- Thread starter
- #21
digitS'
Garden Master
OG -- Coincidence that one should follow the other? No, I don't think there would be anything more than a society-wide scheme to try to take some of the pressure off the economy.
The oil crisis of 1973 had to be the "driving force" for the CAFE standards of 1975. I'm not sure if the mileage standards ever had much of an effect on the OPEC nations that chose to embargo oil to the US. Right now, I'm not sure if they've had much of an effect here. What standards there are seem to be achieved with progressively higher powered cars.
What I really notice is how the size of new cars varies with the price of gas!
Unlike what might be imagined (yeah, I'm sure), my first car was not something out of American Graffiti. No, I felt I could afford a 1958 Volvo - 4 speed on the floor, 85 horsepower if I remember right. If got 30 miles per gallon on the highway.
New Cars! We all want them! Road and Track last Fall had a look at the 300 horsepower cars - that are rated at 30 miles/gallon on the highway! These are high-powered, high-performance babies! But, it's still the same 30 miles . . . The same gas goes as smoke out the tailpipe.
My pickup can carry 8,000 pounds combined weight and has 220 horsepower.It weighs over twice as much as that old Volvo, empty. When I bought it, the average amount of power for ALL engines manufactured in the US was 166 horsepower. Average, right down to the subcompacts, up to the Hummers.
Wikipedia tells us that a tiny, little car like a Honda Fit must achieve 36 miles/gallon.
Steve
The oil crisis of 1973 had to be the "driving force" for the CAFE standards of 1975. I'm not sure if the mileage standards ever had much of an effect on the OPEC nations that chose to embargo oil to the US. Right now, I'm not sure if they've had much of an effect here. What standards there are seem to be achieved with progressively higher powered cars.
What I really notice is how the size of new cars varies with the price of gas!
Unlike what might be imagined (yeah, I'm sure), my first car was not something out of American Graffiti. No, I felt I could afford a 1958 Volvo - 4 speed on the floor, 85 horsepower if I remember right. If got 30 miles per gallon on the highway.
New Cars! We all want them! Road and Track last Fall had a look at the 300 horsepower cars - that are rated at 30 miles/gallon on the highway! These are high-powered, high-performance babies! But, it's still the same 30 miles . . . The same gas goes as smoke out the tailpipe.
My pickup can carry 8,000 pounds combined weight and has 220 horsepower.It weighs over twice as much as that old Volvo, empty. When I bought it, the average amount of power for ALL engines manufactured in the US was 166 horsepower. Average, right down to the subcompacts, up to the Hummers.
Wikipedia tells us that a tiny, little car like a Honda Fit must achieve 36 miles/gallon.
Steve
but all I meant was this 
