3 ms·

I rather find the trend going upwards. My 2002 VW Golf 4 Variant (station wagon) consumes 5-6l/100km(47-39MPG) (Diesel), and I often drive rather fast and furio

I rather find the trend going upwards. My 2002 VW Golf 4 Variant (station wagon) consumes 5-6l/100km(47-39MPG) (Diesel), and I often drive rather fast and furious, can get it down to 4,5l (52MPG) by slowing a bit down. Try to find a current car that size and power (1,3tons empty, 100hp) consuming less (measured, not the manufacturers claims). The downwards trend is not coming from similar vehicles slurping less, but from more people buying extremely small cars, like VW Up. At least in Germany. All my humble opinion.

trgn 9y ago
Absolutely a factor. Fuel efficiency gains gets wasted on a lot of car models as they got larger and heavier. And it's larger and heavier cars that are the top sellers now (not just US, even in Europe cars are more bloated on the whole than 20 years ago). Government should tax cars by weight. The heavier a car is, all other things being equal, the greater it's negative externalities. Heavy vehicles cause more road wear&tear, take up more street parking space, are more dangerous to other road users if an accident occurs, reduce visibility more greatly for other road users, worse for the environment. In the large car arms race, everybody is a loser. Plus, smaller cars are just more fun to own and drive, heh!