As a kid, my dad’s ‘79 Rabbit Diesel got 55 MPG. We had our own fueling tank at home. We were all set.
Seems that 14 MPG improvement is not much in 30 years.
The emissions are quite an improvement, though.
The problems have been with environmental controls. That took mileage away. Now with new technology, common rail fuel injection, piezo fuel injectors, extreme high pressure pumps and computer controls those problems have been overcome............
You're completely right, but remember improvements like that become exponentially more difficult.
Also, the new TDI is a vastly better vehicle than the 79 Rabbit.
In the late '70s, American car company management were afraid to put 4-speeds into higher production, because they were convinced that the average person would not or could not drive something so complicated (really). Now we are talking about 7 speeds -- automatics, I'm sure, but this kind of complexity used to be dismissed at the outset.
And that was a rational thing. The reliability was not good enough then. Now it is.
The high price of oil will do what it is supposed to: make alternatives realistic. It will now remain for Western consumers to break through the psychological barriers, and opt for the technical solutions. There will certainly be mis-starts and technologies that are not right, but once the barrier is breached, a real solution will emerge.
Oil may go down in price again, but the point about high mileage vehicles is that they are a hedge against price volatility.
Seems that 14 MPG improvement is not much in 30 years.
Except that thirty years later the New Golf is heavier and much faster that the wabbit of ‘79
Lurking’