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> Fuel efficiency is worse in older cars On fleet-wide average, for sure. But not for all cars. One of my cars (daily commuter pre-pandemic) is a late 80s Hon
by jjav 6y ago
> Fuel efficiency is worse in older cars
On fleet-wide average, for sure. But not for all cars.
One of my cars (daily commuter pre-pandemic) is a late 80s Honda CRX, it gets nearly 40 MPG. Even in 2021 many (probably most) cars can't match that kind of efficiency.
(Energy cost per mile is lower than for my partner's electric Fiat 500e!)
The car that makes me sad and almost angry is the original CRX HF (mine is not an HF). This is a car that got over 50MPG with mid-80s engine technology!
https://jalopnik.com/1986-honda-crx-hf-393147 https://jalopnik.com/1986-honda-crx-hf-393147
If Honda had continued developing the HF engine, what kind of mileage could an evolved 2021 CRX HF be getting today? We'll never know, but I'd guess over 70MPG.
- roywashere 6y agoYes! I owned a Honda Civic 1996 with VTEC petrol engine and it had the same fuel efficiency as my current Prius.
- rsj_hn 6y agoHonda has done some amazing things with engine design, and they are catching up to Toyota in terms of reliability as well. 2018 Honda Accord - 4 door sedan - I4 has 45 mpg in real world driving. https://www.truedelta.com/Honda-Accord/mpg-108 https://www.truedelta.com/Honda-Accord/mpg-108
- kumarsw 6y agoThere were a lot more smaller car models in the 80s-90s which makes a difference. It also helps that older cars are less likely to be 4WD/AWG. Finally, a MT will be more efficient than a torque-converter automatic with the same number of speeds. As a ranty aside: You are not safer in an older car because they usually have lousy side-impact ratings. Also, the cyber-security issues of newer cars are overstated. While new cars have many computers, outside of what's in the head unit these aren't general purpose computers, but rather are running code bare-meta, don't communicate on anything other than a can bus or i2c and follow a decentralized architecture. Car manufacturers are extremely conservative in their designs. There have been documented issues like the Jeep Cherokee head unit being able to send arbitrary messages over CAN via the head unit cellular link but but all current car models have telematics.