Deanna Schneider wrote: > I still think it's crazy that I can get 40mpg in my 1994 stock model, > bottom of the barrel, Nissan Sentra, and you can't get any cars with > that kind of MPG without going hybrid these days. I'm pretty darn sure > car makers haven't forgotten how to build small, fuel-efficient > engines. So, why can't you buy them anymore?
I saw a piece of a recent NOVA episode that discussed this. (The episode looked really interesting, I really need to try and find it in its entirety.) Anyway they discussed how every year engines are made more fuel efficient. But that, for marketing reasons, the efficiency is put into making the vehicles larger and heavier for the same gas mileage, rather then also improving the vehicle weights and really making high mileage vehicles for consumers. A point in the show about the bodies was that auto manufactures have a century of investment in infrastructure to make vehicles out of steel. The new materials that would radically change the body of cars also require radical retooling of manufacturing process and equipment. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:260301 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
