What a bunch of crap. My 90 CRX HF got 48 combined with my right foot on the floor pretty much anytime the car was not stopped. Yes, this dinky little 1.5 liter, non hybrid, non direct injection, 180k + miles on the motor, that I paid 1500 bucks for, out sipped the Prius, a car that costs over 10x as much. You wanna know the culprit - safety regulations!

All those safety ninnies have added so much weight to cars with their 10 airbags, anti lock braking systems, side impact door beams, etc etc etc, make the Prius weigh almost 3000lbs - as much as my Evo! Meanwhile, my rinky dink CRX tipped the scales at a mighty 1961 lbs, maybe a tad more after I +1 the wheels to 14' HX wheels and 86'd the stock seats in favor of Recaro made seats from the Si model

All the technology in the world cannot beat physics. You can improve how efficiently you make the power, or you can reduce the weight being moved. Which do you think is easier?

(sorry, my rant for the day)

 

+1 cars are WAY too heavy and they keep going up and up and up! SIXTEEN STANDARD AIRBAGS!? Give me a break..

 

Dunno how much bragging the EPA can do. The EPA sets the rules and the manufacturers have to adhere to them.

 

An excellent observation. Those safety nannies also stifle a lot of creativity.

 

The 53 is the weekend car. I average 35,000-40,000 miles A YEAR in my Daily Driver. I gave the 4Runner (17mpg, 93 octane) to the wife and bought the new Camry SE V6 (25mpg so far, 87 octane).

@ 35k miles (4Runner) = $6691/yr Gas
@ 35k miles (Camry V6) = $4200/yr Gas

So...I'm saving $2500/yr on gas.
Nothing irrelavant there, don't ya think

Charles

 

For me the average was about right with the old standards... I got 330 miles last week's tank (18 gal) which = 18.3mpg and the old standard rating was 19mpg city, which is about right considering the miles on my car and I DO smash the throttle a lot.

 

yeah the new mpg is about right for my xa. before it was 32-37 now its 27-34.

 

I think the new ratings are a much better measure of real world driving. Don't see why people are complaining.