Posted on 01/02/2018 5:36:41 AM PST by dennisw
It looks like there’s plenty of room to improve the aerodynamic coefficient and further improve its mileage.
If you could find the 1.4 Liter diesel engine type....it’d actually get up to around 100 mph. But it was last made a dozen years ago, and was basically a death-trap.
I could put the Smart Fortwo into the same category (I owned one for three years).
There’s a place for the tee-tiny vehicles of the world. When I was stationed in Italy, mid-70s, gas was more than double the price in America. Many Italians drove the little Fiat 500. I had an old Fiat 600. The 500s and 600s were great cars, and a load of fun to drive.
Oh course, you didn’t want to get run over by the big Mercedes flying around.
61 horsepower? I doubt it goes fast enough to generate much wind resistance.
The 1970s models of the old VW Beetle were rated at 46 horses.
These “subcompacts”, or “city cars” as they call them in Eurospeak, don’t quite reach 100 mph, of course. Fuel economy and all that.
The future ?
Naaah !
Or a bicycle, or a pedestrian...
We almost bought a GTI Autobahn edition last year. Put that baby in Sport mode and it’s a lot of fun.
Have a ‘cheating’ diesel, 2015 TDI. Still gets good mileage after the fix. Best transmission every with 6 speed paddle shifters.
You are right there is a place for smaller cars.
One would think that higher fuel economy would be a priority but reducing pollution at the expensive of greater mileage was become more important.
Even through burning less fuel great reduces pollution.
The anti’s are set on killing fossil fuels and controlling human behavior.
They hate freedom and cheap easy transportation allows a lot of freedom.
Had a 1960 with a 36 hp motor. It took forever to get up to 55 mph, but on the open road, I got around 50 mpg! It was also the only car I ever bought that I sold for a profit.
Looks somewhat like my old diesel hatchback from the 70s.
So, what did you do the $50.00?
I had a couple of those old diesel VWs. One had air conditioning. Turning on the a/c was like hitting the brakes.
I debunk thee, demonic raisins!
What, exactly, needs debunking? It’s not news that tiny, lightweight diesel cars can get pretty impressive mileage. The trade-off is safety and structural strength; most of those little cars are at least nominally four-seaters, which means there’s not much room for crumple zones or heavy structural members to protect the passenger cabin. The FourTwo is probably the only microcar around that manages to provide real protection, though its low weight works against it.
The absence of these cars on US highways can be summed up in single-word retorts e.g. “Suburban”, “Excursion”, “Sierra”, “Silverado” etc etc. No car manufacturer that sells in the US wants to be known for a vehicle that can’t at least pretend to survive an accident with full-sized American vehicles.
An ancillary reason can be easily demonstrated by looking at a map of Texas, particularly the stretch of interstate connecting Fort Worth and El Paso. No one wants to spend ten hours in a rollerskate in a Texas summer, and driving from Ft Worth to El Paso isn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence. For additional examples, observe the highway connecting Amarillo and Fort Collins, any road going into California over a mountain range, and so on.
“The only thing missing are suicide doors”
Suicide doors?
It’s a Suicide Car!
“The 1970s models of the old VW Beetle were rated at 46 horses.”
I owned a ‘67 & ‘73 Bug. Also had a ‘71 van. Motor had been rebuilt in the van and it ran like a scalded puppy. Just great vehicles.
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