[aerohead]

Saturn achieved 80-mpg(highway) in 1989.On paper only though.GM's/Aerovironment,chief,Dr.Paul MacCready,claimed that should the body of the "Impact" electric car (under development until 1996) be dropped onto a conventional chassis ( you can read this as Saturn/Geo/Chevy/Buick/Oldsmobile/Opel/Cadillac/Pontiac/Holden/Suzuki/Isuzu/Toyota/Daihatsu),with a 1.5-liter gasoline engine,5-speed manual transmission,and economy calibrations,you'd be looking at 80-mpg (highway).Since the frontal area of Saturn is in the ballpark of the Impact/EV-1/EV-2,if you can cut its drag to that of GM's electro wundercar,and ignoring the low-rolling-resistance tires of same,50-mpg should be doable.