1976 Datsun When it was all about the MPG

[barengeist.livejournal.com]

It's funny how the mileage numbers have slipped over the years. We should be getting about 160 MPG by now.

Comments

[erik]

I certainly agree that we should be getting better mileage than we are by now. But in about 1984 (if I remember the date right) the EPA significantly changed the methods they used to calculate the MPG estimates. 50MPG in '76 is about 40MPG today (more or less. It doesn't actually directly convert.) And then emissions control systems came and added another, smaller (actual) mileage reduction.

Roughly speaking, mileage stayed flat from the late 80s through the early 2000s. Which is horrible; it should have been getting better and better. But it hasn't actually gone down.

[badgerpdx.livejournal.com]

Actually, this was a VERY optimistic figure... realistically, 30 would have been pretty good in this car. My best girlfriend had one...