The Top 3 Cars that Buck the Trend

On a more optimistic note than my previous two posts, I'd like to highlight 3 standout cars that have shown solidarity against the trend towards automotive obesity. I tried to do a Top 5 list, but I couldn't find more than 3 good examples...maybe that's a bad sign about the way things are heading.

1. Mazda Miata

The Miata debuted in 1989 as the Japanese equivalent to a British sports car. In 12 years, the Miata has experienced only a 12% increase in weight, from 2200 to 2400 pounds today. This is with the addition of airbags, more stringent safety requirements, myriad creature comforts, and a more powerful engine. Mazda engineers put painstaking detail into taking as much weight out of the car as possible. Rumors suggest that the next-generation Miata may lose even more weight.

2. Hyundai Sonata

Korean auto manufacturers have been on the rise in the past 10 years, and no car better represents this than the new 2011 Hyundai Sonata. This new model actually weighs about 100 lbs. less than the previous-generation. As opposed to other midsized sedans which offer a larger V-6 engine option, the current-generation Sonata was engineered to hold only a 4-cylinder engine, which means a lighter weight body shell and chassis. Instead of a V-6, Hyundai recently introduced a powerful but efficient turbocharged 4-cylinder engine to complement the base 4-cylinder engine.

3. Porsche Cayenne

Now, you may be wondering how I could put a two-ton Porsche SUV on this list, but this vehicle is important. The first iteration of the Cayenne was a beast weighing more than 5000 lbs. For the second generation, the Cayenne went on a diet. Porsche cut out more than 400 lbs. from the car in the redesign by using aluminum in the chassis and eliminating inefficiencies in the structure of the vehicle. Although it's still a big, powerful, luxurious SUV, the Cayenne now gets 20% better fuel economy.



If more automakers spent time and money towards the goal of reducing weight in their cars, they would have more successful products. Take the Sonata, for example. Since the redesign, the Hyundai has shot up in the sales rankings, passing the Nissan Altima to become the third best-selling sedan in the US (behind the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord.)

The Reason

My dad grew up without a car. Growing up in Chapel Hill, NC, his family rode their bikes everywhere. Ever since he first bought his own car when he was 27, he has seen cars as a necessary luxury (however oxymoronic that might sound). For him, they are nothing but a way to conveniently get from point A to point B.

Last summer he bought his first car with power windows. As an automotive enthusiast myself, going car shopping with him was sometimes frustrating. He asked one Honda dealer if they could give him a car with roll-up windows for a lower price. They informed him that they didn’t make cars with roll-up windows anymore.

He ended up buying a silver Honda Fit with a stick-shift. It was the perfect choice.

Most people aren’t like my dad. Most people view cars as a status symbol. The fact that it will get you from point A to point B is unimportant to most people. Would anyone buy a Cadillac Escalade if 50 Cent didn’t put it in his videos?

A Honda Fit weighs 2,489 pounds and costs $15,000. A Cadillac Escalade weighs 5,895 pounds and costs $87,000. Let’s examine what the Cadillac has that the Honda does not.

• An in-dash DVD player with two roof-mounted Flip-down 8" screens
• Power-retractable running boards
• Heated steering wheel
• Heated and cooled cup holders
• Heated and cooled front seats
• GPS navigation system
• Bose 5.1 surround sound system

The list goes on and on. My house doesn’t even have surround sound. It’s a question of “want” versus “need.” My dad doesn’t want or need anything more than the Honda Fit provides. He can fit his bike in the back, he gets 35 miles per gallon, and it doesn’t break down.

No one “needs” heated and cooled cup holders, but everyone seems to “want” more and more out of their cars. The idea of owning an Escalade is attractive to many American consumers. Being behind the wheel of a 3 ton beast makes you feel powerful and in control. It’s an American ideal. We have wide highways, open space, and unlimited opportunity.

Europe is different. There, a Honda Fit is a family car. No one wants or needs anything more. In Europe, an Escalade would be more out of place than a bull in a china shop. Their narrow roads don’t afford big cars, and neither do their gas prices.

Americans have downsized their cars before. The 1973 oil crisis brought myriad Japanese automakers like Toyota and Honda to the forefront of the American auto market because their small, reliable, and cheap cars offered a practical alternative to American land barges like Lincolns and Buicks.

Maybe what we need is another oil crisis so that Americans stop taking our resources for granted. Automakers are engineering many different alternative-fuel vehicles for the future, but this does little good if Americans keep buying inefficient cars. If events like oil crises can motivate consumers to change their habits, then maybe the government needs to come up with something like increased gas taxes to create a monetary initiative to downsize.

The Problem

In 1976, Honda introduced the Accord to the United States Market. The first Accord was a hatchback that weighed approximately 2,000 lbs.


Fast forward to 2011. The Honda Accord now weighs 3,605 lbs. That's an 80% increase in weight over 35 years. Imagine if you weighed 150 pounds when you were 15 and 270 when you were 40.

The Honda Accord is just one example of a dominant trend in the American car market. Especially with the rise of SUVs in the past 20 years, every new car seems to be longer, wider, taller, and heavier than its predecessor. Everyone talks about human obesity as a health problem. Automotive obesity is also a health problem; just like people, heavier cars consume more fuel.

Let's talk more statistics. From 1975 to 1982, right around the time that a gas crisis hit the US, the average fuel economy of cars in the US went from 13.1 mpg to 21.1 mpg in 1982. The average fuel economy in 2011: 22.5 mpg. That's not so great.

And it's all because cars have gotten so fat! The 1976 Honda Accord produced 68 horsepower. The 2011 Honda Accord (which weighs almost a whole ton more) produces up to 268 horsepower and is rated at a mere 24 mpg combined city and highway. Bigger, more powerful engines require more fuel. Thus, despite the advances of modern technology, the cars that Americans actually buy are ridiculously inefficient. If we went from 13.1 to 21.1 mpg in 7 years, shouldn't we have gone way further than from 21.1 mpg to 22.5 in 29 years?!

Maybe it's because people are getting bigger too. Maybe it's because SUVs dominate the roads and people don't want to be in a 2000 lb. Honda when they get hit by a 6000 lb. Chevy Suburban.

Or maybe it's because a car is a symbol of power in our society. People like to drive fast, powerful cars because it, in turn, makes them feel powerful. A Toyota Camry with a V-6 today can go from 0-60 mph in under 6 seconds. A Corvette from the 80s would struggle to hit that same mark.

American consumers want to have their cake and eat it too. Cars are getting heavier because people think they need airbags and power windows and navigation systems and heated seats, but heavier cars need more power to motivate their increased mass and Americans want fast cars too.

Is this what we want?