Why is gas mileage on new vehicles no better now than 20+ years ago?

Question

1978 Playboy advertisement: Toyota SR5 long bed pickup truck -EPA 31hwy 23city mpg
1980 Penthouse ad: Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel - EPA 56hwy 42city mpg
1980 Penthouse ad: Mazda RX7 17city 28hwy Conpare to new RX8
1978 Play boy ad: Crysler LeBaron 25hwy 17city mpg This is a BIG car
Look how far computers have come sense then. Why cant these advances be made in engine technology?? With all the complicated engineering that goes into a hybrid they don't get any better than the Rabbit above. WHY?

Answer 1

I agree 100% with 138+'s answer. However, I read an interesting statistic a while back. Does any one know what the governement regulation fleet average fuel economy requirement for a manufacturer is today? 27.5mpg. Guess what it was 20 years ago. 27.5mpg. The only 'push' for manufacturers to increase fuel economy is by the consumer. Until the public refuses to buy in-efficient, gas guzzling SUVs, Trucks, and full size cars, they'll keep building them.

Hybrids get much better performance than the high mileage cars you listed in your question, with much better fuel economy (in the city).

Answer 2

That's not true. Cars today are more fuel efficient than they were 20 years ago, it's just that they have either gotten bigger or more powerful than the ones you're quoting.

For example, that VW rabbit diesel probably made 70 hp on a good day, but today's TDI Golf makes over 100 HP and powers a much heavier car.

The RX7 in 1980 also made much less HP than today's RX8, and also polluted alot more as well.

20+ years ago, we still had lead in gas. You can't compare computer technology to mechanical engineering, otherwise we could just as easily ask "why aren't children all growing to be 10 feet tall with 200+ IQ scores today?"

People have gotten spoiled by automotive luxury and technology, so nobody want's to give up airbags, abs, air conditioning, low cabin noise - today's vehicles have to deliver luxury, safety, low emissions AND fuel economy, and I think it's done pretty well, especially compared to what we had 20 years ago.

Answer 3

Wow, somebody's actually reading the articles in there.

Seriously, the answer is that American buyers have, instead of trying to do more with less, have usually chosen to try to do even more with the same amount of resources. Just compare the size of these cars to their present equivalents.

The current VW Golf is about 1,000 lbs heavier than a Rabbit. It's about the same for the Toyota truck and the Mazda RX series - they've grown huge compared to the originals. And the engines are also WAY more powerful. The Chrysler LeBaron is about the only one that's anywhere close to the size of its successor, and the 300 is still several hundred pounds heavier and has double the horsepower.

Come to think of it, the VW Golf is now closer to the weight and power of that LeBaron than it is to the original Rabbit.

Answer 4

Fact is it takes a certain amount of fuel to produce a certain amount of energy. In this case the fuel is gasoline or diesel. It takes a certain amount of energy to move the mass of the car or vehicle thus using a certain amount of fuel to do it. There's not much that can be done about that regardless of advances in any field. Unless the car was lighter or slower then it'll get the same gas mileage now as a comparable car did years ago.

Answer 5

I'm amazed that info came out of Penthouse. Anyway, no real technological advances in fuel efficiency since then. At least, none that have been developed.

Answer 6

Reagan, Bush I, Gingrich, Bush II -- all of them got huge donations from the oil companies to keep the milage standards at pathetic levels.

Answer 7

people r 2 lazy

Answer 8

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Why are you quoting playboy and penthouse ads?????????

Sorry, what was the question?