When will we get serious FE cars?

[northboundtrain]

I hope I'm not asking a question that's been discussed at length already. Just wondering if anyone knows when we can expect to see some cars in the 75 mpg range being sold in the good ole U.S. of A. I'm wondering how long I have to hold onto the old diesel beater until it's worth investing in another ride.

[VetteOwner]

well whenever the lame a$$ safety crash test ratings become more lax...

[MetroMPG]

When? I'm betting only when gas is north of $US 6/gallon.

Remember of course that the Honda Insight 5-spd was already capable of that kind of mileage without too much difficulty. 65 US mpg average for 85 owners on greenhybrid.com, with 14 exceeding 75 mpg - http://greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

well whenever the lame a$$ safety crash test ratings become more lax...

And when the EPA and CARB get the 2x4's out of their you-know-what and quit vilifying diesels...

[northboundtrain]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

When? I'm betting only when gas is north of $US 6/gallon.

Remember of course that the Honda Insight 5-spd was already capable of that kind of mileage without too much difficulty. 65 US mpg average for 85 owners on greenhybrid.com, with 14 exceeding 75 mpg - http://greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/

Yeah, If I could get an insight, I probably would since the mileage is close enough to what I'd like to see. However, with two kids and a dog, a two-seater coupe is not an option for me

Now I know many cars are capable of getting 75 mpg, but I'm talking about cruising on the highway at 70 mph, not relying on extreme p&g tactics, etc. Compared to the current offering of new and used cars, my Jetta does well enough -- 35 to high 40s mpg depending on speed and driving conditions -- that I'm going to stick with it until something significantly better comes along. Just wondering when something like the VW lupo will be sold here.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Originally Posted by northboundtrain

Just wondering when something like the VW lupo will be sold here.

When we see steady $8-10/gal gas. The thing wouldn't sell in Europe with gas at ~$6/gallon, so I doubt it'll sell here unless gas is substantially more.

[MetroMPG]

I wonder if one reason it didn't sell well in Europe is because their fleet average FE performance is already substantially better than in N.A, and that colours the consumer's decision making process.

In other words, the Lupo seem less spectacular by comparison. IE, consumers had to justify spending more money for a slower, smaller car that perhaps only returned moderately better FE than they could get from other readily available choices.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Something like that. I've been on a few German forums and found drivers of the manual trans 1.4L TDI Lupo getting similar mileage to the 3L Lupo, so VW probably figured that the for the most part people who really wanted ~75-100mpg would just buy a 1.4L TDI powered Lupo and drive that efficiently instead of paying a premium for something with less power that did the same thing they could do themselves, expect automatically, and w/ less flexibility.

[northboundtrain]

So I guess nothing's currently in the pipeline for the U.S. market?

Guess maybe we'll just have to wait and see what turns up at the X Prize.

[GasSavers_BIBI]

OR, US market is going to wake up in 50 years, and there is going to have no more petrole, so there are going to do cars that does 1000mpg, but for what for, there will be no more gas left to burn.

What is killing, the fact that Honda did a 50mpg car (civic vx), in 1992 (15 years ago!!) and that my mom just bought the most efficient car on the market, a yaris, and that she conssumed more than mine!!! Or the fact that in 1996 (more than 10 years ago...) GM offered a electric car, and that I couldn't even buy one today if I had a trillion dollars, . Anyway, who cares! seems that not enough people....