Miles to Go

As Yoda said, "there is another". And that is software. Yes, with a simple reprogramming of the engine management software in most newer vehicles, you can easily boost your fuel effeciency by a good 10-20 percent right now, and I mean now. The downside is a reduction in power.

All modern engines use sophisticated software that contain "maps" for the engine. These maps control the engine by sensing all kinds of stuff, like speed, outside airtemperature, timing, fuel flow, and so forth to make the engine perform according to specification. You just need to change the specification to a lower rating for the engine. Many after-market speed shops offer software to boost power by tweaking these maps. There is absolutely no reason why you can't go the other way. There is also no reason why you couldn't make the power rollback optional. Say I want to do a brisk drive, well I set it for Performance. If I want to sip my gas, I set it for economy. With the appropriate software, you can do the reprogramming in 15 minutes or less.

I drive a 1987 Toyota Celica. It gets 35-45 mpg, depending on the driving, has lots of zip, and is a blast to drive. I do NOT drive it in the winter any longer, however, because of the huge behemoth SUVs that populate the road and are driven by people who have no idea that 4wheel drive equates to 4 wheel slide when on ice. I swear, some of these cars' tires are higher than the roof of my little Toyota.

There was once an American automaker that tried to promote fuel-wise cars to the masses. It was AMC, particulalry under George Romeny. I have a 1965 Rambler that gets decent milage for a car of its era and weight. it's bumper probably weighs as much as half of the Toyota. Unfortunately, the American public, with exceptions (such as those who have posted here regarding their fuel efficient cars), has always bought their cars by the yard, thinking that bigger equaled better. Look at the monster cars being built in the early 1970's when the first gas crisis hit. We learned nothing.....

I drive a 1987 Toyoata Celica GT. I bought it as a new car - it still gets 40 mpg (higher on highways), has lots of zip, and is a blast to drive. I do NOT drive it in the winter anymore, however, due to the enormous SUV's being driven by people who have no idea what four wheel slide means.

The American car industry did, at one time, have an automaker committed to making econimical, safe cars...it was called AMC (particularly when it was run by George Romney). I also have a 1965 Rambler...bought in 1965 by my parents. The milage is decent for a car of its era and weight. The technology IS there, but the American buying public has, as a whole, has always bought their cars by the yard.(With exceptions such as those here who have posted regarding their smaller, more efficient cars). My Toyota was not tiny when I bought it in 1987...but now, when I am sitting in traffic between a couple of auto-behemoths, I feel PUNY. I swear, some of these vehicles have tires that are taller than the roof of my car.

The US market offers obscenely inefficient cars. All of my numbers are rough (I don't have staff to verify statistics), but I know when we bought a Volvo XC90 in 2004 (T6, happy if it gets 18) that the same vehicle was available for 35mpg in Europe--with more power. The differences? Turbo Diesel, 6 on the floor. I couldn't buy either option here. Why don't we have clean diesel in this country? Have we forgotten that the automatic obsession is thirstier? Could we please treat cars like furnaces and get efficiency ratings on them? Just how much potential energy is in a gallon of gasoline/diesel/methanol/ethanol, and how much energy is required to move a vehicle with a given weight a given distance? Would you buy a furnace with a 30% efficiency rating? Why does a hybrid get better mileage (at least until you drive cross country)? Because the efficiency rating more than compensates for the extra battery weight.

Electricity is not free either and will go up significantly if we all plug in. Could we please have a national lighting and heating crisis caused by government subsidized movement towards plug-in vehicles? After all, there is precedence: subsidize ethanol, use scarce resources (water and arable land), and drive up food costs.

This article was a good start, and I don't have all of the numbers I want, but I'd certainly like to see more real conversation and hard numbers on efficiency ratings and relative costs of alternative energy after increased demand of different energy sources kick in. You can't get something for nothing, but you can use what you have more efficiently.

In 1970 I drove an old Peugeot - 4 cylinder, 4doors, 6 passenger, all the rust you'd ever want - that got 40 mpg. Today, I drive a 1995 Saturn wagon with 150,000 miles that gets 36 mpg. I cannot duplicate the efficiency of either one today. I WANT to buy a new car, but there aren't any that suit my needs that get enough mpg. For this I can partially blame car makers, but for the most part I blame American drivers. To repeat an oft-repeated truism - we have met the enemy and he is us.

