6 Cars Built for $4 Gas

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Where is your recommendation of the now greenest car in America? The VW Jetta Tdi. This car has lower emissions that the Prius and Honda Hybrid and gets better fuel mileage. If you think the public is ignorant of these facts, I can only conclude that you are witholding information. Granted that in the past a diesel had higher particulate counts but even that has changed. By the way my 2000 Jetta tdi that has 170,000 miles on it still averages over 50 miles to the gallon in the summer! When you consider I fill my 15 gallon tank maybe 25 times per year, it still turns out to be one of the best investments I ever made! This also is at a time when I pay more for fuel than any of the gasoline models you push.

Jeff of WI 6:04AM January 21, 2009

Safety happened. The problem with all the cars you listed, with the possible exception of the Civic VX, is that they can't hold up in an impact.
Sure, the cars were legally safe enough to be sold at the time, but today, few buyers would put a fistfull of cash on the table for a Metro. People are more safety conscious, as well as more environmentally conscious.
Now, don't think I'm defending the automakers here. I think most automakers have failed to produce environmentally acceptable vehicles, and I do think our cars should be getting 40+ miles to the gallon. I drive an old Ford Taurus and average 25 MPG. I would love to have a car that could average 35 MPG, but it'll rain purple gumdrops before I trade my Taurus in for a death trap Dodge Neon.
If I had the money to buy a new car, I would buy something that got good MPG, like a 2 door, 5 speed, 4 cylinder Focus. In the meantime, I'll be saving my pennies for a plastic Saturn.

Oval_Overload of MN 8:38PM December 28, 2008

its because during late 80"s cars srarted having a little horse power again while getting decednt gas mileage because of tune port fuel injection (technology) and people liked it .almost all cars are pretty quick these dayes and they dont all need to be so if we want 40 or even 60 mpg I think we could get it but the cars would be slow like before. Face it a 98 model 3.8l v-6 camaro would smoke a v-8 camaro in quarter mile if the v-8 car was from about 1976 till 1986. the 98 3.8l has over 300 ft.# of tourqe
so just back the horse power tuning down some and use even smaller engines like the 3 cylinder metro and we'll do just fine.
just dont make all cars slow or we'll have a problem

charlesauxilien of ME 10:51AM August 01, 2008

we could use the same cars we drive today or modify them to use another type of fuel
i don't want to pay 5 dollars for gas and on the other hand i don't want to give up smashing through a yellow light , cant we engineer some kind of fuel that will cooperate with our cars and be eco friendly. these days cars are focused or tuned for speed, power etc maybe in the future it will become more of a who gets more mpg ?

Skyline559 of CA 4:29PM July 06, 2008

My Uncle bought a 2007 Aveo. He had problems as soon as he drove it home! It has constantly been in and out of the shop, the last thing they did was replace the engine!!! It really is a shame that this car does not live up to its promises as it really is a good looking small car. Be forewarned!

Maggie of MI 1:31PM July 03, 2008

The surge is small car sales is welcome and hopefully will be a long-term result of high gas prices. Should this happen the demand for gas in the US will gradually come down as overall mpg increases.
I drive a 2003 Corolla which gives excellent mileage; however I still drive so as to conserve fuel so often fill up 2 or 3 times per month (with a average of around 40 litres at fill up). Driving sensibly clearly makes a significant contribution to better mileage but as I drive daily so many folks seem to still drive aggresively while compolaining at the pumps.
One simple recommendation, that my family uses, is to ensure that each household has at least one economical car (size of household considered) that can be used say on weekends or evenings when only one car is needed.

Rod 12:39PM July 03, 2008

Like it or not, it's true.
It's called marketing, and it works.
The big three all have the capability of making MUCH MUCH more fuel efficient cars (and in fact they already do...in Europe). But there's no profit in that...
The SUV has been the greatest SCAM ever perpetrated on the American consumer.
95% of them are not needed. Range Rovers were around for decades, and then all of a sudden everybody wanted that kind of vehicle ?
Fuel economy isn't that complicated. It's about aerodynamics (which makes the "Smart" stupid, weight, and tall gearing for the highway. They'll soon be rolling out "miraculous" cars with technology from 30 years ago.

TB of MA 11:48PM June 28, 2008

Like it or not, the vehicle manufacturers build what the public wants. (North) Americans wanted larger, roomier more powerful vehicles for years, so that is what we were given. There seems to be a lot of misguided information in the comments here. Ultimately, we all have the power to change the market by what we buy, and that is starting to happen right now as consumers ditch their SUVs in droves.
As far as maximizing MPG, auto manufacturers do have some tools to do this. The trend for the future of internal combustion engines should be small displacement, light weight vehicles with what most here would consider undersized engines and supercharging. Supercharging adds complexity, but the power to weight ratio of supercharged vehicles is better. A 1000-1200 cc supercharged engine in a small very lightweight car would have about the same power as an 1800cc four does now, and would weigh less. What that means is you could have the fuel economy of a Toyota Yaris but the power and size car of an early 90's Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, which would be perfectly acceptable for most driver's needs. Trucks can benefit from the same technology too.
The same technology used to make race cars fast will also make consumer vehicles more fuel efficient (lighter is always better, and more aerodynamic is better too). The problem with all this is cost - the initial cost of such a car is bound to be very high, and thus it becomes cheaper to buy a less efficient car and spend the money you would have put into car purchase on gas.
As someone else mentioned, it's all a matter of balancing - auto makers have to make cars that people will actually buy. Buyer's decisions are now starting to be driven by the cost of gas, so we are seeing more fuel efficient vehicles, and will continue to unless the price of oil drops drastically (not likely). But not many people can afford to or are willing to pay quadruple of today's prices for their car to get a vehicle that will do 100MPG. What you can do for now though is use strategies to save - bicycle when possible, get a motorcycle or scooter as a second vehicle, and use it as much as possible, and when you do have to drive, combine trips to get multiple errands done so that you dont' drive any further than you have to. Put off errands until you have more than one to run.

Randy of OR 4:29PM June 28, 2008

Bought it in November 1998....still getting 28-29 MPG with it, which isn't bad. The best thing is that it just turned 70,000 miles. When I bought it (it's the only new car I've ever purchsed), I told myself I'd have to keep it at least 10 years. Since I'm averaging just over 7,000/year, I now feel I can keep it another 10 years.
And the absolute best thing? It's paid for and insurance is around $350 annually for full coverage.
Gotta love Hondas!

John of OR 3:27PM June 28, 2008

I bought this vehicle brand new off the lot in 2007. It had eight miles on it when I bought it. I paid 15,500 for it and I love the car. This car is my daily driver and commuter car. I purchased this car while gas prices were not as high as they are now. I have to commute 60 miles a day to work. The vehicle gets on average 35 miles per gallon. It is a five speed and I like to skin it back sometimes, pushing 90 and higher.
Even with all this I now carpool with three other people. Instead of spending approximately $48 dollars a week on gas to drive to work, I now spend $8 a week. That means I can buy Samuel Adams beer instead of Natural Light on the weekend.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Chauson Harmon of GA 2:28PM June 28, 2008