Go Back   EcoModder Forum > EcoModding > General Efficiency Discussion
Register Now
 Register Now
 

Reply  Post New Thread
 
Submit Tools LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 12-24-2007, 03:54 PM   #1 (permalink)
Batman Junior
 
MetroMPG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,527

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

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

Even Fancier Metro - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage top spec
90 day: 70.75 mpg (US)

Appliance car Mirage - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 62.14 mpg (US)
Thanks: 4,078
Thanked 6,976 Times in 3,612 Posts
Article: Want cars to eat less? Put 'em on a diet

"American cars have gained weight every year. A study released by Mega Associates, reported in October in Ward's AutoWorld magazine, said the average weight of vehicles produced in the United States in 2005 was 1,823 kg, up 39 per cent from the 1990 average of 1,314 kg. "

---

This article's writer moved to Rome (from Canada), and found that even though fuel there is $2 per litre (about $7.50 / US gallon), his fuel costs haven't risen, because his new, European family car is now much more efficient.

Quote:
ROME — I am a big guy. My car, a Fiat Grande Punto, is smaller than a Volkswagen Golf. But it has a clever design. It has more than adequate interior space for the family, sporty performance thanks to a turbo engine and a sleek, undorky shape.
(^ I have to wonder if that's a Prius jab...)

Here's the Fiat Grande Punto:



Quote:
Technologically speaking, the Fiat's admirable fuel economy (by North American standards) has almost nothing to do with technology and almost everything to do with weight. It is light. At 1,170 kilograms, it is about 20 per cent lighter than a Golf and 50 per cent lighter than a Chrysler 300C, to name two popular cars sold on both sides of the Atlantic. Less weight, smaller engine; smaller engine, less fuel consumption. It doesn't get any simpler.

Car designers everywhere risk brain aneurysms trying to figure out how to meet tighter fuel economy and carbon dioxide emission standards. They're fussing and fiddling with new types of batteries, hybrid gas-electric technology, fancy fuel injection systems, fuel cells and the like. They needn't. All they have to do is put cars on a swift, brutal diet. Fiat and a couple of other European auto companies have proved that small cars can be profitable, too.

The Americans are in a panic because they don't know how to make small, light cars profitable. Since the 1980s, the bulk of their profits have come from SUVs, those technological dinosaurs that could be laden with high-profit-margin frills such as leather seats, entertainment systems and air conditioning powerful enough to cool an industrial meat locker.

The Europeans are proving that small cars don't have to be econo-boxes with the design features of a loaf of bread. They are on the verge of turning small cars into status symbols.

The bigger-is-better philosophy is dying in Europe and it has to die in North America. Small cars are better for the planet and easier on the wallet.
Read it all: Want cars to eat less?

__________________
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
  Reply With Quote
Alt Today
Popular topics

Other popular topics in this forum...

   
Old 12-24-2007, 03:56 PM   #2 (permalink)
Dartmouth 2010
 
SVOboy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hanover, NH
Posts: 6,447

Vegan Powa! - '91 Honda CRX DX
Team Honda
90 day: 66.52 mpg (US)
Thanks: 92
Thanked 122 Times in 90 Posts
Send a message via AIM to SVOboy Send a message via MSN to SVOboy Send a message via Yahoo to SVOboy
That is indeed a sharp looking car,

I guess what we need is higher fuel prices, then, eh?
  Reply With Quote
Old 12-24-2007, 06:32 PM   #3 (permalink)
Lurking footless halls
 
Silveredwings's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: northeast
Posts: 249

Dark Horse - '16 Ford Mustang GT convertible Premium

Gutless Beauty - '19 Toyota Corolla SE
Thanks: 3
Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by SVOboy View Post
That is indeed a sharp looking car,

I guess what we need is higher fuel prices, then, eh?
As always (assuming they're higher at the pump).
__________________
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Clarke's Third Law
  Reply With Quote
Old 12-24-2007, 11:31 PM   #4 (permalink)
MechE
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Bay Area
Posts: 1,151

The Miata - '01 Mazda MX-5 Miata
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 18 Posts
My father (and mother too ) recently had a job in France -- their rental car was some form of Fiat... The people he was working with/for made fun of him for driving a "Fix it again Tony" car.... I don't know, but does Fiat have the same stigma as Ford cars + reliability?
__________________
Cars have not created a new problem. They merely made more urgent the necessity to solve existing ones.
  Reply With Quote
Old 12-25-2007, 09:35 PM   #5 (permalink)
Batman Junior
 
MetroMPG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,527

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

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

Even Fancier Metro - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage top spec
90 day: 70.75 mpg (US)

Appliance car Mirage - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 62.14 mpg (US)
Thanks: 4,078
Thanked 6,976 Times in 3,612 Posts
It definitely used to. Don't know if they've had a Hyundai-like transformation or not.

When I was really little, my family owned a Fiat for a few years, back when they used to sell them in North America. My dad ran it out of oil and seized the motor on the highway. Not sure how reliable it was before or after though (sold it to my uncle, who rebuilt it).
__________________
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
  Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2008, 11:51 AM   #6 (permalink)
Engineering Department
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Posts: 8

Silver Civic - '99 Honda Civic DX
90 day: 37.61 mpg (US)
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
That is a great article you have linked. The article points out that the Honda Accord has gained 590Kg over the past 28 years. That is 1300 lbs!!!! an old VW bug only weighs about 1700lbs. No wonder why fuel economy fuel economy has never improved. You are almost driving two cars! To move the massive hunk of metal down the road, Honda has increased HP from 68hp in the original Accord to a whopping 268hp in the 2008 edition.
__________________

  Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2008, 01:30 PM   #7 (permalink)
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: appleton wi, for now
Posts: 363

pontiac trans am - '00 pontiac firebird trans am

jeep 1 - '02 jeep wrangler
90 day: 16.76 mpg (US)

jeep 2 - '07 jeep wrangler x
90 day: 19.39 mpg (US)

Toyota - '09 Toyota Corolla lx
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
i think part of the hp increase is because that is what americans want, i would rather have a 90 hp (or 68 hp for that matter) motor in my civic than the 120 hp brute i have now
  Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2008, 01:38 PM   #8 (permalink)
Master EcoModder
 
NeilBlanchard's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Maynard, MA Eaarth
Posts: 7,907

Mica Blue - '05 Scion xA RS 2.0
Team Toyota
90 day: 42.48 mpg (US)

Forest - '15 Nissan Leaf S
Team Nissan
90 day: 156.46 mpg (US)

Number 7 - '15 VW e-Golf SEL
TEAM VW AUDI Group
90 day: 155.81 mpg (US)
Thanks: 3,475
Thanked 2,950 Times in 1,844 Posts
Hello,

1170kg = ~2580lbs That's hardly what I would call a "lightweight" car! That's about 70kg/200lbs more than the Scion xA...
__________________
Sincerely, Neil

http://neilblanchard.blogspot.com/
  Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2008, 02:04 PM   #9 (permalink)
Veggiedynamics
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Alexandria, MN
Posts: 684

Volt12 - '12 Chevy Volt base
Thanks: 0
Thanked 12 Times in 10 Posts
as for small cars being status symbols.. yeah look at the new MINIs .. gret mpg and small.. being eco freindly is cool now with the prius etc.. hopefully we start to see this and little cars become the norm again..
__________________

  Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2008, 02:46 PM   #10 (permalink)
Master EcoModder
 
ttoyoda's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: boston ma
Posts: 381
Thanks: 0
Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts
Crash tests on it look good too..


  Reply With Quote
Reply  Post New Thread






Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.5.2
All content copyright EcoModder.com