"Roger Shoaf" wrote in message
...

"RogerN" wrote in message
m...

I was interested in a mini-truck for transportation to and from work but
they disappeared. I bought a brand new Nissan in 1985, it got close to
30mpg. Today's small trucks all look larger, more the Dakota size.
Anyone
making trucks smaller than Dakota's these days? The best I've seen for
gas
mileage is Ford Ranger with 27mpg, not very impressive after 25 years.


Back in the days of the Arab oil embargo, with the red flags, the green
flags odd and even days etc. the popularity of the cheap Japanese econo
boxes was at their peak, and the American auto companies managed to get
import quotas on the cars but not the trucks.

With a limited supply of the cars the Japanese companies were stuffing the
less popular trucks down the dealers throats so they could buy the popular
cars.

The dealers then were "giving away" the trucks. This meant that most of
the
trucks sold were to the cheap skate buyers and the trucks tended to be
those
with the smaller engines and few options.

Those trucks got pretty good mileage. Then the situation changed. Buyers
were demanding more performance and plusher vehicles the crash safety
requirements meant more steel and the smog standards said goodbye to the
carbs the points and so the mini truck lost it's market.

The mini truck with the best mileage was the VW rabbit diesel close to 45
MPG.

--
Roger Shoaf

If knowledge is power, and power corrupts, what does this say about the
Congress?

When I bought my 1985 Nissan 2wd it was $6k new without air or radio. The
basic Nissan Sentra was in the same price range. The Nissan truck seemed
more substantial than many of the cars in that day, and many of the cars
today. For example, it had a frame and didn't seem that it would be worse
in a crash than my Honda Civic or any other similar small car. I guess I
would prefer to see them the size they made before they became Dakota sized
and lost their economy. A couple of years later I traded in for a Nissan
4X4, I don't remember the exact gas mileage but I think it was close to 25.

My friend bought a Chevy Aveo and gets 35-36mpg, he said he saw where the
Ford Mustang with a 6 cylinder is supposed to get 31mpg highway. I guess
I'm a bit disappointed that a Ranger 4X4 with a 6 cyl doesn't do much better
in gas than some of the full size trucks. I was hoping to be able to find
something as economical to drive as my 85 Nissan was. I guess the 27mpg
Ranger or 26mpg Tacoma wouldn't be bad though. It seems to me that smaller
trucks have a lot of room for improvement, no wonder I see so many full size
trucks on the road these days.

RogerN