The other piece that’s missing from the picture is that most european cars have very low final drive ratios, in the low 2:1 range. US vehicles have mid 3:1 or higher. This affects mileage significantly, at the expense of off-the-line acceleration. The Passat mentioned here would get lower mileage in the US because US customers would never tolerate the sluggish acceleration of the EU-spec car, and would demand a higher final drive ratio.
“The Passat mentioned here would get lower mileage in the US because US customers would never tolerate the sluggish acceleration of the EU-spec car, and would demand a higher final drive ratio.”
In 1978 my company sent me to Northern Ireland for three years. I bought a Ford Escort Ghia, made in Germany. It had a 1600 cc engine. Over there they also sold Escorts with a 1300 cc engine. This was before Ford came out with their ‘World’ car, the Ford Escort that we got to know here in this country. When the ‘World’ car was introduced here it was with a 1600 cc engine only, no 1300 cc engine. Why? Because with the pollution control $hit that had to be on the engine here, the 1300 cc engine would not cut it. In fact, the 1300 cc engine in Great Britain outperformed the 1600 cc engine here.
In the 3 years I was there, ‘78 to ‘81, my 1600 cc Ford Escort Ghia was a screamer. It was fun to drive, and could go faster than I was allowed to drive over there, and even faster than I dared a time or two when I took it out on a stretch of Motorway and opened it up, to about 115 mph, with still plenty of peddle left.
As for mileage, I don’t remember, but it was reasonable. And that was when I was getting used to the sticker shock of petrol prices there. I got pretty good at converting to the equivalent US$/US gallons.
The prices then there, of course, were about half what the Kenyan Usurper is making us pay here today. FUBO.