I'm loving this discussion
Yeah, car models are getting bigger and heavier to meet some arbitrary safety minimum. My 05 Corolla is massive compared to a 95 or 85 Corolla. The only new cars I see on the road these days that even compare in size to a CRX are the Crossfire and other 2 seat sport coups. I also read a report lately about the cost of accident repair increasing ridiculously high as well, but that's another discussion.
Lots of cars are coming out soon (hopefully) that will be small, light, inexpensive, and efficient because the demand is there now. There is nothing that says they can't be made, only that before gas prices went nuts people were eating up the giant APCs and V12 twin supercharged bricks as commuter friendly. Supply and demand. Demand changed and supply will change with it.
I'd love to see a resurgence of the old high FE lines without all the fat of having to be safe vs the SUV behemoths; you'd probably save 800 lbs on average. Move to composite body panels and aluminum frames and there's another chunk of weight saved. Please do away with automatics; I can buy a new one for the cost of having one fixed!
Unfortunately we'll have to wait for any of that (and the killing of the automatic is as likely as outlawing iPods). Till I can go out and buy (or make) my dream car, I'll just keep blaming the general consumer population for being a pack of morons.
