84 mpg

[Zeph]

I'm watching the history channel right now waiting for better things to come on other channels. They just showed some old Volkswagon Beetle advertisements from the sixties. One of them advertised the Beetle as getting 84 mpg. Does anyone know if this is indeed 84 miles per gallon or is it something else? I'd like to know how an engine from 40 years ago could get about twice the fuel efficiency as today's vehicles.

/me doesn't know much about cars, but would like his car to get 84 miles per gallon.

[Hotrod]

Well, cars back then didn't have really powerful engines, so they used less gas. These days, you have those damn Hummers that use more gas than a Lamborghini, it's not even funny. Then again, I might be wrong.

[Emmzee]

The old Beetles had smaller engines and were generally smaller cars than the sub-compacts of today.

[Con]

A model T is about as efficient as a VW Passat Wagon btw

[Emmzee]

A model T is about as efficient as a VW Passat Wagon btw
Except Model Ts used leaded gasoline, which gets better mileage than unleaded.

[DrunkenSamus]

Trust me, those old German VWs were very fuel efficient. My brother has one that he uses regularly and its like a hybrid.

[DOMINATOR]

first of all the entire car weighed 1600 lbs. sedans now days are around 3100+ lbs.
the engine was small... 50 horsepower, 1600 cc, basically it was tiny and didn't require much power to make it go. the engine was aircooled flat 4 (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Volkswagen_motor_cut_1945.JPG).

[4RT1LL3RY]

Well those Volkswagons only had a top speed of what 50ish MPH?

Theres a weird thing called the Aperta, it has 3 whells, has a top speed of 95MPH and gets 300 MPG. Its actually considered a motorcycle but its shaped like a flying saucer.
300MPG
It was in Popular Science this month.

[Phopojijo]

The major limitations of an engine are how hot they burn and how cool the radiator is.

A 100% efficient engine would have a radiator which cools it to absolute zero... and it would burn at infinity degrees (Kelvin, Celsius, Fahrenheit, Rankine -- who cares... absolute zero and infinity... kinda hard to get confused :p)

Yea -- it's not going to happen.

Mostly you'd prefer to recover efficiency in the drive train, wheels, brakes, etc. That means better design and less weight if possible.

Just had thermodynamics exam -- can't you tell? :p

[Mr Buckshot]

If I remember correctly, engines used leaded petrol back then (until lead's toxic qualities were fully realized) which was more efficient. They may have also used diesel (which is coming back to consumer cars especially select Mercedes models) which combusts more efficiently than petrol.

[Gamerkd16]

Well those Volkswagons only had a top speed of what 50ish MPH?

Theres a weird thing called the Aptera, it has 3 whells, has a top speed of 95MPH and gets 300 MPG. Its actually considered a motorcycle but its shaped like a flying saucer.
300MPG
It was in Popular Science this month.

ftfy:)