US stuck in reverse on fuel economy

I got the latest Consumer Reports yesterday- the annual auto issue. Of all the cars in there, the only two that got better milage than my 98 Neon were hybrids!

I'd say it is not just the US that is going backwards- the whole industry is! Not even the small cars from Japan and other Asian countries are getting the milage they used to.

But then, with a recent poll showing fuel economy is WAY down on the list of what buyers are looking for in a car, well, what can we expect. I think fuel economy was seventeenth or eighteenth- below the number of cup holders :-(

And even CR is pinging cars that take longer than 9 seconds to get to

60 as being underpowered! We has met the enemy and they is US!

My 98 Neon has 115,000 miles on it, and I hope that it lasts a long time. It gets to sixty in just a tad less than 9 second, but gets

37-38 mpg on the highway and around 32 in town.

U.S.fed govt,,,, wearethegovtandweareheretohelpyou!

Like that dear lady friend of mine in Arlington,Texas who retired from that hospital in Arlington once said to me,,, If govt would only leave us alone,we would all be better off.

Lynn,me dear,You are soooo Right! cuhulin

I have a feeling that cars for the US market are somewhat different from cars marketed in other countries. What we get here may not be indicative of what Asian cars are doing other places.

May be wrong, but just a comment.

U.S.cars are much different than foreign cars made and sold/used in foreign countries. cuhulin

Still, if mfgs could produce cars with good performance and fuel economy in the late 90s, why can they not do so today, whether the designers are in Asia or US? They do indeed seem to be backsliding. And I doubt if it is government interference. I am not aware of any new pollution control requirements or other things that would hurt fuel economy since then.

Because the marketplace controls what the manufacturers buy, and people do not want to buy efficient small cars that are fun to drive, people want to buy huge overgrown SUVs that handle like the Queen Mary and consume gasoline by the barrel.

Now, why this is the case is completely beyond me.

--scott

It's mainly because the states pass out drivers' licenses more freely than they spend tax dollars, and don't prohibit really bad drivers from buying huge overgrown SUVs that handle like the Queen Mary and squash efficient small cars that are fun to drive. If you don't want to be extruded through the front grille of a '78 Cadillac, you either stay

5,000 feet from the nearest drivable roadway or drive something big.

I also find there are extremely few small cars that aren't really hard on my post-surgical back. A ride in my nephew's beloved Passat was not unlike sitting on a pillow atop a sheet of 3/4" plywood and having someone beat on the bottom of the plywood with sledge hammers.

Back in the 1950's,there were some good size six passenger new and older American name brands/American manufactured cars on the market which got at least 30 miles per gallon.Willys made and sold some of them.Look at the prices per gallon of gasoline now,I recently read that in California,it is up to about $3.00 per gallon now.Some ''feel good'' people will say,But,adjusted for inflation,,,,,, blah blah blah.

The prices per gallon (in my oinion) of gasoline and diesel fuel are a RIP OFF. cuhulin

You don't have to buy it.

Nothing lasts forever. Not even the price of gasoline and diesel.

There are high mileage cars, some in the USA and more in Europe. If you dont like the prices here, try Europe, where gasoline can cost $8.00 per gallon.

Japanese, German, and Swedish cars there get substantially better mileage... ( I skipped by some cars, because frankly some deserve to be skipped) ... BECAUSE they dont drive SUVs or 300 BHP gas guzzlers for the most part... Well, the rich and wannabes do but, the main line of drivers have to be more prudent than the American driver.

I drove a crappy Ford Volvo there that, on diesel, got 74 mpg when loafing. Averaged better than 40.

People here have not yet gotten the picture.

My old 92 Grand Am 3.3, 3 spd auto, still gets 23.8 mpg around town. And it can still squeal the front tires through an intersection.

I used to listen to Roger Fredinburg's radio talk show

when it was carried by one of the local radio stations in my area.One night a guy in Texas phoned into Roger's Show.The guy said he retired from working at an oil refinery.He also said gasoline is a waste product of the oil refineries.

I realize about the the thingys about cleaning up gasoline at the oil refineres and about adding certain kinds of chemicals to the gasoline at the oil refineries,and gasoline is formulated for the different seasons and different parts of America all year long and the transportation factor of getting the gasoline (and diesel fuel) to the gas stations,there are other factors I don't know about too.

I don't have to buy gasoline for my vehicle? I guess I can sell my vehicle and call a taxi cab when I need to go to the food store or anywhere else around here I might need to go,or ride a bicycle,or walk.I am not interested in not doing my own driving,my own vehicle,not yet anyway. cuhulin

That is about the same as saying Vodka is a waste product of a distillery. A refinery is similar to a distillery. One of the first blends to condense is gasoline.

Lots of people get by without a car.

So now your not saying gas is too expensive. Your saying it's too expensive (or too much of a pain in the ass) to live without gas?

Make up your mind.

I believe that some people agree that sometimes,gasoline (and diesel fuel too) is too expensive.Well heck,I can grow some corn in my back yard and make my own fuel for my van.There are many,many sites on the internet about making your own auto fuel. cuhulin

Heard on the BBC this morning that there is a movement to shut back fossil hydrocarbon and coal production at the source. The rationale is that if you produce it, people will burn it, and the planet cannot sustain this generation of CO2 much longer. (Some computer scenarios say we have no more than 10 years to decrease the trend or the will become irreversible)

There is no longer any credible challenge to the problems that increasing levels of greenhouse gases are causing. Source regulation of fossil fuel production would be a pretty hard pill.

BBC?,,, we are from Mars too,if you believe in BBC Have you heard or read lately about any new refineries going to be built in America? There is going to be built a new coal to liquid fuel refinery/plant in Southeast U.S.A. cuhulin

BBC has its problems just like some of the American broadcasting systems do. But, BBC wouldnt have said it had not some group brought this idea forward as a possible solution to the perceived problem.

You notice that Bush has signed an agreement with Brasil to pursue ethanol production. Brasil now satisfies 40% of its motor fuel requirements with ethanol from sugar cane. And it doesn't require adding extra carbon to the atmosphere.

I know the people from the corn belt might snort up a response to this, but there is plenty of land here in the USA where sugar cane is a very successful crop.

Why do you think that Brasil would choose sugar cane over corn, when they have millions of acres and a range of climate so that they could raise any crop they want???

With respect to news agencies, several years ago when I first moved to Europe, I had a hard time finding an objective news service. BBC was propaganda, Radio Moscow was worse,and the Voice of America was just as bad. Finally, I starting getting my news from Radio Tirana in Albania...Those guys disliked and distrusted EVERYBODY, but the news was pretty straight.

Won't be long till Spring time,and then Summer time.Mark my words,the price of gasoline and diesel fuel will go up.A guy on the SPIKE tv channel right now is showing and telling all about how to make your own bio fuel.That coal to liquid fuel plant will be in Mississippi. cuhulin