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On the other hand, I drove a VW Passat 2.0TDI Bluemotion over last weekend - did 450 miles and averaged.....60mpg. That's insane. I mean, I'm super happy that my 2.0L petrol 381bhp beast gets 30mpg on the motorway, but we can still do a lot better.
Was that with or without the defeat device though?
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I'm the guy in the car over wanting it to be quiet. I'm saying I find those cars extremely annoying.
We get spoiled a bit by how amazing noise suppression in modern vehicles is. A modern car rolling 60 MPH down the highway makes almost no engine noise, it's all aerodynamic whoosh and tire noise. Pretty impressive for a machine that's creating several thousand tiny explosions per second.
A few weeks ago I bought a Chevy Bolt EV...according to the dealer it was the first one sold in my state (Utah). I'd been on a waiting list for almost a year. Sure, ICE engines are getting better, but EVs are rapidly gaining and will soon surpass. The Bolt is a bit expensive for a car of its body type, but "gassing up" at home is amazing, the 200+ mile range is great, and the sharply reduced emissions are a weight of…
I think a lot of it is that there's a great deal of lag in traditional drivetrains, and we rarely do 0-60 in actual real-life driving. More typically we're doing 0-30 or 30-40 or 55-65. Once the traditional drivetrain does all of its clunking around and can start putting down the power, it can compete, and in a 0-60 run that initial period isn't too bad. But in normal driving, the relative significance of the delay is huge. It doesn't just feel quicker, it is quicker for more typical situations.
At this point, the main thing traditional cars have going for them is cost. And that's probably just a matter of time.
I myself used to be a "petrolhead" my 20s and it's quite amazing to observe this awakening when looking in the mirror. I suspect it was caused by the revolution in electric/self-driving tech and traveling more and comparing car-centric US cities to other places.
[1] 250ms delay at best, for young and healthy adults.
[2] #1 cause, ahead of all guns, including suicides.
[3] https://progressivetransit.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/cars-kill-citiesI always wondered why American cars are so inefficient. Seems such a waste of your significantly cheaper gas :) I drive an Opel Astra H 1.7 CDTI and I can get up to 50 mpg (4.7 l/100 km) on the highway, and I never dip under 40 mpg (5.8 l/100km) even when doing a lot of city driving. I understand that my car is comparatively somewhat smaller (1200 kg) and underpowered (100 hp), yet I can't imagine needing more horsep…
Your first sentence really covers it. We have really cheap gas, so we don't care that fuel economy is bad. Every time someone I know comments about how poor gas mileage their car gets I respond with "what are you willing to give up"? They aren't - they want a giant SUV with hundreds of horsepower and they want to get 50-60 MPG.
I always wondered why American cars are so inefficient. Seems such a waste of your significantly cheaper gas :) I drive an Opel Astra H 1.7 CDTI and I can get up to 50 mpg (4.7 l/100 km) on the highway, and I never dip under 40 mpg (5.8 l/100km) even when doing a lot of city driving. I understand that my car is comparatively somewhat smaller (1200 kg) and underpowered (100 hp), yet I can't imagine needing more horsep…
Cheaper fuel is the reason the US doesn't care as much about MPG Also worth mentioning that the US gallon and imperial gallon aren't the same size
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Economy cars have gotten heavier, largely due to safety concerns. Bigger cars have gotten lighter. So perhaps it would be fair to say that vehicle weights are converging on the low-mid 3000lb range.
The new BMW M5 is 4400 lbs. 30 years ago the BMW M5 was 3300 lbs.
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I have made this argument before on the internet and I have learned that it is a European vs American perspective. American cars in the 70s and 80s were monsters . Definitely heavier than modern cars. For example, here are 10 popular cars in the US from 1984. http://www.caranddriver.com/features/1984-10best-cars-1984-h... Audi 5000s: 2850-3100 lbs Dodge Daytona: 2830 lbs Honda Accord: 2300 lbs Honda Prelude: 2220 lbs…
> On the heavy side, no? No. Car weights in America fell dramatically after the 1973 oil crisis, reached a low point in the mid 1980s, and have been rising since. Here are the 2017 Car & Driver 10 best BMW M2 3450 Chevy Bolt 3563 Chevy Camaro 3883 Chevy Corvette Grand Sport 3428 Honda Accord 3336 Porsche 718 Cayman 2988 VW Golf GTI 3027