Ah how far technology advances...

[Motown_Johnny]

37. .

http://www.hybridcars.com/gas-mileage/honda-60-mpg-surprise-25564.html

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Honda’s 60-MPG Surprise

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 17, 2009


When Honda announced that the new 2010 Honda Insight would “only” average about 41 or 42 mpg, some hybrid fans wondered what went wrong. Forget that Honda’s goal with the new five-door model is affordability, not maximum mileage. The major ding against hybrids has been extra cost, and Honda was aiming once and for all to prove that gas-electric technology could come with a modest price tag—in this case about $19,000. (No official exact price yet.)


Real-world mileage numbers for the 2010 Honda Insight might far exceed the official EPA ratings.
Nonetheless the company’s revival of the “Insight” badge set an expectation that Honda would regain the mpg crown from the Toyota Prius. The first-generation Honda Insight—retired in 2006—was rated by the Environmental Protection Agency at 70 mpg on the highway (which translates to about 65 mpg in the EPA’s updated system). That’s a far cry from the Insight’s expected highway mileage around 43 mpg.

Just when expectations for the Honda Insight were being recalibrated… Surprise! The first set of real-world road tests of the 2010 Honda Insight are arriving, and they are consistently higher than 60 mpg. Auto journalists using a smidgen of care—a light foot on the accelerator, staying at legal speeds, and coasting when possible—are getting these remarkable results, with some help from the "econ" mode and the dashboard’s interactive color-coded feedback system.





It looks like the 1999 model was ranked at 61 mpg city and 70 mpg highway (not quite 80+).
This was with a 3 cylinder engine, a manual transmission and a kerb weight of 1808 lb.

http://articles.cnn.com/1999-10-08/nature/9910_08_honda.mpg.enn_1_fuel-economy-fuelefficient-emissions?_s=PM:NATURE

^snip^

The Honda Insight is the most fuelefficient car, according to the Environmental Protection Agency annual miles per gallon rankings. The twoseater car gets 61 miles per gallon in the city and 70 on the highway.