1/ [.55 / (EPA city mpg, unadjusted) + .45 / (EPA highway mpg, unadjusted)]

Here's a couple examples.

20/28 = 23 putting the manual Solstice out of all ranges
19/27 = 21.9 putting it in the $1000
19/26 = 21.6
19/25 = 21.3 the $1300 gas guzzler range
18/24 = 20.3 putting it in the $1700

[brentil]

Originally Posted by Liam1694u That can't be for the Solstice. "GTO Only" I think that is just part of a general tag that they put on all of their cars pages on the website. So, even though the tag is listed, it might not apply to the solstice. My guess is that it is for the GTO only. If it were for the solstice, it would also apply to the grand am,bonneville, grad prix, etc. Just about every car expect for the Vibe and Sunfire. And I know that can't be true because I just bought this past fall an 04 Grand Am 3.4V6, which gets similar gas mileage, and did NOT get hit with any gas guzzler tax. And my friends Mustang get even worse gas mileage and he didn't pay any gas guzzler tax either.

As I showed above, yes it could be for the Solstice. If you read what he said above it was the Automatic Solstice though. Which would use a totally different set of gear ratios, and in general automatics get worse fuel economy. As I showed just dropping from 20/28 to 19/25 MPG would put it in the $1300 gas guzzler range.

[Fformula88]

Originally Posted by Liam1694u That can't be for the Solstice. "GTO Only" I think that is just part of a general tag that they put on all of their cars pages on the website. So, even though the tag is listed, it might not apply to the solstice. My guess is that it is for the GTO only. If it were for the solstice, it would also apply to the grand am,bonneville, grad prix, etc. Just about every car expect for the Vibe and Sunfire. And I know that can't be true because I just bought this past fall an 04 Grand Am 3.4V6, which gets similar gas mileage, and did NOT get hit with any gas guzzler tax. And my friends Mustang get even worse gas mileage and he didn't pay any gas guzzler tax either.

Agreed. That has to be a general statement that they put on the bottom, and included the gas guzler tax. First, the 1 star bullit is from the base MSRP price listed for the Solstice. There is no auto in the base price, and as of right now there is no auto period.

Second, mileage would have to be pretty bad. In fact, extremely poor. Can anyone else name a 4 cylinder car with an automatic transmission that has a gas guzzler tax? I can't.

We'll see if GM changes it, but I bet they do.

Brentil, I am not sure why a drop to 19/25 would necessarily put it in the gas guzzler tax. The V6/automatic 2005 Ford Mustang is rated at 19/25 and it has no GGT. In fact, the V8 is rated 17/25 and it too avoids the GGT.

[brentil]

Originally Posted by Fformula88 Brentil, I am not sure why a drop to 19/25 would necessarily put it in the gas guzzler tax. The V6/automatic 2005 Ford Mustang is rated at 19/25 and it has no GGT. In fact, the V8 is rated 17/25 and it too avoids the GGT.

I was going off the formulas given to calculate values needed to correspond to various rates. There might be other variables taken into account too that we don't know about. I just have the basic formulas I found of the EPA website.

[05DenalID]

It says 20/28 MPG on the Pontiac website...

[Small Dealer]

The GTO is in the $1,300 catagory for 2005 with the automatic transmission and its EPA estimates are 16 city/21 highway. Which if plugged in to the formula on the linked site works. Brentil, your formula would put the GTO at $2,600. Think the footnote is just an error in the new site. Doubt the drop off in mileage for the Solstice Automatic will be enought to get it into the Guzzler range.

[nyca]

gas guzzler tax is not computed on an individual car, but on a "family" of a vehicle type that the manufacturer makes. not sure what "family" this car falls into, that could be the catch.

[brentil]

Pontiac has removed the refrence to the Automatic Transmission and Gas Guzzler tax from the website. Looks like our paranoid fears have resulted in Pontiac fixing an issue. I'm going to mark this thread as [WEBSITE FIXED].