Tuesday, May 16, 2006

What happened to the 1300FE?

I was talking to Nessie last night and we got on the conversation of good gas mileage cars. I told her about my first new car: a Honda Civic 1300FE. I wonfer what happened to that engine technology and why we are no longer seeing cars with that type of efficient design.

You see, the 1300FE was extraordinarily economical to run. My car gave me about 45 MPG in the city and about 70 MPG in the highway. I once drove from Upstate NY to Chicago, IL on 1.25 tanks of gas. I remember having to gas every 2-3 weeks during normal use; I lived in a small city, close to work, and not far from shopping places. However, I also drove to emergency calls as an EMT and Firefighter. I think the car was used in what could be considered average conditions (it was neither abused nor was it babied).

I loved that car and I wish I could find one like it today. Most importantly, I wonder why Honda and other manufacturers are not making more economical vehicles. Today's "oil crisis" is much worse than the one we suffered in the 70s (please see The Oil Age for more information). Not only do we need more fuel-efficient vehicles, we need to support the use of other types of fuels. Water is now being used successfully as fuel for many applications (including cars and military vehicles). Why is this not being made available to the public?

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