[timmac]

They called it cheap and ugly but I find it rather cute looking and practical..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLPp-NFInXw

[dolanbaker]

Plenty of decent economic cars around now (in Europe) format's a bit crap but you can see plenty doing more than 66mpg

Code: Select all

Manufacturer   Model   Specification   Fuel Type   Transmission   Combined MPG   VED Band
HONDA      Insight   Insight      Petrol Hybrid   M5      83.1      A
CITROEN      C2   1.4 HDi      Diesel      M5      68.9      B
CITROEN      C1   1.4 HDi      Diesel      M5      68.9      B
RENAULT      Clio   1.5 dCi 80   Diesel      M5      67.3      B
CITROEN      C2   1.4 HDi SDrive   Diesel      A5      67.3      B
CITROEN      C3   1.4 HDi      Diesel      M5      67.3      B
RENAULT      Clio   1.5 dCi 100   Diesel      M5      65.8      B
RENAULT      Clio   1.5 dCi 65   Diesel      M5      65.8      B
CITROEN      C2   1.4 HDi      Diesel      M5      65.7      B
TOYOTA      Prius   1.5 VVT-i Hy   Petrol Hybrid   E-CVT      65.7      B


[timmac]

Plenty of decent economic cars around now (in Europe) format's a bit crap but you can see plenty doing more than 66mpg

For Europe that's good but that car was produced for America 43 years a go and here we are today and the auto-makers are bragging about there 35-40 mpg cars.

[dolanbaker]

For Europe that's good but that car was produced for America 43 years a go and here we are today and the auto-makers are bragging about there 35-40 mpg cars.

The Japanese initially made their cars for the home market and then exported them, the other thing is in those days performance didn't really matter when all the car was intended for was to get from A to B (sometime). A tiny engine and a low top speed in a lightweight body, it isn't difficult for the car to have a good MPG. Just think what the MPG would be if the same factors were used in a modern design.

[milocyrus]

I don't see why the automakers could have a least test marketed those "cheap and ugly" high MPG cars in the U. S. see if there would be demand rather than assuming no one would want to buy one.

[Armageddon]

[peeker01]

if there was a us market for these sh*tboxes, don't you know greedy us corporations would have been pumping them out by the thousands. would you strap your child into a 1000 lb car and duke it out with 6000 lb suv's? usa has a minimum weight standard for autos and i think it is 1500 lbs. substantial increase in fatalities proven below 2300#

[gollum]

I agree, what people who push for effiency often forget is that we live in a free country and you can't make people buy a product no one wants.

[Shaved Monkey]

Fuel efficiency technology is being swallowed by heavier cars.

Fatter cars have killed off decades of work to make engines more fuel-efficient, a US study has shown.

...vehicles sold in the US between 1980 and 2006, and found that all the advances in engine technology have ''barely increased the mileage per gallon that autos actually achieve on the road''.

... attributes the poor fuel efficiency advances to a 26 per cent gain in kerb weight over time. By comparison, the average fuel efficiency of vehicles sold in the US has increased by only 15 per cent.

....advances in engine technology that yield a 60 per cent gain in efficiency, while engine power had doubled over the study period.


..... if cars today were of similar size and power to those typical of 1980, fuel use in the US will have dropped from an average 10.2L/100km to 6.4L/100km, well below the current average of about 8.7L/100km.

''Most of that technological progress has gone into [compensating for] weight and horsepower,"

Car makers are also struggling with another weight-gain problem; the growing level of obesity in many of the markets in which they sell their products.

Luxury brands including Bentley, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche all offer features that help larger-size drivers, including wider seats, better reinforced doors that allow people to haul themselves out of a car, and steering columns that automatically retract and rise to give easier access.

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-news/h ... 1pp0p.html