What was the average miles per gallon achieved by cars in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s?

Question

I'm wondering how much cars have improved over the years in terms of mpg. Are we really doing much better now? It would be fascinating to find out how well a model T did on gas and compare that to a Prius, as unfair as that may be. Was there an outstanding car in years gone by that achieved great gas mileage? What was the best car of every decade in terms of high gas mileage?

Answer 1

The Model T got between 15 and 20 MPG, not much better than a HUmmer

Answer 2

No one really cared back then, because even by their standards, gas was cheap. But in reality, it hasn't changed all that much, because there were cars all over the size and economy spectrum even in the early 20th century. You had Deusenbergs and others that had monster motors that got maybe ten miles per gallon, and you had Volkswagens that got probably close to, maybe even more than thirty. The same is true now, except the cars have changed. Now it's not Deusenbergs and Volkswagens, it's Hummers and Priuses. You MIGHT see 40 miles per gallon in real-world driving, so the fact is that in over 100 years of manufacturing cars, the world has increased average fuel economy MAYBE 20-25 percent overall, and that's a very liberal estimate. The biggest difference isn't really in fuel economy, but in power and emissions. Those are the areas where we have made the most progress. You would have to dig through lots of records, some of them conflicting, to find out which car in each decade got the best mileage, but you can substantially narrow down your search and figure that almost NO car built by a domestic manufacturer (GM, Ford, or Chrysler) was even close, and most likely the highest MPG was and is achieved by Volkswagen, Honda, Nissan, or Toyota. Prior to the 1960s, no one cared, so efficient cars often didn't last long because no one bought them. At least not in the U.S. market. Volkswagen was pretty much the only one for many years. Overseas is a different story. That's where all the small gas-sipping cars originated.

Answer 3

Back in the 80's I had a 'Datsun' 310 GX  that got almost 40 miles to the gallon...the speed limit was 55 and it took the car 20+ seconds to get to 55.

Answer 4

I think mileage was on the way up, stumbled back down during the late 90's early 2000's when people thought big dumb SUV's were the ticket, now its climbing back up.

But a 1960 Ford F100 with a 6 cyl. and a 3 speed could get 20mpg

A 2007 Ford Ranger with a 4cyl. and a 5 speed can get 20mpg

Why?  I don't know.

The most efficient, still inexpensive (unlike a prius) and still very reliable vehicle ever made has got to be a Geo Metro with a 3 cyl. and a 5 speed, they claimed to get 51mpg, but in real world testing going 60mph you can manage to get 62mpg.  I have seen them at over 300,000 miles still on the original engine, clutch, cv joints, radio, transmission, exhaust, etc.  Typically a Metro goes about 80,000 miles on a set of brake pads, and about 60,000 miles on cheap tires.  The most demanding part of the vehicle is changing the oil, they run best with oil changes in the 2,000-2,500 mile range.  Never tried putting a long life synthetic in, might be worth it.  I have heard a lot of people claim Metro's were c**p, which they were cheaply made, but they were not c**p like a Pinto or a Vega or a Yugo.  The do if oil changes are not given start to develop a really rough idle.  And suprisingly, in a car crash they do very well, I saw one get hit by a big rig on the news and the people inside were fine.