I wholly agree… not that I have to. hose whose job it is to find this stuff out basically say that most cars today would get upwards of 50% better f/econ if they weighed as much as cars did in the 1960 and 1970s. Now granted those cars were not nearly as gadget-laden or overbuilt (being the key word) for crash worthiness, a good tube steel roll cage would work just as well and weigh far less.

Imagine a 4200lb CHALLENGER being rebuilt to weight 3200lbs. You could sue the same engines available to it now and get and easy 5-10 more mpgs and that’s being conservative.

One of the biggest transformational revolutions we are really waiting for is the use of more advanced structures and materials to cut weight while retaining safety and NOT costing a bloody fortune to mass produce.

Sh_t! even supercars are weighing more and more. Used to be that a car made mainly of Carbon Fiber was an instant guarantee that it weighed well less than 3000 lbs. Gadgets are smaller and lighter than ever. Sound deadening material weighs next to nothing now, and safety equipment can be better designed to weigh far less (Gotta stop outsourcing those parts).

I’m not sure when but somewhere along the line we decided that it was okay for our cars to weigh more for no good reason. I’m a big fan of Hybrids but weigh reduction would be very helpful as well.

I don’t want to drive smaller cars, just more smartly designed and engineered cars.

I’m not sure how useful a 12 mile range would be, I myself travel 20+ miles a day (Round trip) to work and back. And in my area (Northern VA) that’s a SHORT commute. I guess it depends on how efficient that gas motor is at recharging the battery.

This SX4 GEV (Gas-Electric Vehicle) looks like a dumpy little box. They couldn’t even decide which front end to put on it. The AWD sport version is cool though but it isn’t this. No one will give that car the time of day. The VOLT is a sexy hunk of family friendly futuristic.

I doubt the SX4 GEV will beat 60mpg, falling off a cliff. While the VOLT will beat 80mpg actual going uphill in a head wind, towing a small boat.

The SX4 GEV gets only 12 miles on a charge. That should keep the costs down. But the returns will be rather unimpressive for the investment. If it comes in at the same price and the PRIUS or INSIGHT it’ll be slaughtered. The VOLT will go 40 miles on a charge. Tax incentives will knock the cost of a VOLT down to the low to mid $30Ks, about on par with loaded CAMRY and FUSION Hybrids. What no Accord? Oh, yeah! HONDA couldn’t cut it.

Buy Imports? Why would I when they obviously can’t come up with anything good first and when we do follow them we do it better (Reference FORD FUSION Hybrid)?