How come small cars 10-12 years ago have better mpg ratings than newer small cars? (muscle car, engines)

[Jesse69]

Yeah, like we need cars that go 0-60 in under 7 seconds and have more than 250 hp. They put too much horsepower and speed into cars nowadays. The 09 Honda Fit M/T was geared for speed and not fuel economy, so it buzzes at 3400 rpm at 70 mph. My 99 HX does 2800 rpm and 50 mpg at 70 mph, something the new 09 FIT can't do.

[Drover]

If you don't want a car that goes 0-60 in under 7 seconds and has less than 250HP, there are plenty of options for you. Thankfully, there are also plenty of options for those of use who regard a car as more than just an appliance to drive around in.

[Huckleberry3911948]

ditto. my ford festiva 1993 got 40 mpg but it was a death trap. saw one in a wreck and urned white. bought a newer car w airbags.

[Jesse69]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

ditto. my ford festiva 1993 got 40 mpg but it was a death trap. saw one in a wreck and urned white. bought a newer car w airbags.

That's too old and primitive. My dream "old car" that's nonhybrid is the 2001 to 2005 Civic HX Manual Transmission. 5 star crash protection and it's a 50+ mpg hwy car. Too rare to find though.

[Jesse69]

Originally Posted by Drover

If you don't want a car that goes 0-60 in under 7 seconds and has less than 250HP, there are plenty of options for you. Thankfully, there are also plenty of options for those of use who regard a car as more than just an appliance to drive around in.

I also want a 2001 to 2004 BMW 330Ci or 330i, but can't afford a toy car like this now.

[texdav]

I know that my 89 chevy silverado with 3.42 got like juust oner 20mpg on highway.A friends also did . The he bought a identical 92 model and it didn't. In fact several friends noticed this. Found out it was the computer chip because of emission.Seems many of the 89's there abouts failed the emissions test in many areas that required them.So apparently chevy corrected this.

[HighPlainsDrifter73]

Originally Posted by Jesse69

Yeah, like we need cars that go 0-60 in under 7 seconds and have more than 250 hp. They put too much horsepower and speed into cars nowadays. The 09 Honda Fit M/T was geared for speed and not fuel economy, so it buzzes at 3400 rpm at 70 mph. My 99 HX does 2800 rpm and 50 mpg at 70 mph, something the new 09 FIT can't do.

That's your opinion. I like cars that are fast. If you want to buy a car with low horsepower, I have no problem with that. Please don't try to restrict my freedom of choice to buy what I want; we already have enough people in Washington trying to run our lives.

[JMadison]

Well, I see a lot of reasons listed here about the estimated figures.

But I know for a fact I could get 50 mpg out of my old '85 Chevy Sprint (Geo before they badged them "Geo") with careful driving and it got good emmisions ratings, had air conditioning, etc.

It wasn't fast, couldn't accelerate too much but, it did the job and went 200K miles at the point I retired it. And that was more because it was dented up than not running well. (Got hit like 3 times, LOL!.)

So I'm going to guess that the current econo-cars are really based on the BMW 3 Series concept (or what I laughingly call the "glorified Toyota Corolla" concept). That is a 3 door "sport sedan". Meaning they perform a little better than a pure "econobox" and have slightly more aggressive rubber and gearing (and styling to go with).

The h.p. figures tend to reflect this. I think the 3 cylinder 1000cc Geo engine rated at 48-50 hp. A 3 series has a 2.5 litre engine coming in around 175 hp, with various competition coming inbetween.

(This leaves out specialty versions such as the Turbo Geo and the various 3 series "hot rods" of course. Just talking basic models here.)

In general, seems us Americans like a little aggressiveness in our cars' handling, acceleration and styling and are willing to pay for it in reduced fuel economy.

[GTOlover]

I will tell you one thing I would hate to merge onto a freeway with 48HP

[thriftylefty]

they prolly had to beef em up to pass crash test, especially the side impact