High Mileage vehicles

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MoneyJohn

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First of all apologies if this is wrong place, but the community here is well experienced and have hardly seen any knee-jerk replies, hence posting here.

I just came back from a month-long travel in India. My brother has Nissan Sunny, that pretty much looks like Nissan versa exterior, but interiors are much better. He has a diesel (shift stick) version and gets 24 km/liter, thats like 56 miles/gallon. I was totally blown away. We drove about 1000 miles in a month and I calculated myself (rather than relying on car indicator).

My 2006 Sentra gives me ~20 miles/gallon, and I don't see the numbers changing much even in the new cars. I am really curious why such engines are not introduced in the US, esp. when we drive a ton more than any average Indian car user.

Thanks in advance.
 
Well, VW is having increasing good luck selling diesel cars in the US. I think we are as a country remebering the horror of the diesel cars GM tried to sell in the late 70's-early 80's. They took gasoline engines and just turned them into diesels. They broke down, were smoky/smelly and just generally turend off buyers who thou8ght that was the way all diesel cars were. I have had a diesel Passt now for over a year and love it. Our best trip mpg to date has been 58 mpg driving from central PA to Staunton VA in the Shenandoah Valley.. I plan to replace my pickup (I bought it for hunting but age and bad knees have curtailed that activity somewhat) with a diesel Jetta Sportwagen.

Just to show how the US manufacturers still view diesels, I stopped by our local Chevrolet dealer to look at a diesel Cruze. "No, we don't have one for you to drive or look at. They don't sell well so we don't have one in stock." Well, if you don't have them in stock, you surely won't sell any.
 
The Us has much stricter standards for pollution as well that we pay for. Cars will sell much cheaper in India and some other countries as well due to this. This also tends to give better mileage.
 
I've had 9 4-bangers and 1 5-cyl diesel since 1970, and all got low 20s mpg in town, low 30s on the highway @ 70+mph....the current Camry gets mid-20s, mid-30s...not a lot of improvement in 45 years, mpg-wise...though the car is much better over-all.
 
Originally Posted By: KitaCam
I've had 9 4-bangers and 1 5-cyl diesel since 1970, and all got low 20s mpg in town, low 30s on the highway @ 70+mph....the current Camry gets mid-20s, mid-30s...not a lot of improvement in 45 years, mpg-wise...though the car is much better over-all.

The mileage may have stayed the same, but the cars have gotten heavier. More standard luxury features and increased government safety regulations have increased the size of cars significantly. Most compacts now weigh 3000 lbs or close to it. My son's new Dart weighs 3200 lbs, only about 200 lbs lighter than my '94 Bonneville. Cars now get great mileage with all the extra weight they have to carry, no comparison to the old days. If anyone could legally produce a 2000 lb compact, they could get 60 mpg on gas with a modern DI engine. Highway mileage is more dependent on aero as opposed to weight.
 
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: KitaCam
I've had 9 4-bangers and 1 5-cyl diesel since 1970, and all got low 20s mpg in town, low 30s on the highway @ 70+mph....the current Camry gets mid-20s, mid-30s...not a lot of improvement in 45 years, mpg-wise...though the car is much better over-all.

The mileage may have stayed the same, but the cars have gotten heavier. More standard luxury features and increased government safety regulations have increased the size of cars significantly. Most compacts now weigh 3000 lbs or close to it. My son's new Dart weighs 3200 lbs, only about 200 lbs lighter than my '94 Bonneville. Cars now get great mileage with all the extra weight they have to carry, no comparison to the old days. If anyone could legally produce a 2000 lb compact, they could get 60 mpg on gas with a modern DI engine. Highway mileage is more dependent on aero as opposed to weight.


+1
 
The average speed of a vehicle in India is significantly less than in USA and so are the safety standard. I am sure you must have seen quite a few roadside carnage of what happens when a Tata semi meets a Nissan Sunny.
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: KitaCam
I've had 9 4-bangers and 1 5-cyl diesel since 1970, and all got low 20s mpg in town, low 30s on the highway @ 70+mph....the current Camry gets mid-20s, mid-30s...not a lot of improvement in 45 years, mpg-wise...though the car is much better over-all.

The mileage may have stayed the same, but the cars have gotten heavier. More standard luxury features and increased government safety regulations have increased the size of cars significantly. Most compacts now weigh 3000 lbs or close to it. My son's new Dart weighs 3200 lbs, only about 200 lbs lighter than my '94 Bonneville. Cars now get great mileage with all the extra weight they have to carry, no comparison to the old days. If anyone could legally produce a 2000 lb compact, they could get 60 mpg on gas with a modern DI engine. Highway mileage is more dependent on aero as opposed to weight.


