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There were a lot of them and even some of larger vehicle like the buick century were getting in the 40mpg range

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/...

That s-10 was to late in the decade you would have wanted an older a slightly older chevy luv.

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/...

The fact that the Saturn SL series was only made with 1.9L engines makes your comment questionable, as does the fact that no Saturn SL model ever made was rated below 24mpg.

Anyway...

When someone is talking about accepting new technology, 12 and 15 year old examples are not particularly relevant.

A Tale of Two Mazda 3s:
2013 Mazda 3, 155 HP 2.0L, 6 speed automatic: 28 city, 40 highway
2013 Mazda 3, 155 HP 2.0L, 6 speed manual: 27 city, 39 highway

And I didn't even have to use models from three years apart.

Hey dumbass, you might want to go look at the actual mileage from back then. They still beat the Honda Fit. 40 years later.

1981 VW Rabbit - 54+ MPG.

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/08/super-cheap-high-mpg-cars-1978-1981/

BMW makes cars, which are not "green" by any standard.

The MPG of even the most efficient vehicle is at zero when it is stopped by a red light. Vehicle manufactures are expected to do all this work to improve gasoline efficiency, but it is put to waste by inefficiency in traffic light patterns. If we are really serious about better MPG in passenger vehicles, than cities will have to do their part, rather than simply passing the blame on to car makers.

I can also guess with some confidence that the current BMW 335d is more efficient than whatever you happen to be driving. It offers a very compelling blend of performance and efficiency.

RTFA - they used a Honda 4 cylinder engine. It probably took 3 minutes to get up to 55mph. And no word on how expensive they would have been to build. I'm guessing that there are a plethora of reasons why they were never built. Remeber, Ford tried to sell a safe car back in the 60s. It didn't sell, but not because people didn't want safe cars, but because it was a really crappy car. As usual, Detroit learned the wrong lesson from that experiance.

That's the most ridiculous things I've heard this week... I owned an old VW Dasher wagon (36/49mpg) listed here: MPGoMatic and got great gas mileage and had decent performance.

Many of the other cars on that list that got 40-57mpg were also decent performers and decent cars, such as a variety of the Subaru and Toyota cars on the list. Sadly, it seems you've bought into the Big 3 Automaker's nonsense of the time.

Or their current nonsense. Think about it... most of those cars had carburetors. Supposedly the new, more expensive fuel injectors, get better fuel economy... so why is it that cars get WORSE fuel economy now? Surely it's not the few pounds of extra weight that airbags and ECUs add to the equation. Almost every car on that list gets better CITY mpg than today's non-hybrid cars WITH fuel injection systems and an ECU get for HIGHWAY driving. Why is that again?

So... nowadays, with safer cars that weigh about the same, and have comparable engines (displacement) and fuel injectors, why do they get such horrendous gas mileage? Performance (acceleration) on a low end to mid range car is near the same - or not too far off to make it undriveable... the VW Dasher did 12 seconds 0-60, or 19 with the diesel engine. Not bad for almost FIFTY mpg.

I'd be happy with a bit better performance, and say... 35-45mpg (instead of 40-57mpg) highway... but the car companies seem to have forgotten how to do that... though again, I would expect that the better, fuel economy improving technologies (fuel injectors and ECU and such) should have helped with that all on their own.

There are dozens of cars from the late 70s with that kind of mileage:

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/08/super-cheap-high-mpg-cars-1978-1981/

Not the least of which being the Toyota Corolla, the most popular car of all time. I used to have a Mazda 323 from 1980 or so that got 45 mpg at 55mph or less, which was great until I ruined it by changing the oil and not tightening the plug sufficiently.

And, given the choice between "unimpressive performance" and "living to see your children grow up," it's amazing people continue to be so shortsighted. Investment in vehicle safety could save far more lives than the war on terror.

Lifetime chance of dying in a car accident: 1 in 83
Lifetime chance of dying of terrorist acts: 1 in 45,000
Lifetime chance of dying of a lightning strike: 1 in 80,000

http://reason.com/archives/2006/08/11/dont-be-terrorized

"I can easily break 50MPG"

[Citation seriously needed]

Becasue the rated gas mileage of ov a Chevy Impala is about 27 MPG:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/15989.shtml

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/Feg/bymodel/2000_Chevrolet_Impala.shtml

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/11/02/chevrolet-impala-gas-mileage/

A lot of geeks really enjoy cars, so you need to take your lie to some other place, or prove it.
If you had said 30 MPG or even 33 MPG I could see that maybe you ahve an odd driving pattern. 50? Bullshit.

In short Mod -1 Pants on Fire

Kinda like the Prius & mpg. Still gets whipped by a lot of cars from 1982. Just now getting back to the 50 mpg barrier. 25+ years later.

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/09/1982-a-banner-year-for-high-mpg-cars/

Sorry, but I had a 76 chevy Vega. They were crap. I loved it, but it was a piece of crap.

If you want to look at gas mileage over time, I suggest looking at the Honda Accord, which by happenstance came out in 76 in the U.S., although I could only quickly google up the '78 stats.

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/16/honda-accord-gas-mileage-1978-2007/

For those not wanting to follow the link:

Gas mileage in 1976: 24 City, 30 Highway
Gas mileage in 2008: 21 City, 30 Highway

The '83 or '84 was getting nearly 60mpg on the highway. And yet now people pay a ridiculous premium on a hybrid, so that they can get something that brings 30-40 mpg. There's something seriously wrong with this icture.

The '83 or '84 was getting nearly 60mpg on the highway. And yet now people pay a ridiculous premium on a hybrid, so that they can get something that brings 30-40 mpg? There's something seriously wrong with this picture.

Cheap, high-MPG used cars listed in order from model years 1995-1990. Average blue book price under $4k.
My 1984 Nissan Sentra got 38 mpg. If you find a diesel one it got 50mpg. I bought my last Sentra in 1996 for $1700: I assume it'd be lower now. My 1971 Datsun 1200 got 39 mpg. I bought it for $200 in 1989.