My current car weighs 0.8 tons and has a 50 miles per gallon consumption (Renault Twingo), and the one I had before weighed 0.7 tons and could archieve up to 115 miles per gallon (according to an article) though something like 60 or 70 mpg was more normal.

http://www.aftermarketleads.com/2011/12/maruti-alto-delivers...

I suspect the problem is partly American attitude towards small cars. Japanese, Europeans and South Americans have much more efficient cars for daily commute.

You really need to specify whether that 50 miles per gallon is in US or UK gallons ...

US gallon is 3.78 Liters, UK gallon is 4.54 Liters.

US gallons: 50 MPG = 21.26 km/liter UK gallons: 50 MPG = 17.70 km/liter

50 MPG (UK) is 41.6 MPG (US).

In my Hyundai Accent (Korean) I get 34 - 36 MPG (US) depending on how I drive it. It is not nearly as efficient as a Renault Twingo or my grandma's Toyota Aigo (awesome little car).

Sorry, it's even worse, I picked the gallon figures off the Internet because I was lazy. Thanks for the correction and calling me out.

It seems the Twingo figure was in UK mpg, so US mpg would be closer to 40 mpg (US).

Same for the Maruti figure, it would actually be 50 to 60 mpg (US).

From what I read, both are still way more efficient than your average American car.

I'd like to get an Accent, but they're close to 30.000 dollars after (humungous) taxes here in Uruguay.