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A comment on Michelin Airless. Parent comment

Re:Michelin Airless by acdha on Thursday October 14, 2021 @08:46PM (#28872396)
Not sure where you live but the popular models around here are the 15mpg types and the drivers are … not driving efficiently so they're unlikely to be reaching that. You will see a few of the higher-MPG models like a RAV4 but at the end of the day it's a physics problem: all of that extra weight, non-aerodynamic design, and over-powered engine add up.

Now, it's true that someone dropping all of the extra cash for one is less price sensitive but we're still talking a pretty big difference going from mileage in the teens to the 40+mpg a decent car gets. High gas prices would get at least some people to reconsider, especially since you have to pay a fair premium as well.

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Re:Michelin Airless by BoorishBears on Thursday October 14, 2021 @09:26PM (#28872797)
Ignoring for a second that of the top 3 best selling SUVs in the US, the top two share a platform with sedans that weigh nearly the same amount, have the same engine options, and have very similar Cds ...

None of those physics issues are specific to SUVs. Even full size SUVs end up on shared platforms with full size sedans, with "reasonably close" weights (essentially take a well optioned sedan and it weighs around what the base SUV version does)

With the focus on all of these automakers on modular platforms, we've reached the point where even the largest SUVs could meet the exact same standards their sedan counterparts do and not really change at all.

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