What happened to gas mileage on cars? The first car I ever bought was a 1980 Datsun.?

Question

I used to get 36 mpg and my husband got 40 out of it!
The last time I bought a brand new car, it was a Kia Sephia. I think it about 1999 or so. The best I ever got out of it was 27 mpg! Yeah, I know 27 is nice especially with gas prices now a days, but what happened? Did the 'powers that be' do something to the engine of cars?

Answer 1

I think the auto industry would say that they want to have good impact safety test results, and the structural changes result in a heavier car. Heavier cars use more gas. My 2007 Corolla gets 35-40 on the highway, and 20-25 driving in NYC due to lousy traffic. I'm pretty happy with that.

Answer 2

Actually yes and no. Many people believe the MPG sticker on the window is true. This can and can not be. When we drive on a flat road with the wind to our backs we will get better mileage than going up hill into the wind. Car manufactures probably use a test track to get the window sticker MPG and they cover themselves by saying we may or may not get this MPG according to our driving conditions. Now, back to the Datsun. With more and more emphasis being from the EPA cars are having more little whirly gigs to give better emissions, the is at the expense of mileage. I remember a friend of mine, his dad had one of those Honda Civic 1980's cars that looked like a Matchbox Car. It got great fuel economy, but, it was pretty basic. I just feel we have two main issues with cars, MPG and Emissions, and we lose to one to gain for the other. Driving habits effect mileage a lot too and the area. As I said earlier. So, if you lived in a flat area with the Datsun and now live in a Hill area this too can affect mileage.
But, this my opinion and there are others.

Answer 3

The EPA mandated lower emissions out the exhaust. It started with lower compression ratios and exhaust gas recirculation. Each time something was added,it took away from the power conversion ability of the engine. At the same time, they were pushing the oil companies to take the lead out of gasoline, all in the name of wanting lower emissions out the exhaust.
Along about the same time as your 1980 Datsun, a close friend of mine had a Datsun station wagon that got over 50 MPG. He was so happy with that that when he traded, he got another approximately 5 years later. That one only got 32 MPG.

Answer 4

Stronger engines sells more cars than ultra high MPG. This may change now that the gasoline priced jumped over $1.50 in the last 2 years.

You know that in the last 10 years, they have been selling more and more SUVs. And like so people weren't all that concerned about mileage (until very recently).

Good Luck.

P.S. Good driving habit can increase (or hurt) mileage by as much as 10% to 20%.

Answer 5

I doubt that there will every be a car that can handle all the fuels you listed. They are very different technologies and swapping on the fly just wouldn't work out. Plus, if they did find some way to get all the fuel systems in, the engine would end up very compicated and prohibitively expensive. It would also be convenient if the remote control for your TV could take any size battery (AA, AAA, 9V, C, D, N, etc) but if they made that your remote would be triple it's current size. It just isn't practical to try to use all solutions at once - it's better to just pick the most promising one and run with it.

Answer 6

My little Olds gets 35 to 40 mpg. Kia is a lousy car,that's part of the problem

Answer 7

I got almost 50 mpg from a 1981 VW diesel Rabbit. One problem is measuring your actual fuel mileage accurately since there's many factors that affect it. Here's a calculator to help and don't forget to put 36 PSI cold tire pressure in your tires if you want to get the best gas mileage from your tires. New auto technology is coming that will impress you!

http://www.csgnetwork.com/gasmileage.html

http://www.fueleconomy.gov

Answer 8

Your Kia could undoubtedly blow the doors off of your 1980 Datsun. That's what uses more gas.

Just Me is wrong.

Answer 9

The govenment does want high performance, high mileage cars.
They want low power, low emissions cars.

It's kind of hard to get performance out of 8 1/2 to 1 compression ratio engines.

Answer 10

I used to get 25 out of my 65 Mustang 6, but with todays gas and lower compression ratios, it's much harder. worn engines don't help either..