while tech has certainly expanded , in 1980 i bought a dodge colt, and if memory serves me, i was getting hway mileage of 35ish.... a similar sized car today probably would exceed that mileage, but not by a great amount... as said above... smoke and mirrors...
If you were to get t boned by a pickup in the colt you would probably die, todays car would likely allow you walk away. But yeah I agree, we had super high MPG cars in the 80s.
