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Originally Posted by trebuchet03
I'm sure there's data out there  Illegal drugs are... well illegal - but we somehow know about how many people are on them... (But that said, there's plenty of places to poke holes  )
One of the things I wanted to bring to the table is that emissions standards doesn't automatically mean lower fuel economy. That is, fuel economy and emissions can coexist. For example, Tier II emissions went into place - and we didn't see any significant change in FE or total consumption.
Additionally, if we think of emissions equipment as a hindrance... Every car has the same requirement to meet - but there's still an increase in the mpg numbers and a decrease in consumption (the mfr's were still able to decrease consumption with the standards in place). What I'd like to know, if I had a time machine, if these standards weren't put in place - would we see the same upwards trends in fuel efficiency? |
I don't know just seem like there is a big piece missing. I think the way to tell about the efficiency would be that the FE has continued to climb even though the empty weight of the cars has sky rocketed. I'll leave this discussion for those smarter then I. I look forward to the responses.