Sorry, Red, but you just flat do not know what you are talking about. That's not an insult, it's an observation.
Every Town Car since 1990 has pulled down 25mpg highway or better. A bad one does 25. 30 is not unheard of. The Northstar will do that all day long in a Seville and about that in a Deville. This is factual observation from having had dozens of them over the past ten years. It's why I seldom drive anything but a T/C or Seville for business, there is no substitute for the comfort, perfomance and mileage.
I don't have the percentage on hand but the fact is the massive bulk of Chevy and GMC trucks(full size) produced since 1988 are still on the road. It's amazing how many from the 70's and even the 60's are still out there. The bulk of those '88 and up models not on the road were wrecked and some simply wound up being scavenged for parts even though they were otherwise good trucks(W/T's wind up as donors for 4x4's way too often, for example). Meanwhile Toyotas and Hondas fail with about the same regularity as US made cars. In other words, most are long gone.
OTOH, we do still semi-regularly see US made cars from the 80's, 70's and even the 60's at auctions. It's a rare thing when a pre-1990 Japanese car comes thru, and it's generally a rolling hulk when it does happen(usually Toyotas with the body rusted off but a strong 22R motor). European cars from the 80's or before are almost unheard of(do still see an occasional Jag or Porche, usually with totally useless electrics).
In an "equal collision" a unibody car can offer more protection than a body on frame vehicle. In an unequal collision(the real world), especially involving quality built vehicles, the larger body on frame vehicle will come out on top, sometimes literally, every time. In the real world bigger IS better. See it every week.
Oh, I've been in a collision between one of these old cars you denigrate and a late model. We drove away the 70's car. They took the 90's model, and the driver, away in buckets. Sorry, just the way it was. Also, I restore old cars and trucks(when the opportunity presents itself) and the lousy quality and construction of the things I sell daily is obvious compared to the old beasts we put back together in the back.
Sorry, cars have not gotten better, we've just heaped safety devices upon them to make up for the horrible lack of build quality and structural strength. Throw on modern tires, modern brakes and modern headlights to a quality car from the 60's and, in the hands of a good driver, you're far safer than in a new one. Likewise foreign cars are not better than US, they just have fewer problems short-term. Long term they break just as often while costing far more to fix. A US made car nickle and dimes you from day one. A Japanese car makes you happy till the $500 repair bills start showing up regularly at 5 or 6 years of age...
Lastly, the idea a SUV is less controllable than any other vehicle is laughable. Again, we are talking the real world here, where almost nobody ever pushes their auto, no matter how pathetic the little bugger may be, to its operational limits. I drive harder than most people and I have never had a truck in good mechanical condition that I got near its limits or felt was "uncontrollable" unless i was engaged in some truly amazing bit of "hold my beer and watch this" stupidity. Likewise I've never managed to push a car to the brink unless I was doing something terribly stupid and THAT is operator error, not the fault of the car or truck.
So, when some of you are into micro-car #3 I'll still be driving the same 'burb. No payments, less than 7k in it total, no potential repair other than collision damage that can cost me more than $400( a transmission, say) and 15 or so MPG. You, OTOH, will be making that $395 a month pymt(is it year 10 or 14 you've been at it?), worrying about the warranty running out(again) and wondering if your 30MPG made up the difference and what happened to the last two you sent to the boneyard(still there, soaking oil into the dirt).
BTW, that's 47k you spend in 10 years if you are always making that average car pymt. You actually get little or nothing when you trade in(I'll tell you right here, like most dealers if I can't get your trade for no out-of-pocket expense on my part, I really don't want it). Figure in that 10 years you drive 200k and use around 7000 gallons of gas. I use 14000. You save, at current prices(just to give you small car owners an edge) $10000 compared to my fuel costs. Cool...buying used, driving long and keeping it simple saves me 30k in a decade vs your total costs... I like that and screw the gas mileage...
Oh, did we discuss insurance costs yet?
