CAFE and emissions standards have a lot to do with this, I believe, but also our obsession with horsepower.
The 2015 Explorer Sport I just bought has 365 (!!) horsepower. I’ve laid on it a couple of times. It’s literally more power than I can control. My 1997 Explorer has less than half that. Crazy.
True that engines run cleaner now than most of the older ones.There were some who could adjust caurberators to run efficiently and get excellent gas mileage but most ended set less than optimum. It was literally an art.
The mine is bigger than yours pervades many fields.Some will say it is that which causes us to achieve more.