In 1970 I drove an old Peugeot - 4 cylinder, 4doors, 6 passenger, all the rust you'd ever want - that got 40 mpg. Today, I drive a 1995 Saturn wagon with 150,000 miles that gets 36 mpg. I cannot duplicate the efficiency of either one today. I WANT to buy a new car, but there aren't any that suit my needs that get enough mpg. For this I can partially blame car makers, but for the most part I blame American drivers. To repeat an oft-repeated truism - we have met the enemy and he is us.

Baloney. I have been driving a 2003 VW Jetta diesel wagon for the last 3 years. I get 48 mpg around town and up to 54 mpg on the highway. I can carry everything I want to carry, including 4 people comfortably, and can cruise on the interstate at 80+ mph (like everyone else). The car is high quality, handles well, is totally safe and is fun to drive. And I have a good background from which to judge: Porsche and Shelby sports cars; full sze trucks; vans; and Explorer and Jeep SUV's. A car like the Jetta is simple and could be mass-produced tomorrow. Americans are sick of the automakers' and regulators' excuses.

In 1979, my mother purchased a diesel rabbit. It got 52 miles per gallon. I drove it from St. Louis to Washington, DC on ONE tank. I can't believe that nearly 30 years later, it is almost impossible to find a new car that meets that level of fuel economy.

The Chevy Volt will be DOA with a $30K++ price and leasing the battery pack(???). Who would be foolish enough to buy a Volt that is another unproven GM product when they can get proven Toyota or Honda hybrids at a MUCH cheaper price? The Volt will be DOA.

When I graduated High School back in 1980 there was the Honda Civic that got about 45-50 MPG. Now a days they act like getting 35 MPG in a car is a big deal. You can not tell me with the tech we have now a days we can not have a decent size car that will do 50 MPG.

We as Americans need to cut the bull, accept responsibility for some of this mess and realize that no company or legislation is going to save us.. the government is not going to step in, speculative traders are not going to change their minds on where they want the trade futures price to be and OPEC certainly wants nothing to change. They adore the price of gas right. If you really want to change the price of gas... stop using it. The answer is as simple as that. Use only one car, buy a car that gets 30 mpg or better, and demand that legislation allow for smaller more fuel efficient cars. Small car fatalities are so high in the USA because of the humongous size difference between teh smallest cars and the largest. If we demand a revolution that all calls be smaller then the safety difference will be the same between both. Small cars can be sporty, powerful and fun. We just have to demand it from the economy and it will happen. The basis is already here, we just need to steal the ideas from Europe where it is already a reality.

We should not mix hybrids with plugable cars like Volt.
The first draw the power from gasoline and the second from the electrical outlet.
in theory you can get 2000 miles/galon with Volt because the gasoline engine seldom kiks in, but still pay more for your electrical bill than you pay for gasoline in a hybrid.
The only apppropiate comparison would be miles/dollar if you don't factor in the maintenance and initial price.

We had a Honda CRX HF in the late 1980's that got 50 MPG for the life of the car. It had a very small engine, but unless we were going over the mountain passes in Colorado, we didn't even notice the lack of power. We are now about to purchase an older (90"s) Geo Metro which also gets consistantly 50 MPG. I would love to buy a new car off the showroom floor, but I can't see spending the additional money on gas over the next 5 or more years when there might not even be any left by the time we are ready to get rid of the car.

I commute 80 miles a day, almost all expressway, with a 1999 Chevy/Geo Metro 3 cylinder. It now has 254,000 miles. I average 49-53 MPG in the summer using synthetic oil and tranny fluid. In the Minnesota winters, I average 39-43 MPG. If Chevy and Suzuki combined to restart the Metro, I'd be first in line to make a purchase. Sure, my friends laugh at me- but I laugh back at them at the pump!!!

I have a 3 year old hybrid Honda Civic. I have 100,000 miles on it. Summer MPG is 60 and winter MPG is 48.

I owned a 95 GEO Metro for 12 years - it sadly finally died on me earlier this year - that easily averaged 50 mpg on the freeway. It had a 3 cylinder engine that cruised at 80 mph. It was the best car I had ever owned. I could fill it up and a tank would last 3 weeks in city driving. I wish I could buy another one just like it. I was never concerend about road noise or safety in it. The car provided good economical transportation. People who *** about gas prices as they crawl up into their precious SUVs need to get realistic about their situations.