[ppf]

The Fiat 500 from 1957 got 43mpg. Imagine what could be done, if car manufacturers were not focussed on the lease market, meeting the newest emissions regulations (more relevant in Europe), and filling cars with electronic toys.

[user-the-name]

Renault Twingo III gets 66 mpg, while having much more space and being generally more useful.

[ppf]

Yep, there are modern engines that will do that. I was using the example of an older engine, because they are generally much more fixable (which was OP's original point).

[user-the-name]

But my point is, the equivalent today gets a lot better milage, and the reason why has lots to do with why it is not fixable.

[ppf]

Yes, modern engines are optimised for fuel and emissions efficiency to within an inch of their lives. This was my entire point - we could move a couple of people in a Fiat 500 and get 43mpg, in 1957. Without the incentives I mentioned in my first post, we could easily make an engine much more efficient than that, and fixable.

[ppf]

As you ignored my comment on our other discussion, and continue the conversation here - I also assume you have electric heating and hot water at your house. After all, everyone needs to do everything possible to reduce fossil fuel usage, right?

[busterarm]

But it's so much more complex than the 50+ year old Fiat 500 that the home mechanic can no longer work on it.