Why a 2008 civic gets worse mileage than a 1996 civic

[mechromancer]

I just saw that a group of "concerned consumers" are pushing to increase the design factor of car roofs from 1.5 to 2.5. Their claim is that it will prevent 14 to 18 rollover deaths per year. It's also going to probably add 200-400 lbs to your average car

Comments

[busy_little_b]

yeah, beyond the fact that all of our cars are needlessly overpowered.

[jakari]

Mini Cooper, curb weight is about 2600 pounds. They actually trimmed the weight for the 2008 model year. And soon it will be mine, oh yes my precious.

Granted, if it was made 20 years ago, it probably would be more like 1900 pounds.

Then you have the Smart, at 1600 pounds... it really should get much better mileage though.

It's kinda funny that my Honda Element weights 300 pounds more than my Jeep Cherokee did. Then again, Seymour Cray rolled his Cherokee and died of head injuries a few days later, and the flimsy A-pillars on the XJ sure didn't help. That was actually a major reason I traded it in.

That being said, it'd be nice if people could actually have a choice in their vehicles. Like, I'd be thrilled to have no airbags, but be able to choose a better harness and seat instead. Or maybe see aluminum and composites come more into production, even if they cost more.

Yeah...

[neolae]

Giving that I'm like figuring out how to purchase property and get a job that are close enough to one another that I can bike or use absolute minimum gas this is pretty pertinent.

Do you think we'll even be able to fly in like 10 years?