What's The Difference Between 1986 and 2011?

Hi Everyone:

So there I was last week cleaning out the basement, when I came across some old Consumer Reports magazines. As I was placing them in brown paper bags for recycling, I found the 1986 Cars issue. I was curious so see the difference between cars made in 1986 and today.

I know that major safety innovations such as anti-lock brakes, stability control, computers and air bags etc. that are available on almost all new cars today weren't available 25 years ago. So I decided to check out the fuel economy of 25 years ago. What I had forgotten was that there were a lot of cars that got very good gas mileage. Granted the down side was that some of those high gas mileage cars were not all that good overall. But check these out:

Small cars:

Chevy Chevette- 24 city / 48 highway
Chevy Nova - 24 46
Chevy Sprint- 37 59
Dodge Colt- 23 45
Ford Escort- 21 41
Honda Civic- 22 39
Mazda 323- 22 42
Nissan Sentra- 24 45
Toyota Corolla- 23 48

Compact cars:

Chevy Cavalier- 16 35
Ford Tempo- 19 41
Honda Accord- 19 40
Mazda 626- 20 38
Toyota Camry- 23 46

Medium cars:

Audi 5000S- 15 25
Buick Century- 15 39
Dodge Aries- 19 32
Ford T-Bird- 16 29
Pontiac 6000- 15 29

The list goes on and includes large cars. I realize that with new safety features, computers, larger wheels and tires comes added weight, which in turn has meant less fuel economy. But in 25 years of technological advancements, why can't car manufacturers make cars that get at least 50 mpg? Yes, I know that there are a few hybrids and pure electric cars that get that kind of mileage, by not including them, we seem to be stuck at the 35+/- mpg. Why? I believe that the issue is the higher horsepower of our new cars. Cars with high horse power get worse gas mileage. The introduction of SUV's, minivans and huge high output V8 engines didn't help gas mileage either.

But one would think that 25 years later in 2011, we would have more cars that get better mileage then previously. Unfortunately that is not the case and now we are more dependant on foreign oil then 25 years ago. With the price of gasoline hitting $4.00/gallon twice in the past 2-3 years, I am pretty sure that the American public is now ready to buy higher mileage cars. Common sense should now dictate that car manufacturers think outside the box to develop very high mileage cars. My own belief is that hydrogen fuel cells are the way to go. Only time will tell though.

Til next week.

Peter