250 miles per gallon. You read that right.

[roy-nexus-6]

100 miles per gallon sporster. Easy.

http://www.techsnack.com/The_Posts/Transportation/Volkswagen_EcoRacer_-_100_MPG_Sports_Car_Concept.html

How about 250 miles per gallon. Also done!

http://www.seriouswheels.com/cars/top-vw-1-liter-car.htm

Welcome to the future.

[tonyj311]

I was reading about a local guy here in MN that averages over 100 mpg in his Honda Hybrid. He talked about avoiding traffic and stop signs and driving at or below the speed limit. Also talked about using max tire pressure to lessen the amount of contact to the road. He drove from Chicago to NYC with 12 gallons of gas- or something like that.

You know those window stickers on new cars that have big numbers for the city/hwy mpg? If you look under that you will actually see a range that you can expect depending on how you drive. Like my new car for instance has 28 for the hwy MPG, but underneath that is a range of 25-33.

[Slide Panda]

I wish i could remember what manufacturer it was - but someone ran a couple turbo diesel race cars last year and got 143 mph at and average speed of 140..

This wasn't the Audi the ran away with the 24 hours a couple years ago  - damn my memory,

[wbeck257]

I got 45mpg in a Corolla going from Atlanta to DC with two people, 5 days worth of luggage, running over the spped limit, with the AC on.

250mpg in a 1 litre car that weighs almost 2,000(!!!) lbs lighter doesn't impress me.

[Stangman]

Welcome to the future.

If that little clown car is the future, I'd like to be stuck in the past plz.

[MotoCreations]

Sad thing is we HAD high MPH vehicles years ago.  Find a GEO Metro or Honda CRX HF. (Have you priced one lately?) A friend has the latter and still gets 52mpg in town and almost 70 on the interstate.  She used to get better highway mileage years ago too.  That is also over 200K miles driving over the years and head has never been off the engine.  If you built that same Honda today, it would probably weigh a thousand pounds more with eight extra airbags, giant bumper structures and all the other doodads now government mandated.  My brothers little Honda Civic sedan DX used to average over 50mpg from Seattle to Corvallis on regular trips for years.

[J3]

Sad thing is we HAD high MPH vehicles years ago.

The Honda Civic VX was one such model.  The VX engine made slightly less hp (92 vs 105 for base engine) but cost more with its VTEC-E system and wideband o2 sensor.  But then gas prices dropped in the mid 90s and Honda stopped making this model because demand was virtually nil.  I doubt it will be back either as there are more profits and bandwagon jumping with our current lame hybrid options.

[motogpfan]

If that little clown car is the future, I'd like to be stuck in the past plz.

+1

that is one ugly f u c k e r

[x136]

Sad thing is we HAD high MPH vehicles years ago.  Find a GEO Metro or Honda CRX HF. (Have you priced one lately?) A friend has the latter and still gets 52mpg in town and almost 70 on the interstate.  She used to get better highway mileage years ago too.  That is also over 200K miles driving over the years and head has never been off the engine.  If you built that same Honda today, it would probably weigh a thousand pounds more with eight extra airbags, giant bumper structures and all the other doodads now government mandated.  My brothers little Honda Civic sedan DX used to average over 50mpg from Seattle to Corvallis on regular trips for years.

Exactly.

Engines used in automobiles have gotten a lot more efficient over the years, but the cars they're put in just keep getting heavier and more bloated. Like you say, the CRX just plain couldn't be built today, both because of legislation demanding that all cars include all kinds of stupid crap, and the manufacturers themselves including a bunch more stupid "luxurious" crap as standard in order to "compete".

Because of this, 30 MPG is still somehow considered impressive. Uh, I had a 1985 Buick sedan that got 30-35 MPG, and it wasn't even particularly small or light. A Volkswagen Beetle will get 30. I bet some of the "compact" cars made by the Big Three (well, four including AMC) in the 60s could be convinced to get somewhere around 30. Thirty miles to the gallon is not earth-shattering!

The Prius isn't even all that exciting. It took all of that engineering, battery weight, and complex hybrid drivetrain to get MPG figures similar to what Honda was selling in this country twenty years ago, and can most likely be found in non-hybrid cars in other countries where small automobiles are the norm.

80-100 miles to the gallon, however, now that would be getting somewhere. The EcoRacer looks like fun. Even the little pill-shaped guy would be interesting. Make it slightly bigger so that two people could ride in comfort with a bit of luggage (so that it's not just a four-wheel enclosed motorcycle), and it could be a very practical vehicle. I even kind of like the styling. It has sort of a 90s futurism going for it.

[mitt]

I also am surprised at today, 30+mph is considered great.  I remember driving my parents 1986 (first year) taurus wagon, and it could get 30+ mpg with a V6.

There must be a lot of weight penalties today that aren't often mention, cause just abs, airbags, and bumpers don't seem like it would knock 5mpg off, but maybe.

mitt

[J3]

I don't especially get the weight argument, especially at highway speeds.  In traffic and hilly terrain, inertia is definitely a pregnant dog but on the EPA highway cycle with an average speed of 48 mph, 54% of the energy required to move a car goes to aerodynamic drag. Because drag increases with the square of speed, more than twice as much energy would be required to overcome drag at 70 mph.

That said, I'm absolutely AGAINST lowered national speed limits to conserve fuel for various reasons, but I don't want this to be a political discussion.

[Porsche Monkey]

My 75 914 got over 30 mpg highway in factory trim and it is considered a sports car. It doesn't get that anymore but can still return 25 mpg while averaging 95 mph. That is impressive to me.

[x136]

There must be a lot of weight penalties today that aren't often mention, cause just abs, airbags, and bumpers don't seem like it would knock 5mpg off, but maybe.

...power windows, power door locks, power rear-view mirrors, power seat positioning, power automatic transmission shifter knob heater, power trunk opener, power radio antenna, 75 speaker stereo system, 27 air bags, front and rear seat integrated GPS, four layers of sound deadening throughout the vehicle, computerized speed adjusting cruise control, redundant antilock braking systems, traction control, computerized all-wheel-drive, parking cameras, auto-dimming rear-view mirrors, more soundproofing, rain-sensing windshield wipers, heated glove compartment...

[roy-nexus-6]

Exactly.

Engines used in automobiles have gotten a lot more efficient over the years, but the cars they're put in just keep getting heavier and more bloated. Like you say, the CRX just plain couldn't be built today, both because of legislation demanding that all cars include all kinds of stupid crap, and the manufacturers themselves including a bunch more stupid "luxurious" crap as standard in order to "compete".

Because of this, 30 MPG is still somehow considered impressive.

Yap, this is exactly my point.  30mpg is a ludicrous target when other people are aiming for 300 mpg. Admittedly, this is NOT an attractive vehicle (but the 150mpg roadster rocks). However, it does show that the philosophy of design is changing world wide - less is definitely more. General motors need to stop supersizing the hell out of everything - start actually making reliable, practical vehicles. What's the net worth of GM now? 50 times less than Toyota if I remember correctly. The crew at GM has the skill set - but the management there (& in Washington) lack the will, it seems. 

[Speedbag]

Indeed - 30 MPG? Big deal. My '96 Mustang GT will get 26 on the highway. Whoopee.

The overly-feature-heavy (in every sense) cars today make me gag too. I'm ever waiting for the return of the bare-bones car for a daily driver: crank windows, manual everything, not even a radio unless you order it.

I had a '66 Ford 2-door post sedan that had a heater. That was it for options. Also had an '81 Mercury Zephyr that had little more than that. And they got you there just fine and with remarkable fuel mileage (yes, even the big Ford).