Posted on 10/26/2010 4:45:51 PM PDT by epithermal
Next year, Mazda will sell a car in Japan that gets 70.5 miles per gallon (mpg), or 30 kilometers per liter. The fuel economy rating won't be nearly this good in the United States because of differing requirements, but even so, the car will likely use about as little fuel as a hybrid such as the Toyota Prius--without that car's added costs for its electric motor and batteries.
The Mazda, a subcompact called the Demio in Japan and the Mazda 2 elsewhere, will include a package of changes that improves fuel economy by about 30 percent over the current model. These include a more efficient engine and transmission, and a lighter body and suspension. The Mazda 2, and a range of new cars from other automakers that have been engineered to meet more stringent fuel economy standards, demonstrate what some experts have been saying for some time--internal combustion-powered cars are far from outdated.
(Excerpt) Read more at technologyreview.com ...
I saw a “Smart Car” today on a highway driving between two semi-tractor trailers......The only think that came to my mind was the picture of a june bug squashed on the front grill of a semi.
Smog requirements were less then and the new rules hurt mileage a lot on smaller cars.
The locks are TSA approved!
I think I remember somewhere it would take about $8 gas to get most people to consider hybrids and/or micro cars. I think for some people living in certain areas with certain lifestyle needs, they are not a bad choice.
I’d probably just drive a lot less and take some unnecessary stuff out of my truck. The semis and other large trucks are still going to be on the road as well as distracted and drunk drivers.
In the 70s I drove a small car, a Honda 600 Coupe. Tiny, with a 600cc engine, 42 MPG in-town and freeway.
Extremely agile, and with it I steered my way past or through accidents that would have engulfed larger cars and twice did -- those behind me. (The poor guy behind me approaching the mountain freeway pileup at high speed tried to follow but merely plugged the gap.)
Don't know about sturdiness overall but a friend's Honda 600 Sedan survived an collision that wrecked a larger car.
Got pulled over once for going 84 MPH in it. Let off with a warning. *\;^)
Ugly, yes. But it’s not Government Motors, no big batteries, and given my experience of the car I bought 38 years ago I should hope they could have since gone from 42 MPG to 70 MPG!
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