The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine : GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR)
Check GMAT Club Decision Tracker for the Latest School Decision Releases https://gmatclub.com/AppTrack

 It is currently 27 Feb 2017, 07:14

### GMAT Club Daily Prep

#### Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

# Events & Promotions

###### Events & Promotions in June
Open Detailed Calendar

# The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine

Author Message
TAGS:

### Hide Tags

Director
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
Posts: 554
Followers: 3

Kudos [?]: 439 [0], given: 2

The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine [#permalink]

### Show Tags

18 Jan 2009, 16:18
00:00

Difficulty:

(N/A)

Question Stats:

25% (00:00) correct 75% (02:43) wrong based on 6 sessions

### HideShow timer Statistics

The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine costs more to buy than the standard Scorpio sports car. At current fuel prices, a buyer choosing the Miser would have to drive it 60,000 miles to make up the difference in purchase price through savings on fuel. It follows that, if fuel prices fell, it would take fewer miles to reach the break-even point.
Which one of the following arguments contains an error of reasoning similar to that in the argument above?

(A) The true annual rate of earnings on an interest-bearing account is the annual rate of interest less the annual rate of inflation. Consequently, if the rate of inflation drips, the rate of interest can be reduced by an equal amount without there being a change in the true rate of earnings.

(B) For retail food stores, the Polar freezer, unlike the Arctic freezer, provides a consistent temperature that allows the store to carry premium frozen foods. Thus, if electricity rates fell, a lower volume of premium-food sales could justify choosing the Polar freezer.

(C) With the Roadmaker, a crew can repave a mile of decayed road in less time than with the competing model, which is, however, much less expensive. Reduced staffing levels made possible by the Roadmaker eventually compensate for its higher price. Therefore, the Roadmaker is especially advantageous where average wages are low.

(D) The improve strain the Northland apple tree bears fruit younger and lives longer than the standard strain. The standard strain does grow larger at maturity, but to allow for this, standard trees must be spaced farther apart. Therefore, new plantings should all be of the improved strain.

(E) Stocks pay dividends, which vary from year to year depending on profits made. Bonds pay interest, which remains constant from year to year. Therefore, since the interest earned on bonds does not decrease when economic conditions decline, investors interested in a reliable income should choose bonds.

C
If you have any questions
New!
SVP
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 1925
Schools: CBS, Kellogg
Followers: 23

Kudos [?]: 1048 [0], given: 1

### Show Tags

18 Jan 2009, 18:22
The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine costs more to buy than the standard Scorpio sports car. At current fuel prices, a buyer choosing the Miser would have to drive it 60,000 miles to make up the difference in purchase price through savings on fuel. It follows that, if fuel prices fell, it would take fewer miles to reach the break-even point.
Which one of the following arguments contains an error of reasoning similar to that in the argument above?

(A) The true annual rate of earnings on an interest-bearing account is the annual rate of interest less the annual rate of inflation. Consequently, if the rate of inflation drips, the rate of interest can be reduced by an equal amount without there being a change in the true rate of earnings.

(B) For retail food stores, the Polar freezer, unlike the Arctic freezer, provides a consistent temperature that allows the store to carry premium frozen foods. Thus, if electricity rates fell, a lower volume of premium-food sales could justify choosing the Polar freezer.

(C) With the Roadmaker, a crew can repave a mile of decayed road in less time than with the competing model, which is, however, much less expensive. Reduced staffing levels made possible by the Roadmaker eventually compensate for its higher price. Therefore, the Roadmaker is especially advantageous where average wages are low.

(D) The improve strain the Northland apple tree bears fruit younger and lives longer than the standard strain. The standard strain does grow larger at maturity, but to allow for this, standard trees must be spaced farther apart. Therefore, new plantings should all be of the improved strain.

(E) Stocks pay dividends, which vary from year to year depending on profits made. Bonds pay interest, which remains constant from year to year. Therefore, since the interest earned on bonds does not decrease when economic conditions decline, investors interested in a reliable income should choose bonds.

C

1. In the original arg.: The preference for one side (Miser) is based on the savings on fuel.
2. So, A and E out; A and E do not say the comparison
3. B out; B does not link the temperature and the electricity rates.
4. C has the same error as B, C out

D is the best
_________________
Director
Joined: 14 Aug 2007
Posts: 733
Followers: 10

Kudos [?]: 186 [1] , given: 0

### Show Tags

18 Jan 2009, 19:19
1
KUDOS
The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine costs more to buy than the standard Scorpio sports car. At current fuel prices, a buyer choosing the Miser would have to drive it 60,000 miles to make up the difference in purchase price through savings on fuel. It follows that, if fuel prices fell, it would take fewer miles to reach the break-even point.
Which one of the following arguments contains an error of reasoning similar to that in the argument above?
C

I will go for C.

The reasoning here is,

we have something that costs more than its competitor but is efficient in
some other aspect( call it X). If we go for that something it takes certain time to realise its profit. But if the cost of the factor on which something's efficiency is based(i.e X) reduces we can have profits in shorter timeframe.

Or in short, something is beneficial when X is low.

only C has a similar structure.