+1


IDK.
In comparing our 2.4 liter Accord with the 2.4 liter MB 123 diesels we've had, these cars are are of similar weight and while the Honda makes nearly three times the horsepower, it is the more economical car cruising along at any decent highway speed.
Of course, normally aspirated MB diesels were so underpowered that you spent most of your miles on the richer part of the rack, so fuel economy wasn't destined to be very good. The turbos were certainly better in power and fuel economy.
OTOH, no Accord rides or handles like a W123.
 
There have been a few threads asking this question,
Here is one

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3341515/Re:_300_mpg_vw#Post3341515

As I state, there ARE Full sized, Fully equipped SUV's getting very high MPG's even when driven at high speed.

But not in North America!
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Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: bigt61
Originally Posted By: KitaCam
I've had 9 4-bangers and 1 5-cyl diesel since 1970, and all got low 20s mpg in town, low 30s on the highway @ 70+mph....the current Camry gets mid-20s, mid-30s...not a lot of improvement in 45 years, mpg-wise...though the car is much better over-all.

The mileage may have stayed the same, but the cars have gotten heavier. More standard luxury features and increased government safety regulations have increased the size of cars significantly. Most compacts now weigh 3000 lbs or close to it. My son's new Dart weighs 3200 lbs, only about 200 lbs lighter than my '94 Bonneville. Cars now get great mileage with all the extra weight they have to carry, no comparison to the old days. If anyone could legally produce a 2000 lb compact, they could get 60 mpg on gas with a modern DI engine. Highway mileage is more dependent on aero as opposed to weight.


+1


This is why you will want to figure tons per mile per gallon. Some of the newer cars are amazingly efficient...
 
I have posted this link before

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/nissan/nissan-qashqai/

FWTW this SUV/crossover weighs typically over 4000lbs GVW and
will get over 40 U.S. MPG when driven at 90 MPH

It's not exceptional, it just happens to be a vehicle that I have rented for a few weeks.

And people in NA are impressed if there Corvette or saloon car gets over 30 mpg at a steady 50mph
21.gif


Like the OP suggests, WE DON"T GET EFFICIENT CARS HERE, AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC ARE IGNORANT OF THAT!
 
Last edited:
Good points....I did say that the Camry was better...and better because of all the add-on technology that does add weight...
...and the full-size Camry with MT weighs in at only 3100 pounds...a really lightweight full-size...
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: KitaCam
Good points....I did say that the Camry was better...and better because of all the add-on technology that does add weight...
...and the full-size Camry with MT weighs in at only 3100 pounds...a really lightweight full-size...


These days that is amazingly lightweight for a modern car. I do note that Cadillac and Mazda seem to have noticed that issue, Ford is coming out with the aluminum bodied PU, I'm sure others are coming to the party...
 
I am always amazed when I go to Europe the crazy gas mileage I can get, of course fuel costs make up the difference. The question is would I drive a diesel Renault Clio if it were offered here - I don't think I would.
 
As a runabout, I still like my Jetta. But I'm not sure i would like much to drop down a size in car size nor engine size. And to be honest, if I were to replace my Jetta and my truck with but one vehicle, mpg would no longer be number one on my list.
 
Originally Posted By: CBR.worm
I am always amazed when I go to Europe the crazy gas mileage I can get, of course fuel costs make up the difference. The question is would I drive a diesel Renault Clio if it were offered here - I don't think I would.


Can you explain why?

Would you find the Clio too small, or underpowered campared to what you are used to?

Personally I like the torque charicteristics of the modern Diesels very much FOR EVERYDAY USE
But if you like to wind up the engine and use the RPM's for sporty driving, you would likely find them lacking.

We have a Toyota Matrix, I would LOVE a small (1.3-1.5L) Diesel in that car
BECAUSE of the way it's used.
I don't want a High Winding VVT gas engine in my commuter/grocery getter.
 
I don't want high-winding period. If it's powerful, all you can do is merge onto a highway faster--and then you have to get off it, as you can't wind it out and not run afoul of the law. If it's gutless, then it's just a noisemaker, and annoying to have to drive that hard.

A low rpm torquey diesel... Puts the power where I want it.
 
Mazda released the CX5 with a 2.0L engine that got 34mpg hwy with the manual trans.
Biggest complaint among all reviewers? Lack of power.

'mericans want their big cars/trucks/suvs and their big engines. And then they want to complain about high gas prices.
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