Pre computer era high mpg cars

[drainoil]

Curious as to what the top mpg cars were before modern cars went to fuel injection and computers. I've heard some 'stories' about some of these old high mpg cars but never knew anyone who had one.

One example that comes to mind are the mid 70's Plymouth Feather Duster and Dodge Dart Lite with carb'd slant sixes that were advertised around 35-36 mpg highway. Now by todays standards the Duster/Dart are fullsize cars and they could seat up to 6 adults. Not sure if they really got that kind of mpgs but if they did that seems impressive by todays standards for a carb'd engine with no computers at all.

[Ryland]

Honda Civic FE trim level, I think they had an EPA rating (old EPA rating) of mid 50's and maybe even low 60's on a few of the years. I think they started the FE trim level in 1975 or 1978 and kept it up until 1983 when Honda made the CRX 1.3L for a single year (1984) then they started building the CRX HF, but they kept the 1.3L engine in the civic 1.3 (no letters to signify the trim level, just 1.3) up until 1987, after that they started in with fuel injection.

[user removed]

Compare Old and New MPG Estimates

regards
Mech

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by drainoil

Curious as to what the top mpg cars were before modern cars went to fuel injection and computers. I've heard some 'stories' about some of these old high mpg cars but never knew anyone who had one.

One example that comes to mind are the mid 70's Plymouth Feather Duster and Dodge Dart Lite with carb'd slant sixes that were advertised around 35-36 mpg highway. Now by todays standards the Duster/Dart are fullsize cars and they could seat up to 6 adults. Not sure if they really got that kind of mpgs but if they did that seems impressive by todays standards for a carb'd engine with no computers at all.

yeah....and they had one of those 100mpg carbs.......

Please reference a piece of sales material or ad that said this.

[fltrplntman]

Originally Posted by mcrews

yeah....and they had one of those 100mpg carbs.......

Please reference a piece of sales material or ad that said this.

1976 Plymouth Feather Duster - Fuel Efficient Muscle Car - Mopar Muscle Magazine

[gone-ot]

...another high-milage model of that same era was the Ford Pinto "Pony."

[Frank Lee]

36 in a Duster- that there is funny.

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by fltrplntman

1976 Plymouth Feather Duster - Fuel Efficient Muscle Car - Mopar Muscle Magazine

thanks for the link!

probably closer to 28-29 according to Old mech's link.

I got 27+ all day long in a 66 mustang Sprint. 200 ci straight six w/ a single 1 bll and and auto matic 3 speed w/ 2.76 rear end (no a/c)
I think I ran a F70 14 tire which was slightly taller then the stock size.

I drove it back and forth to college (180 miles each way) so even back then, mileage was important to me.

I hooked up a cruise control and found a led guage that read mpg etc. I had to tell it how many gallons I put in each fill up to keep it accurate. It was really pretty cool. Like the precurser to the scangauge.

I also ran clifford headers - a 3-2-1 desgin. Ended up with the headers collecting into a single 2" pipe and a single in/dual out muffler. I ran GT tips in the pack.
Had to be the coolest sounding 6 banger in town!

[drainoil]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

36 in a Duster- that there is funny.

Agreed.

In high school I had a '74 Dart (not the lite model) and the best I got was 17-18 mpg on the freeway. That had the 225 slant six, auto trans, low gear rear and the carb needed rebuilding but still worked. Yes, I did sometimes keep track of mileage even as a teenager lol.

Here is a mileage chart I just found from another site on some older cars. Not sure how accurate it is:

