Most Fuel Efficient Vehicles

Green technology is all the rage and mounting evidence shows that global warming is tied directly to a global habit on petroleum and the emissions created by burning of fossil fuels. The push as of late has been towards creating more energy efficient vehicles. But how far have we come really? One would imagine that with advances in technology and the rise of hybrid vehicles that cars are becoming more fuel efficient. Sadly, a 1986 CRX still outperforms a 2011 Toyota Prius. And that’s just the beginning. In the last 25 years fuel efficiency has not only gone down as it pertains to the SUV craze, but it has also extended to compact cars as well.

Here we can see a screen grab from Toyota’s own website stating that on average a brand new Prius will get a maximum of about 50 miles per gallon.(The US testing agency rated them at 46 miles per gallon)

And this is easily comparable to a 1986 Honda CRX which received a rating of  60 miles per gallon on the highway.

But this is just the beginning. Other startling comparisons can be made using the exact same model. Let’s take a look at the Honda Civic.  Today, the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid Civic you can buy gets an EPA-estimated 34 mpg on the highway. In 1987 the same model topped out at a whopping 52 miles per gallon.

But let’s not stop there.  Looking back even further (and directly following the gas shortages in the late 70s) we can use the 1979 Datsun 210 as another benchmark. Car manufacturers were competing to make cars that were more efficient since that was what the public demanded. The Japanese saw an opportunity to sweep into the American market and in doing so they developed the Datsun 210 which was rated at a mind boggling 47 miles per gallon (highway).

And as I stated previously we’ve completely left out all the SUVs which represent the true degradation across the board when it comes to fuel effeciency. But to be fair to those who enjoy gas guzzling vehicles let’s see if there are also correlations in terms of miles per gallon throughout the years.

A 1985 Chevy Blazer 4 Wheel Drive got 17 Miles Per Gallon on the highway 26 years ago. Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I’m going to compare this to a Hummer (which gets an astonishing 9 miles per gallon). But there’s obvious  differences in weight to be considered so let’s make a fairer comparison and see how the 1985 Chevy Blazer performs against a 2011 Kia Sorento (which is basically a station wagon on steroids)

The 2011 Kia Sorento may be the only step in the right direction we’ve seen in the last 30 years.  The 4 Wheel Drive version is rated (by the manufacturer) at 18 miles per gallon which means we’ve gained about 1 mile per gallon as compared to the 1985 Chevy Blazer.

But some of those in government have taken notice of the US’ shrinking mpg ratings. But the actions are anything but drastic. In 2007 an energy bill was passed which would mean that by 2020 all vehicles manufactured would have to get at least 35 miles per gallon. Perhaps instead of giving the Auto industry literally billions of dollars to develop these “space cars” they should just instead say “hey, you were making cars that got 60 miles per gallon 25 years ago, do that again”

So the next time you see someone riding around in an old vehicle don’t smirk at them and think that they are assholes for not doing their part to clean up the environment. If the car is older than 20 years, the chances are they’re probably getting better mileage than you.

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