The structure behind the specification.

Why this research exists

Most vehicle questions have no single answer at the nameplate level. Towing capacity, fuel economy, range and available equipment all change between configurations of the same model in the same year, and the figures quoted in advertising typically describe the most favourable one.

These studies work at the level the data is actually recorded. 1,204 EPA certification records grouped into 344 model families, so a claim can be traced to the record that supports it.

• Model-level answers are frequently wrong at configuration level
• Advertised figures usually describe the most favourable configuration
• Certification records are the primary source, not a summary of one
• Every published figure links back to the record behind it

What separates a study from a listicle

Three things: a stated scope, a reproducible method, and a source trail. Each study says whether it describes a bounded editorial sample or the complete EPA snapshot, publishes the steps used to calculate its table, and links the records a reader can inspect.

That structure exists so a result can be challenged. A figure that cannot be reproduced from a named source is an assertion, and the automotive space is full of assertions repeated until they read as facts.

• Scope stated before the result, not after
• Method published as steps that can be re-run
• Source records linked instead of summarized
• Corrections process published and used

How the studies fit together

Studies 001 and 002 audit editorial coverage: how many trim positions, direct answers and source records sit behind the vehicles researched in depth. Study 003 scales up to the whole current market. Studies 004 through 009 each take one question, drivetrain availability, electrification, energy cost, configuration complexity, EPA class distribution and premium-fuel exposure, and calculate it across that full census.

Read together they answer a single question in layers: how much variation hides behind a vehicle's name, and what that means for anyone trying to compare two of them.

• 001–002: publication coverage audits, bounded samples
• 003: complete current-market census
• 004–009: single-question calculations across the full census
• All six market studies publish downloadable tables

Limits worth stating plainly

None of these studies weight by sales volume, so a make with one specialty model carries the same row as a make with a full lineup. None of them describe pricing, availability or what sits on a dealer lot.

Certification data also carries no marketed trim names, which means these studies can tell you how much variation exists within a nameplate but not which trim carries which figure. That question is answered by the original window sticker for a specific vehicle.