But really a tough and time consuming question.
Senior Manager
Joined: 02 Nov 2008
Posts: 282
Followers: 1

Kudos [?]: 99 [0], given: 2

### Show Tags

18 Jan 2009, 21:06
alpha_plus_gamma wrote:
The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine costs more to buy than the standard Scorpio sports car. At current fuel prices, a buyer choosing the Miser would have to drive it 60,000 miles to make up the difference in purchase price through savings on fuel. It follows that, if fuel prices fell, it would take fewer miles to reach the break-even point.
Which one of the following arguments contains an error of reasoning similar to that in the argument above?
C

I will go for C.

The reasoning here is,

we have something that costs more than its competitor but is efficient in
some other aspect( call it X). If we go for that something it takes certain time to realise its profit. But if the cost of the factor on which something's efficiency is based(i.e X) reduces we can have profits in shorter timeframe.

Or in short, something is beneficial when X is low.

only C has a similar structure.

But really a tough and time consuming question.

I agree with C. What's the OA?
Director
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
Posts: 554
Followers: 3

Kudos [?]: 439 [0], given: 2

### Show Tags

18 Jan 2009, 21:19
OA C..what would be the level of this question in GMAT?
Director
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 648
Followers: 14

Kudos [?]: 517 [0], given: 6

### Show Tags

18 Jan 2009, 21:37
OA C..what would be the level of this question in GMAT?

this one seems to be LSAT question.
_________________

If You're Not Living On The Edge, You're Taking Up Too Much Space

VP
Joined: 18 May 2008
Posts: 1286
Followers: 16

Kudos [?]: 423 [0], given: 0

### Show Tags

18 Jan 2009, 23:11
ans should be C.
I hope I dnt encounter such type of question on the exam day
SVP
Joined: 17 Jun 2008
Posts: 1569
Followers: 11

Kudos [?]: 253 [0], given: 0

### Show Tags

19 Jan 2009, 03:32
Excellent explanation by alpha_plus_gama. I simply overlooked C considering the case that reduced wages will not justify costlier machine.
Director
Joined: 01 Aug 2008
Posts: 768
Followers: 4

Kudos [?]: 648 [0], given: 99

### Show Tags

19 Jan 2009, 07:10

Hope I don't get this type of questions in the exam. Which material you read to solve this type of questions? I am sure you can ace gmat CR if you able to solve this level difficulty questions..

Thanks.
VP
Joined: 05 Jul 2008
Posts: 1430
Followers: 39

Kudos [?]: 363 [0], given: 1

### Show Tags

19 Jan 2009, 17:27
This is a long Q. How ever, this Q is atypical of GMAT CR.

On the other hand, not all long Q's are easy and not all one line or two line CR's are easy.
Manager
Status: Stanford GSB
Joined: 02 Jun 2008
Posts: 100
Followers: 6

Kudos [?]: 167 [1] , given: 4

### Show Tags

20 Jan 2009, 04:31
1
KUDOS
The answer should be C .
Because C mimics the same logical flaw present in the question stem.

“The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine costs more to buy than the standard Scorpio sports car. At current fuel prices, a buyer choosing the Miser would have to drive it 60,000 miles to make up the difference in purchase price through savings on fuel. It follows that, if fuel prices fell, it would take fewer miles to reach the break-even point.”

Miser will give better milage than Sports , ie. per mile running cost is lower in Miser. It will make up the price difference through saving on fuel.

Now, Lets assume Miser runs 10 mile/ liter and Sport runs 8 mile/ liter.
Fuel price is $10 / liter . Total distance covered by the cars is 80 mile. In this case, fuel cost in Miser is$ 80 and fuel cost of Sport is $100. Miser is saving$20 over Sports in a 80 km drive

2nd Scenario, with reduced fuel price:
Lets assume the fuel price is $5 / liter. Total distance covered by the cars is 80 mile. Miser runs 10 mile/ liter and Sport runs 8 mile/ liter. In this case, fuel cost in Miser is$ 40 and fuel cost of Sport is $50. Miser is saving$10 over Sports in a 80 km drive.

Hence, in case of reduced fuel price, Fuel Savings is lower.
In other words, if the fuel price is lower it would take MORE ( not fewer) miles to reach the break even point.

Similarly, In C, Roadmaker is especially advantageous when the average wages are HIGH. Low wage means low saving over its competitor. In that case costlier machine is not justified.
Manager
Joined: 11 May 2010
Posts: 224
Followers: 4

Kudos [?]: 122 [0], given: 11

### Show Tags

13 Sep 2010, 20:11
Wonderful Explanation sandip, thanks!
Manager
Joined: 08 Feb 2010
Posts: 143
Followers: 1

Kudos [?]: 0 [0], given: 0

### Show Tags

14 Sep 2010, 02:12
+1 for C
Manager
Joined: 08 Feb 2010
Posts: 143
Followers: 1

Kudos [?]: 0 [0], given: 0

### Show Tags

14 Sep 2010, 04:51
Nice explanation
GMAT Club Legend
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Posts: 10639
Followers: 939

Kudos [?]: 207 [0], given: 0

Re: The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine [#permalink]

### Show Tags

12 Oct 2016, 20:17
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
Re: The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine   [#permalink] 12 Oct 2016, 20:17
Similar topics Replies Last post
Similar
Topics:
25 The five specially ordered shipments 11 08 Feb 2012, 07:45
27 Advertisement: When your car's engine is running at its normal operati 9 06 Jul 2015, 02:34
Creative Engineers 0 29 Jul 2013, 03:06
2 Rotary Engine 4 06 Oct 2010, 04:37
The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine 1 12 Sep 2009, 22:14
Display posts from previous: Sort by