Small / economy car deathwatch: we've passed "peak econobox" again

[Xist]

Someone buy me a 300h so I can drive it economically!

How well can 15 HP climb hills? I can buy a 5 HP bike engine from Amazon for $100. Annoyingly, it is two-cycle. I specifically searched for four-cycle.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Xist

How well can 15 HP climb hills?

Depends on the hill, and the weight of the vehicle... aero factors in... but mostly it depends on your definition of "well".

[Xist]

I describe semis climbing hills at 35 in a 65 as "not well." Army trucks going 15 uphill in a 65 are on the low end of "not well."

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Bicycle Bob

GM and VW are going to stop making Hybrids. I think there is something seriously wrong with the mentality of a cohort that won't buy cars without drag races in mind. It is far more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow, and you can get far more practice without making a nuisance of yourself. Remember, John Wayne hauled his manhood on One horsepower.

VW says the opposite: “Volkswagen will then gradually extend the electrification of the drive system to the entire fleet.”

https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news...e-masses.html#

Pretty much every European manufacturer is doing the same. Whether that tech makes it to the US is yet to be seen. We are not pushing manufacturers like the EU so we generally don’t get the fuel efficient engines here.

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by JSH

VW says the opposite: “Volkswagen will then gradually extend the electrification of the drive system to the entire fleet.”

https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news...e-masses.html#

Pretty much every European manufacturer is doing the same. Whether that tech makes it to the US is yet to be seen. We are not pushing manufacturers like the EU so we generally don’t get the fuel efficient engines here.

The whole "GM and VW are going to stop making hybrids!" hysteria is based on this article in the WSJ last week, and not on anything VW representatives specifically said. Then, that was exacerbated by Jalopnik's clickbait headline "There Is No Hybrid Future at GM and Volkswagen." The only "story" here is that GM and VW are pouring development money into BEVs, which everybody knew already.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by niky

Shockingly, I've driven cars with less.

Unless you need to run cross country at 80 mph, even a 15 hp motor is fine.

Sometimes when I get too drunk, I get in the mood to consider swapping some horizontal-single Kubota engine into a random econobox. Or trying to register a Tobatta to drive it around...

[MetroMPG]

Confirmed yesterday...

Arrivederci: the Fiat 500 will no longer be sold in Canada (and the US)

The little runabout, the brand’s best-selling car, will be departing showrooms across North America at the end of the 2019 model year

https://driving.ca/fiat/500/auto-new...sold-in-canada

U.S. Fiat 500 sales

2012: 43,772
2013: 36,375
2014: 33,708
2015: 25,084
2016: 15,587
2017: 12,685
2018: 5,370


Even the lowly Mitsubishi Mirage has handily outsold the 500 for the past four years.



http://carsalesbase.com/us-car-sales...fiat/fiat-500/

[Xist]

The brand's best-selling car? Even for 2019?

[MetroMPG]

"car"


I did a double-take at that factoid as well.

[ksa8907]

... their only car? Or does the renegade also qualify as a car, I mean it is right?