And you dont ****ing get it. The only reason there is 70mpg cars is because of government regulation since there has been zero incentive the last 50+ years to do jack**** on gas mileage. Like it or not, the best thing for society in the short, medium and long term will ALWAYS be to get the most out of the least amount of oil, but the opposite is for both oil companies and car companies. The less they run per gallon the better for the oil companies, and the less money car companies have to use on R&D to make new engines that are more efficient.
And that is how it has gone in the US. Cars have become bigger and bigger, with more cup holders and food placement areas, and bigger seats for bigger asses, but the mileage and performance has gone no where for 40 years. In fact the official average mileage per gallon has gone from 20 to 22 in 21 years.. WOW that is the free market for ya!
If we had let it up to the "market" after the 1970s oil crisis, then we would be in the same boat as the US today on mileage. But no our politicians were wise to force through minimum standards and today Europeans benefit hugely from this.
For example.. right now the gas price here is 1.30ish euro per litre.. that is abit under 5 dollars a US gallon. Now my 10 year old VW goes about 18 km on the litre, which is 68.4 km on a gallon, which is about 42 miles per gallon.. on a 10 year old car. Now according to your own government, the average US passenger car gets 22.6 miles per gallon. So that means that the average US car has use 2 gallons when I use one.. which means with the average US fuel price of 3.86 dollars per gallon, that an average American uses 7.72 dollars to go the approx same distance per gallon as I use my abit under 5 dollars..
So I ask again.. who got the better deal here? And again, I say.. my car is 10 years old.. if I bought a modern car today, the mileage per gallon would be much improved.. especially if I bought a diesel.