Exactrail.com

[Mark5]

45 mpg ....

close to a 1985 Honda CRX HF ....

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/compx2008f.jsp?year=1985&make=Honda&model=Civic%20Coupe%20HF&hiddenField=Findacar

But better than a 2002 Civic CX:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/compx2008f.jsp?year=2002&make=Honda&model=Civic%20HX&hiddenField=Findacar

We can do better than that (but will people buy them?)

[Bob Bufkin]

We got to get over the, if it's build in the U.S., its crap mentality.  I think we have caught up with the Japanese and Germans is reliability but still need to get better milage.  As for GM, their stylists need to be fired and get a new bunch hired.  I haven't like the looks of most GM vehicles for close to 20 years.  Chrysler and Ford have made better looking vehicles for years.  Even the Vette looks generic in my books.

[Chris333]

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2011-chevrolet-cruze.htm

[kiwi_al]

Be thankful it's not this

http://www.holden.co.nz/vehicle/cruze/

Holden is part of the GM stable and they seem to share some names which gets confusing. Your Cruze looks better than ours!!

[kiwi_al]

But we have these  ;D ;D ;D ;D

http://www.hsv.com.au/index.asp

[DKS]

We can do better than that (but will people buy them?)

We sure can, but I imagine I was probably one of a handful to buy a Suzuki Swift in the last year they made them. Got 50 mpg highway.

As for the Volt, every time I hear the range of that car I have to laugh. The BMW Mini E has a range of 150 miles. Would love to own a Mini E... 0-60 in 4.5? And for an electric car? How cool is that? But they're only making 500 of them to start, which are being leased in select areas (mostly California, for obvious reasons).

The Volt looks so Detroit, and with laughable specs. The Mini E is just an awesome thing.

[Chris333]

I had a Geo Metro (copy of the swift) and it got crazy mileage. Most times I could not even fit $8 worth of gas into the tank.

GM had a concept gas powered car that got 100 mpg about 18 years ago (I drew it in drafting class), but it was never produced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Ultralite
http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/concept/92gm_ultralite_21.jpg

[Robbman]

But we have these  ;D ;D ;D ;D

http://www.hsv.com.au/index.asp

Mobilubrication... giggity.

[Walkercolt]

Chris, the old British Morgan three wheeler (two in the front) did better than that in the '60's. Mobile modified a '35 or '36 Dodge and drove it cross-country on their "Mobile Mileage Run". With tires barely wider than a bicycle pumped up to 120psi, and a de-horsepowered flat-head in-line six they averaged 104 MPG from coast-to-coast, much along the old Route 66. Make a car light enough, put a small enough engine in it and 100MPG is easy. Suzuki sells their little tiny Jeep-ettes in Guam and American Samoa and they top 80MPG. My old Triumph "Bug-eyed" Sprite with the 1100cc engine would get 70MPG easy. The original Morris Mini-Minor's(nee Mini-Coopers) with their 650cc engines got 100 MPG and would win even sports-car "auto-cross". They made riding in the back of a 1 ton pick-up bed seem luxurious.

[Chris333]

At work there was a calendar for 2008 that had the extact same days as 1948 (or close) there were cars for every month of the year. Some of the cars back then got 35 mpg, about the same as now...

[sirenwerks]

As for GM, their stylists need to be fired and get a new bunch hired.

This is not a direct jab @ the poster... but I always find it funny that many Americans don't see the value in supporting the arts and here's one very direct example why, our cars are, for the most part, fugly. We'll, that may be too strong, but contemporary American cars don't have long term design appeal like they used to. But getting over the if it's American it's crappy thing is not such a small psychological hurtle. You get one of those fugly cars and slam its door and you hear how tinny it is and then you look @ Euro or Jap models of the same proportions, whose manufacturers have hired acoustic engineers for many moons, and a lasting impression can be made. And lets not even start on US interiors, which are not just ugly, but ergonomically poor, and made of materials that fall apart, peel, warp, etc. much faster than others...IME. US manufacturers skimp in design and materials (among other aspects) to help make up for higher labor costs, I would bet a paycheck or two on, and it comes around to them eventually.

[sirenwerks]

BTW, the US has a manufacturer who has produced (in nominal quantities to date) an all electric car with a 220 mile range, that can recharge in 3.5 hours, can accelerate from 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds, and has a top speed of 125 mph. If GM, Ford, or Chrysler was serious about fuel efficiency they could have pulled that off years ago and we could afford and would be driving them already. The aforementioned company, Tesla Motors, is one that deserves the bail-out money more than the big 3.

[3rdrail]

I have never fallen for the mantra that foreign cars are superior to those made here. I have "test driven" many brands when in the market for a new car, but have always ended up with an American nameplate. I will agree that forty years ago there was some junk built here, but those cars built here today and over the past couple of decades are every bit as good, if not better, than all but the custom made foreign cars.

And guess what, two of the best cars in the world are GM brands, Cadillac and Buick, both in customer satisfaction and reliability. I have always found it exceedingly odd that the liberal left, who purport to be champions of the working union man in this country, also claim that that same worker is incapable of building a decent car.

As far as styling goes, I have always found Japanese cars to be the fugly ones, although Ford wasn't much better with the Taurus, which looked like it was partially melted.

Oh, I support the local arts, too, as a paying member of Gulf Alliance for the Local Arts. I suppose we'd be considered a bunch of rubes and hillbillies though because we do not consider a crucifix in urine to be high art!

[3rdrail]

BTW, the US has a manufacturer who has produced (in nominal quantities to date) an all electric car with a 220 mile range, that can recharge in 3.5 hours, can accelerate from 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds, and has a top speed of 125 mph. If GM, Ford, or Chrysler was serious about fuel efficiency they could have pulled that off years ago and we could afford and would be driving them already. The aforementioned company, Tesla Motors, is one that deserves the bail-out money more than the big 3.

A car with a 220 mile range would be totally useless in most parts of this country. The only place I could go to in this on one charge would be Panama City, FL and return. I'm sure not going to waste 3.5 hours at some rest stop on the way to Atlanta (330 miles), Jacksonville (250 miles), my daughter's house in Leesburg (295 miles), while the car recharges. Until there is an electric car with a range of at least 350 miles that can recharge in less than 10 minutes, I would not look for any significant sales of electric cars.

Sure, they'll all build them, because the government requires it, but they'll sit unsold on dealers' lots unless buyers are given no choice. Do we really want that?

[DKS]

"Fugly" is certainly in the eye of the beholder. Presently, there is not one American-made car that I consider appealing to the eye; some are so revolting that I would not be caught driving them. That said, an increasing number of foreign cars are likewise unattractive.

As for "American" versus "foreign" cars, with globalization on the rise, it's not that cut-and-dry any more. American cars are only, what, 60% American-made? And how many Hondas, etc. are made here in the States now? So to "buy American" does not hold the same meaning that it used to, and boycotting foreign cars has the increasing potential of putting Americans out of work.