I recently got assigned a Ford Focus as a rental car, and I was amazed at what a good car it was. I have never had a rental car I liked as well. I could see it was getting great mileage too.
That's kinda an understatement; I have a 1983 Oldsmobile, Diesel, that gets about 38 MPG highway — and this is a big, heavy car we're talking about.
I have no doubt that (1) adding a turbocharger, (2) dropping the transmission and drive-shaft, in favor of a hydraulic [infinitely-variable-]transmission/power-train would increase it even further.
From the undated and unattributed article “The 25 Highest MPG Non-Hybrids of 2013”:
Audi A3 TDI
Chevy Cruze Diesel
Chevy Cruze Eco
Chevy Sonic
Chevy Spark
Dodge Dart Aero
Fiat 500
Ford Fiesta SFE
Ford Focus SFE
Honda Civic HF
Honda Civic
Kia Rio
Mazda3 Skyactiv
Mini Cooper Coupe
Mini Cooper Hardtop
Nissan Sentra
Nissan Versa
Scion iQ
Smart ForTwo
Toyota Yaris
VW Beetle TDI
VW Beetle Convertible TDI
VW Golf TDI
VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI
VW Jetta TDI
VW Passat TDI
Don’t have to settle for Mickey Mouse cars either!
Lexus has nice ES hybrid that gets 40 mpg, RX and GS hybrids that get into that 30+ mpg range.
The Mercedes E25o diesel crosses 40+mpg with ease and can go a bladder-busting 900+ miles between fill-ups.
My Toyota Corolla averages 38 mpg. If I keep the speed below 60 mph, I average about 42 mpg.
While by KIA Serento was in the body shop for a repair for a rear fender, I rented a Ford Escape. It was a piece of crap. It is fully loaded and I would never buy one.
I guess we are in for another run of diesel automobiles. And same as the last time back in the mid 80s, we are going see the price of diesel fuel go up. Since this will raise the fuel costs for the trucking industry, we will see another round of inflation. Inflation that Washington will deny. AGAIN. Then we will see another round of complaints about diesel engines being dirty, inefficient and unreliable, brought on by the American people’s ignorance of the diesel engine. Then Washington in their ever so smarter than us mode will come up with “New Standards” for diesel engines and price them out of this market once again. Actually I did not know that GM had a automobile powered with a diesel engine. I cannot help but wonder if it is a true diesel or a giesel like the old Oldsmobile ‘diesel’.
Giesel = A gasoline powered engine converted to run on diesel
Fleet average mileage mandates results in auto companies increasing the price of bigger, safer, lower mileage cars to reduce the numbers sold, and their impact on the fleet average. This means that the poorer car owners will have to buy more dangerous cars. If a wealthy upper class person and a lower middle class person meet head on, the rich guy wins. This is the way it usually is in nature, but I’m surprised the feds encourage it.
The EPA does not want diesel powered passenger vehicles in the US, period, and it has nothing to do with emissions. The diesels used throughout the world today are nothing like the big three cobbled together engines of the 70’s and 80’s. If allowing for gains in thermal and volumetric efficiency of current engine designs, combined with body, chassis, and powertrain improvements, 60 MPG gas and 80 MPG diesel mid sized vehicles should have been on the market around the late 90’s. That isn’t going to happen though, because of the influence of the oil, auto, and enviroment lobbies. I worked in the auto industry for two decades, and amongst the engineers and technicians was a collective WTF are the these people thinking? it has nothing to do with fuel economy or emissions, and everything to do with extracting as much money as possible from consumers.
Forget fuel efficient cars, where are the fuel efficient “TRUCKS”? In my business I Drive in excess of 80K miles a year and I would see these savings. So far, NO major breakthrough has been made by any of the automotive manufactures for fuel efficient trucks or Hybrid trucks. Years ago VW produced a diesel truck that got above 40 mpg. HELLO any body listing?
Compared to the MPG we were getting with her old car...
We actually pay less than $150.00 a month for it...
The only reason these topics come up is because liberals have brainwashed people into thinking their cars are terrible gas hogs and are killing the environment and we are running out of gas.
We had a 1978 diesel Chevette AUTOMATIC that got 44 mpg. Best mileage car I ever drove. It helped me buy a lot more pizza in high school. Wasn’t the quietest ride, though.
Too bad the EPA criminalized high mileage cars like that. I have a 2007 manual Corolla that doesn’t come close.
VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI
That’s what I’m going to acquire this year.
A economic car getting 35 miles per gallon traveling 12,000 for a year would use 343 gallons of gas.
This is a savings of 137 gallons per year.
Gas, at $3.60 per gallon, would result in a dollar savings of $493 per year.
Price per gallon or price per mile? They are not the same for the energy is not the same.
Some folks will save a little per gallon and spend more for the miles they drive.
The interesting part is that his office is maybe 3 miles from his home. The more interesting part is that he's always been a fan of muscle cars from the 1960s and 1970s. If there was ever anyone for whom driving a classic gas guzzling performance car made sense, it's him.
