I bought a new car (Opel Kadett 1.6) 20 years ago in 1988. According to the handbook it should manage 20 km per litre. I look at the latest equivalent car from Opel (Astra 1.6 Twinport) and it manages only 16 km per litre. I would have thought that after 20 years of "research and development" that cars would be up to about 50 km per litre. Anyone know why manufacturers have made their engines worse instead?
Why do cars have so poor mileage nowadays?
Engines are *way* more efficient nowadays. Now check the weight difference between your two cars. I bet the modern one weighs 500-1000 lbs more. Part of it's consumer demand, most of it is safety requirements that make cars big and fat.
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