Cheap High MPG Cars 1978 - 1981

Here's a link to a very interesting MPG table for 1978 -1981 cars:

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/08/super-cheap-high-mpg-cars-1978-1981/

These light-weight econo-boxes were developed the last time we had skyrocketing gas prices; many were popular in Rally.


Hmmmmm..... we don't need no stinking $20K hybrid.
Now buy good old TSD car, maybe.
Heh, kemosobe?

Cool list of cars. Informative. I was thinking about that the other day. Many of the ol' econoboxes make great rally cars. No wonder my cars don't get any respect from people. They were born econoboxes. Maybe it really is true, it's impossible to escape the class you were born into here in America.

Two of my cars are on the list.
KP61 Starlet WINS !!!
1981 TOYOTA STARLET 1.3L 36 CITY 50 HIGHWAY

With 277K miles my 82 Starlet still averages about 42mpg on regular fuel.

The Mazda GLC was on the list as well. GLC = 323 <--pretty much
My GTX gets bout 30mpg, highest ever was 35, but it runs on high test. And most the time I don't get much better than 20mpg cos I can't keep my foot out of it.

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Michael LeCompte



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2008 11:13PM by pikespeakgtx.

Rich Smith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here's a link to a very interesting MPG table for
> 1978 -1981 cars:
>
>
>
> These light-weight econo-boxes were developed the
> last time we had skyrocketing gas prices; many
> were popular in Rally.
>


They weren't "developed" so much as "people briefly took them seriously".

Briefly.

I'm told that in April, cars finally outsold trucks in the US again.

What we're experiencing in the oil market is a speculation bubble, and I suspect that when the bubble bursts, everyone's going to rush back to crappy fuel economy trucks, or whatever the craze by then will be.

Like last time.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

I love how young I am. I look at that list, and I have NEVER seen some of those cars. Ever.

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

In reality most of the cars on that list barely would get the city rating on the hiway. I used to sell AMC/Chrysler/Datsun stuff in the 70's. The 6 cyl cars had an EPA hiway rating of 30 mpg or so. In reality they were lucky to get 20 on a good day. Datsun pickups usually mid 20's on the road, unless it was the 1974 model 1800cc disaster. That wouldn't even get 20.

heymagic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In reality most of the cars on that list barely
> would get the city rating on the hiway. I used to
> sell AMC/Chrysler/Datsun stuff in the 70's. The 6
> cyl cars had an EPA hiway rating of 30 mpg or so.
> In reality they were lucky to get 20 on a good
> day. Datsun pickups usually mid 20's on the road,
> unless it was the 1974 model 1800cc disaster. That
> wouldn't even get 20.

Yeah I've known people with many of those cars and the "claimed milages" were pretty silly.
But truth is SOME of those lighter cars , especially the injection ones, did get much better milage than 90s car just by being lighter.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Gene,

I commuted 268,000 miles in a rwd 1979 Mazda GLC. The MPG rating they show is Spot-On. (Never had a head off it. Finally drove it to the wrecking yard on 3-cyl. when everything else was completely worn out.) It was a great car.

That 1978-81 list is all 4 cylinder engines. Most 1600cc or smaller. I think there MPG ratings may be a little optimistic, but not by more than about 5mpg. There are many no-brainer lessons to be remembered from that list:

1. There is no substitute for light-weight and small-displacement.
2. Luxury features add a LOT of weight. Nobody NEEDS it.
3. Techno-gagets can be taken completely out of the equation.
4. Performance and Fuel economy are NOT complimentary.
5. You can still get what you NEED with basic technology.

This was basic transportation. And we should remember that almost anyone could fix there own car; and parts were cheap.

NO-FRILLS + light-weight + small displacement = LOWEST COST.
(Everything else is Testosterone or fluff.)

Rich Smith

Some of the cars are close. 40 mpg is vastly different than 50 mpg. I wonder if a few of those were diesel, like the Rabbit and possibly Nissan pickup. We've had several Metros. Never got better than mid 40's. Wife used to drive a 1996 200SX. 1.6 , door locks, sunroof, pwindows etc. She got 35mpg on the road. She's much nicer than I am...I got about 28.

Light weight is definitely a huge consideration for mpg and helps a bunch on rally cars also.

For sure, some of the Rabbits were. Notice that they were listed twice

My Golf beats the EPA ratings for the presumably-gas Rabbits by a decent amount. I have yet to have a tank with under 30mpg. I've seen 45, but fuel is still too cheap for me to bother not driving 80 with the A/C set to "stun". It still gets about 36-37 when you do that...

And it has luxuries like air conditioning, and the shift lever isn't in a different county!

---

Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

Pete Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm told that in April, cars finally outsold
> trucks in the US again.
>
> What we're experiencing in the oil market is a
> speculation bubble, and I suspect that when the
> bubble bursts, everyone's going to rush back to
> crappy fuel economy trucks, or whatever the craze
> by then will be.
>
> Like last time.

I couldn't agree more.

Personally I hate how pickup trucks have somehow gotten cool. They're getting less and less practical for actual work all the time because of this (not to mention more expensive).

They're quite possibly the worst form of "personal transportation" out there.. so I just don't get it.. ah well. Macho!

Why doesn't Dodge put a diesel in the Dakota? now that would be nice.

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

I've noticed quite a lot of trucks and suv's popping up on the roadside for sale lately.

Carl S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've noticed quite a lot of trucks and suv's
> popping up on the roadside for sale lately.


Good. My blood boils when I see a 90 lbs person driving the biggest SUV / Truck made.

The other day the boys started talking in the office about the whole if you had 100k to buy any vehicle nonsense.. and the only guy in the office who has trouble using a screwdriver chose a 1 ton Dodge.

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish