the curb weight is considered because their assumption is that a heavier
vehicle takes more manufacturing and therefore does more harm to the
environment.

so build your vehicle out of unbleached post-consumer products and you'll be
in the green.

robyn

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Kim Brennan
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 10:17 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: "green" cars (NVC)

 > plus the toureg fails miserable in their three biggies: tailpipe
emissions  > take under  normal driving conditions, fuel economy, and curb
weight.

It's that curb weight value that I find annoying/disturbing.

I mean, I could probably design a vehicle that gets 50mpg and weighs 4 tons.
(it would accelerate worse than a tortoise, but that'd be the price for good
fuel economy). And according to their parameters it wouldn't be "greener"
than a vehicle getting 20mpg.