Quote Originally Posted by preferredduck
it'll just be the new gov't car for sale kind of like the gov't peanut butter from back in the day. we might finally see some "ground breaking" new technology that has been locked away for years for better mpg etc. the cars back in 1913 got 24mpg, a 91 civic hatch dx gets 40, we have gone backwards and it's on purpose. my 10 yr ild car gets better mpg than a new one, now thats bad.
A big factor in the reasons why cars don't get as good gas mileage as they did 10 years ago is that they are a lot heavier due to added safety regulations. For example, a quick Google search told me that a 1992 Civic CX hatchback weighs in at 2094lbs, while a 2009 Civic weighs in at roughly 2600lbs. That is 500lbs of dead weight, and that is a lot more work for a small I4.