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October 23, 2008
Top Retro Fuel-Sippers
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
I’m a fan of the econoboxes from the last fuel crisis, so I was stoked to discover that Popular Mechanics is running an article that breaks down in detail the best high-mpg beaters of the last couple of decades. I even think it’s kind of slick that the Honda Insight, clearly a future classic, qualifies as "retro." The rest of the lineup is predominantly 70s and 80s, and my only suggestion is that there should be another vintage diesel or two on the list—the VW pickup is a great choice for token truck, but it doesn’t come close to the 50 mpg combined that diesel hatches of the day could easily get. Read the whole article here.
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SpeedCanHurt
Oct 27, 2008 at 11:11 pm
The other great thing about these cars is the lack of crap that brand-new cars have to have in them, like safety, emission controls, speed limiters etc. It all adds up to a lot. Recently bought an old Datsun 120 with a 1200cc motor in it, weighed about 700kg, and got amazing fuel economy, many times better than my 94 Camry.
GTwildfire
Oct 25, 2008 at 4:00 am
Retro… The Mustang II mainly saved on gas because they sat in driveways broken down for 90 percent of the time before they were hauled away, lol…
JoshuaS
Oct 24, 2008 at 4:43 am
Nothing can be a good late 70’s honda with a cvcc engine. Drive it for a while, save some gas. Then when all is said and done, you have about $1700 and a car that you can make into a $200x contest winner.
Gary Faules
Oct 24, 2008 at 2:53 am
I love this old Honda TV Commercial…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJTYfAAMBqM&
Christopher
Oct 24, 2008 at 2:47 am
i had an ‘89 Plymouth Horizon that was pretty good on gas!
cknarf
Oct 24, 2008 at 2:07 am
there it is.
MY HONDA!
Yes, I’d kill for one of those.
There’s one in town but it costs too much and its 90% rust.
retroman
Oct 24, 2008 at 1:08 am
If they had extended the list, I suppose the Pinto, Mustang II, Escort, Chevette, Festiva, Chrysler K-cars, and VW bug would have all found a place on there. I appollogize that 4/7 I named are Fords and all but one are domestics, but I admit to being partial. By the way the only thing that is seperates a 1986 Civic from a 2008 Civic is it’s size. The ‘08 is a cow in contrast to its ancestor. Fuel economy is the same. All the fuel economy hype and ads just don’t convince me. Why aren’t companies doing more to improve in that department?