Verified answer

Don't think of it as "government" think of it as the rich people who paid they're way into government with the oil and auto industries.

Now as far as the amount you said? Not too unlikely. Strangely my folks live in Scotland and have a house in Ireland. They have similar cars (Mazda) as we do in the states and told me they get MUCH better gas mileage. Why? Because the people there demand it with the gas prices so high.

So to answer your question, who knows. The car makers are surely forcing them to run at a certain mpg (as per agreements with oil companies; and there are some oil tycoons in the white house, George Bush and Dick Cheney ar huge in oil), as our prices for gas have gone up, so has the demand for better gas mileage, but I can assure you, it's not where it could be.

Government is really just big business and if you were paying little for gas, big business isn't making "enough" money.

Do some research online, I've seen Diesel SUVs doing more than 100 that were converted to vegetable oil (only needed new oil tubing, no additional parts). Imagine if the engines were MADE for 100+, I bet we'd be there NO problem. Also remember though, less money for gas, less money for taxes, less money for roads, bridges etc.

Prices for gas go hand-in-hand with mileage. You pay taxes on the gas you put in your car which contributes to the upkeep of roads, signs, street lights etc. It may even pay for other things like state patrol etc. So think, if you paid say .10 per mile tax wise, then found out a way to boost mileage, you may start paying .10 per 10 or 100 miles. This is mainly the reason we can't jump to far.

I think the answer is True. Able to? of course, want to? hell no.

To be fair, Ford did make a pretty good effort at developing hybrids-- They developed the Power Split Device system for their Escape Hybrid independently, and it turned out it was very similar to the Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive. The Ford PSD system can be used in smaller cars to get better fuel economy, but by the time it came out (2004), it was too late-- Toyota has already cornered the market on sedan hybrids with the Prius. So Ford decided to stick the PSD system in the Escape Hybrid to appeal to American consumers who want a reasonably big car and still get good gas mileage (and it does-- The Escape Hybrid 2WD gets 34mpg EPA combined, the best in its class of SUVs). Rumor has it Ford is going to put its PSD drive into the Ford Fusion. That would be very nice (should get 40mpg or more). Don't know if Ford will go through with it though-- There are already two other PSD-equipped sedans (Toyota Camry Hybrid and Nissan Altima Hybrid) so that market segment is crowded. Chevrolet is trying to break into the arena with the Chevy Volt, and that will be an electric car with a gasoline generator (the gasoline engine does not power the road wheels directly at all). They are trying to leapfrog hybrids, but that has its own developmental hurdles, so don't expect to see it until 2010 or later. Meanwhile, if you want to support American hybrids, the best one is the Ford Escape with its PSD system. And, right now Uncle Sam has a $3,000 tax rebate for anyone who buys the 2-wheel-drive model. ($2,200 tax rebate for the 4WD version).

My Civic weights 3000 lbs. I weight less than 5% of the car. So 95% of the fuel is spent on pushing around dead weight.

So my brother rides around in a scooter and get 70 mpg. But he got hit by a car and went flying for about 70 feet.

So if they made SUV light enough, do you want that?

Good Luck.

P.S. That is NOT to say it isn't possible:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=200+mpg+car&b...

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_150.html

It's not the government, it's the gas and oil companies.

We could have had an electric car ot a water powered car or a car that gets 50 mpg years ago, but the gas and oil companies would lose to much money. They have control because of their money.

The prblem is making a vehicle that can do that AFFORDABLE to the public. Technology is there to do it, but the cost invloved to build the vehicle at a price the consumer can afford is not. It will take more technology and time for the auto industry to make these available.

The only way they can do that is to build a car weighing like 500#. Problem is, it wouldn't meet current safety and crash standards, and wouldn't be safe to drive.

Supposedly there was some guy who claimed he invented a 200MPG carb and he was paid millions to keep quiet and destroy the plans. SURE, we hear these tales all the time, but it's bull.

I wouldn't doubt its true for a minute. Because if we had cars, and especially SUV's that got that kind of milage big brother would loose way too much money! Think about it bush has stock in opec.

It is possible, but would require a major revision in the present technology of building cars -- in particular, using lightweight materials such as carbon fiber. These are costly, and a lot of engineering would be required to do it. The government has nothing to do with it.

There's no publicly available viable evidence to support that notion. It falls in the same catagory as a fake moon landing, a CIA assassination plot of JFK, and alien coverups.

No, currently there is no technology available to make SUV so economical. Government has nothing to do with that, in fact they would love this to be true so we would less depend on foreign oil. Check www.fueleconomy.gov for more on that.