Cash for Clunkers, and Healthcare.

[NJ5]

HappySqurriel said:

NJ5 said:

HappySqurriel according to the articles I've read the criteria for this program are pretty strict, the car you give up has to do less than 18 miles per gallon (and the new one above some other amount).

According to my calculations in European units that's 13 liters per 100km, which is... terrible mileage compared to today's cars.

 

Most mid/full sized sedans on the market today are only (optimisitically) rated at 11L/km city driving, and more realistically get 12L/km or worse in real world driving conditions. Compared to sub-compacts like the Honda Fit this is awful, but a large portion of fuel economy is simply the weight of the car, and we haven't seen much of an improvement within the classes of cars when it comes to fuel economy.

When you compare this to European cars you also have to consider that Europe primarily uses Diesel fuel where you can travel much further on a single liter of fuel than you can with gasoline.

I think you're overestimating the fuel consumption of new cars... A few years ago my father sold our Alfa Romeo 155 which was using way too much fuel, and that was like 10-11 liters per 100 km at most (not a diesel car).

Right now he has a diesel car (Nissa Primera full-sized) which uses 5-7 liters per 100 km, I bet a gasoline one doesn't use more than 9 liters even in city driving.