Year Manufacturer Model Engine Disp Trans City Highway
1981 DODGE OMNI 4 M4 30 50
1981 PLYMOUTH HORIZON 4 M4 30 50
1981 DODGE 024/DE TOMASO 4 M4 30 50
1981 PLYMOUTH TC3/TURISMO 4 M4 30 50
1981 FORD ESCORT 4 1.6 M4 28 44
1981 LINCOLN-MERCURY LYNX 4 1.6 M4 28 44
1981 FORD ESCORT WAGON 4 1.6 M4 27 42
1981 LINCOLN-MERCURY LYNX WAGON 4 1.6 M4 27 42
1981 HONDA CIVIC 4 1.3 M4 32 40
1981 HONDA CIVIC 4 1.3 M5 31 41
1981 HONDA CIVIC 4 1.5 M5 32 42
1981 HONDA CIVIC WAGON 4 1.5 M5 30 40
1981 ISUZU I-MARK 4 M5 27 40
1981 ISUZU I-MARK 4 M4 41 51
1981 ISUZU I-MARK 4 M5 37 49
1981 DATSUN 210 4 M5 31 44
1981 DATSUN 210 WAGON 4 M5 31 44
1981 B11 WAGON 310 4 M4 30 41
1981 B11 WAGON 310 4 M5 28 40
1981 B11 WAGON 510 4 M5 29 40
1981 RENAULT LE CAR 4 1.4 M4 29 40
1981 DODGE COLT 4 M4 34 45
1981 DODGE COLT 4 D4 32 41
1981 PLYMOUTH CHAMP 4 M4 34 45
1981 PLYMOUTH CHAMP 4 D4 32 41
1981 DODGE COLT 4 D4 31 41
1981 PLYMOUTH CHAMP 4 D4 31 41
1981 MAZDA GLC 4 1.5 M4 35 43
1981 MAZDA GLC 4 1.5 M5 35 45
1981 MAZDA GLC WAGON 4 1.5 M4 31 41
1981 MAZDA GLC WAGON 4 1.5 M5 31 43
1981 TOYOTA STARLET 4 M5 36 50
1981 TOYOTA COROLLA TERCEL 4 M4 36 48
1981 TOYOTA COROLLA TERCEL 4 M5 33 45
1981 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M4 28 42
1981 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M5 25 40
1981 VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO 4 M5 25 40
1981 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA 4 M5 25 40
1981 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M4 40 54
1981 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M5 38 56
1981 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA 4 M5 41 57
1981 VOLKSWAGEN DASHER 4 M4 36 48
1981 VOLKSWAGEN DASHER WAGON 4 M4 36 48
1981 DATSUN PICKUP 2WD 4 M4 37 47
1981 DATSUN PICKUP 2WD 4 M5 38 51
1981 AUDI 4000 4 M5 26 41
1981 SUBARU SUBARU 4 1.6 M4 32 43
1981 SUBARU SUBARU 4 1.6 M5 32 44
1981 SUBARU SUBARU 4 1.8 M5 28 40
1980 HONDA CIVIC 4 1.5 M4 32 41
1980 HONDA CIVIC 4 1.5 M5 32 45
1980 HONDA CIVIC 4 1.5 M4 32 41
1980 HONDA CIVIC 4 1.5 M5 32 45
1980 DATSUN 210 4 M5 29 41
1980 DATSUN 210 WAGON 4 M5 29 41
1980 DATSUN 310 4 M5 29 41
1980 DATSUN 510 4 M5 30 42
1980 DODGE COLT 4 D4 31 43
1980 PLYMOUTH CHAMP 4 D4 31 43
1980 DODGE COLT 4 D4 31 41
1980 PLYMOUTH ARROW 4 M5 27 40
1980 PLYMOUTH CHAMP 4 D4 31 41
1980 MAZDA GLC 4 1.4 M5 30 42
1980 MAZDA GLC WAGON 4 1.4 M5 30 42
1980 TOYOTA COROLLA TERCEL 4 M4 30 41
1980 TOYOTA COROLLA TERCEL 4 M5 30 42
1980 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M4 40 52
1980 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M5 42 56
1980 VOLKSWAGEN DASHER 4 M4 36 49
1980 VOLKSWAGEN DASHER WAGON 4 M4 36 49
1980 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M5 26 40
1980 VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO 4 M5 26 40
1980 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA 4 M5 26 40
1980 DATSUN PICKUP 2WD 4 M4 39 48
1980 CHEVROLET LUV PICKUP 2WD 4 M5 40 53
1979 FORD FIESTA 4 1.6 M4 26 40
1979 HONDA CIVIC 4 1.5 M5 28 41
1979 DATSUN 210 4 M5 27 41
1979 DATSUN 310 4 M5 27 40
1979 DODGE COLT HATCH 4 D4 32 43
1979 DODGE COLT HATCH 4 M4 32 42
1979 MIRADA CHAMP 4 D4 32 43
1979 MIRADA CHAMP 4 M4 32 42
1979 DODGE COLT HATCH 4 D4 30 42
1979 MIRADA CHAMP 4 D4 30 42
1979 MAZDA GLC 4 M4 30 40
1979 MAZDA GLC 4 M5 30 42
1979 MAZDA GLC WAGON 4 M5 29 41
1979 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M4 40 50
1979 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M5 41 55
1979 VOLKSWAGEN DASHER 4 M4 36 46
1979 VOLKSWAGEN DASHER WAGON 4 M4 36 46
1979 VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT 4 M5 24 42
1979 VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO 4 M5 25 41
1978 FORD FIESTA 4 1.6 30 43
1978 CIVIC CIVIC 4 34 43
1978 ACCORD ACCORD 4 35 45
1978 CIVIC CIVIC 4 33 41
1978 ACCORD ACCORD 4 31 42
1978 DATSUN B-210 4 1.4 29 40

[jamesqf]

From my own experience, '84 Honda CRX (carbed) would average 44 mpg the way I drove it. Austin-Healy Sprite would probably do in mid-30s. And had an early-70s Mazda RX3 that would do in the 30s cruising on the freeways, but town mpg was closer to single digits.