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Old 01-20-2014, 11:27 AM   #50 (permalink)
MetroMPG
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,534

Blackfly - '98 Geo Metro
Team Metro
Last 3: 70.09 mpg (US)

MPGiata - '90 Mazda Miata
90 day: 54.46 mpg (US)

Appliance car Mirage - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 57.73 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wdb View Post
On the other hand, sticking with the Fit for the moment: it has trash (read: lightweight) carpeting, minimal sound insulation, paper thin sheet metal, and is in general a pretty minimalist vehicle. And yet it weighs 2500 lbs. That is light by today's standards, but not by 44 year old vehicle weights. I attribute the extra weight in a basic vehicle such as a Fit to safety equipment. In other words, a Fit built in 1975 would weigh closer to 2100-2200 lbs., and the most of the difference is due to the weight added higher passenger safety and emissions standards.
Your Fit is not nearly as light as it could be! And if you think it has minimal sound insulation, go drive a 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage (1973 lbs) for comparison and get back to me. It will make you marvel at the excessive coddling of your Fit! (And the Mirage got *additional* insulation for the U.S. market... and still weighs ~300 lbs less than the smaller Chevy Spark.)

Honda pulled 57 lbs out of the body structure of the 2015 Fit, while increasing volume (and likely crash protection). What will Honda do with that structural weight savings? "Probably fill [it] up with added features."

Your "1975 Fit" would have had:

- 12 or 13 inch wheels, skinny bicycle tires
- smaller brakes
- a smaller engine, cooling system, exhaust system
- a 1 or 2-speaker radio (if it even had a factory radio)
- less sound insulation
- no A/C
- no power accessories
- exposed (painted) body metal inside, instead of plastic panels everywhere
- in addition to worse crashworthiness & emissions as you mentioned, of course
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Project MPGiata! Mods for getting 50+ MPG from a 1990 Miata
Honda mods: Ecomodding my $800 Honda Fit 5-speed beater
Mitsu mods: 70 MPG in my ecomodded, dirt cheap, 3-cylinder Mirage.
Ecodriving test: Manual vs. automatic transmission MPG showdown



EcoModder
has launched a forum for the efficient new Mitsubishi Mirage
www.MetroMPG.com - fuel efficiency info for Geo Metro owners
www.ForkenSwift.com - electric car conversion on a beer budget
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