emissions also effecting gasser MPG??

[Cummins Cowboy]

nowadays I look at the fuel economy that is on the window sticker of even economy cars and notice the fuel mileage they get aint that great, look at the smart car, its bascially a beer can on wheels, I would be afraid to drive it, it has a 3cyl 1. 0 li engine and it only gets 33/41, a new honda civic gets 25/34, my 1991 ford escourt got 32mpg with a mix of city and highway. that was 17 years ago and we haven't made really any gains in gas mpg for cars. I am wondering if the EPA has done to gassers whats been done to diesels.

 

[rbattelle]

It might be possible to blame the EPA partly, but I think a bigger portion of the "blame" (if you want to call it that) is the increase in power output.

A more meaningful number to look at would be specific fuel consumption (SFC) (fuel consumption normalized by horsepower). But manufacturers don't publish those numbers.

It's possible that SFC has actually improved, but only because power has increased quite a bit.

How much power did that Escort have? For reference, my wife's 2002 Civic develops around 127 hp from 1. 7 liters.

On Edit:
I looked it up. A 1991 Escort LX with 1. 8L engine makes 88 hp and achieves 33 mpg highway. The 2008 Civic makes 140 hp from 1. 8L and achieves 36 mpg highway (note that figure is using the new EPA test).

So a 2008 Civic makes about 60% more power than the '91 Escort, and achieves about 9% better fuel economy (advertised).

Not too shabby!

Ryan

 

[klenger]

The published EPA MPG numbers for all gassers is lower in 2008 than in 2007 because the EPA changed the way the numbers are calculated to more closely match real world conditions. In reality, the 2008 models should get the same MPG as a 2007 of the same model and design.



Personally, I kind of like the Smart Car, and would consider one, except the closest dealer is 120 miles away in Chandler AZ. Not very convenient for service. I figure they have to be orders of magnitude safer than a motorcycle.