jmillheiser wrote:I have yet to see anybodys prius only get 30 mpg. My mom owns one and it consistently gets around 55 mpg (used mainly for city driving, it drops to the high 40s on the highway).
The main reason why that 92 civic gets better milage than a 2010 fit is weight, that civic is probably almost 1000lbs lighter than the newer fit. Newer crash test standards requiring stiffer structure, airbags, and the general desire for quieter, more comfortable cars with more ammenities has driven vehicle weight up considerably.
Modern subcompacts like the Fit, Cube, Fiesta, etc weigh around 2600-2800lbs, an early 90s subcompact was more like 1900-2200lbs. For that sacrifice of a few mpg your getting a vehicle that is much safer (better structural design, airbags, better brakes w/ std abs being the norm, traction/stability control, etc), much quieter, much much much lower emissions, better equipped, have usable back seats and larger trunk/hatch area, and are faster to boot
My 02 GTI gets over 30 mpg, its not some boring little breadbox car
Hmmmm, Yeah, I think you have hit it dead on. Still, my 1992 Civic had a steel cage (first for that model), but it was a much smaller car. It also had a driver side airbag (no passenger side yet, if I remember correctly and certainly no curtains, etc). No ABS for sure, certainly no traction control. Hell, the current Civics are probably as big as the Accords from that time period. You would think though that a modern fit, with the materials technology available should be stronger and lighter than the 1992 Civic. But that always depends on how money you want to spend on an aluminum Plymouth Prowler type frame.
I remember two things about the Prowler. 1) The aluminum frame was the same as the steel cast - weight savings was on mass. 2) It was so strong they had to weaken it for crash tests.
Which tells me that we don't know enough (or didn't know enough then) to make an aluminum frame as light as possible and still offer the same or slightly better strength than steel. The Prowler could have been even lighter, I suspect.
But I'll also argue that systems like ABS and Traction control only weigh 5 pounds on a motorcycle and so shouldn't be a major contributor to the weight of a car.
But I'll argue against myself that the "faster to boot" is the real question. My old Civic could move - really nice - when new I could chirp them in to third gear. It had 101 hp, if I remember correctly. I think most of the Civics now have much more horsepower - which means bigger engines and the need for more stopping power, etc.
What a POS
