Super duper fuels, eh?

[Taka Mizutani]

I don't think complaining about the weight of a current vehicle in
comparison to vehicles from 20 or 30 years ago is really a valid complaint.

Due to legislation and consumer demands, the safety systems of a car now are
far better than what was available 30 years ago. All of that adds weight. If
you made the crash structure much lighter by using something like carbon
fiber monocoque, you would also make the car very difficult to repair after
a crash. That would make insurance rates rise significantly. I can't imagine
trying to fix a carbon fiber monocoque (like McLaren F1 or Ferrari Enzo) and
how expensive it would be to fix. Carbon fiber has done a 4x increase in the
last couple years.

I don't like heavy cars all that much, but without efficient and convenient
mass transit, I'd rather drive in a fairly dense car that doesn't have great
fuel economy rather than a really light car that you'd die in a moderate
crash.

Taka