30 MPG: The magic number?

[ColonelPanic]

Quote »NEW YORK -- A new study indicates that in the post-Hurricane Katrina world, automotive companies from Hyundai to Saturn rapidly have changed their advertising campaigns to include fuel efficiency as a selling point.As seen here.I found this to be of interest: "Only one of those brands was advertising fuel efficiency before Katrina, the study notes."Uhh, not sure where they got only one brand, I've seen Chevrolet brag about the Impala's mileage and the same goes for Toyota with the Camry. That's two, if I counted right. At any rate, 30 MPG has been my magic number for almost a decade - something I wanted even when gas was as low as $0.99 a gallon, so this is nothing new...

[redlava]

Fuel economy never used to be a selling point more than five years ago. You always heard HP, load capacity, safety, and options. I think every commercial I see except most truck/suv mention fuel economy as a main selling point. Especially GM's and Toyota's general commercials that say "We have 157 cars in our line up that get better than 30 MPG." Is fuel economy the fad of the week in the car business?

[kostby]

A bit of history...Back in the 'first' gas crisis of the mid 1970's, when OPEC first became powerful, gasoline prices jumped from $039.9 to an incredible $079.9 per gallon!In the late 60's and early 70's, most US cars were 4000 lb behemoths with 350-cubic-inch (~6 liters or better) 250 horsepower or larger V8's and got 10 to 15 miles per gallon ON THE HIGHWAY! 'Muscle cars' came with 425ci (~7 liter) 400 horsepower or larger engines with one or two 4-barrel carbs and got 8 to 9 mpg on the highway. There were literally 3 or 4 gas stations on every corner, so filling up frequently wasn't a problem.Then the gas prices went up drastically. Gas mileage suddenly became selling point. VW Rabbit Diesels of the era got up to 50 mpg on the highway, and suddenly became THE hot sellers, at stiff premiums over MSRP (25-30%, or $1000 on a $3000 MSRP car). VW even opened a (actually refitted a Chrysler) plant in Westmoreland, PA to build enough gas and diesel Rabbits to satisfy the demand in the US. (Westmoreland Rabbits are the ones with rectangular headlights, as opposed to the round headlights of the ones built in Wolfsburg Germany, but I digress...)Detroit reacted by retrofitting the big V8's with 2-barrel carbs, which improved mileage somewhat (15-17 mpg highway), but decreased driveability drastically. Since there were virtually no sophisticated computer ignition/engine management systems available at any price, pinging became the 'new sound of economy'. Engine run-on (engine continues to run on 1 or 2 cylinders for 30 seconds or so after ignition shut-off) was commonplace.Small domestic cars like the Ford Pinto (a.k.a. 'rolling barbecue' because of the very vulnerable gas tank location) and Chevy Vega with 4-cyl engines became popular for a short time.The 1974 gas crisis evenually lead to government requirements that all passenger vehicles (not including pickup trucks, initially) in a manufacturer's mix must achieve a combined AVERAGE of 27.5 miles per gallon by a certain year (1985 I think?). As people adjusted to higher gasoline prices, and manufacturers lobbied Congress, the mileage rules were eventually relaxed and mostly forgotten.As consumers tired of small cramped vehicles with good gas mileage, but disgusting performance, they started looking at the (primarily Japanese) imports in earnest. Hence the rise of Toyota and Honda (and many others). Since pickup trucks were exempt from mileage requirements in the beginning, Detroit kept building them with V8's. Beginning in the early 1990's, they 'invented SUV's by putting 'luxury' interiors into 4WD trucks, eventually giving them 4 doors in one manner or another, and priced and marketed them as deluxe family sedans, rather than work vehicles. High profit margins encouraged them to keep building them, even as gas prices slowly inched up. 18-20 mpg highway still isn't bad for a 3-ton 6-passenger vehicle with a 6.5 liter V8 and 4 wheel drive.Whew!Oh yeah. 30 mpg highway has been my 'magic number' since 1974!