Over all MPG of American vehicles has actually DECREASED since the early to mid '80's. President Carter had the most restrictive, for lack of a better word, oil consumption policy when he left office (probably not a bad idea looking back). Look at the size of the many "family" cars today. They're 5,500-6,0000lb tanks AKA SUV's. Not much performance there either. I'll put my '79 firebird w/ it's stock 350 SB up against many of todays V8 American vehicles MPG wise- and I can actually repair it myself relatively easily compared to newer cars.