Just as it’s hard to let go of your first true love, I have trouble letting go of my first automotive love.

Sure, I may have pined after fast Ferraris and lusty Lamborghinis, but those were never affairs of the heart. The car I first really loved was a no-frills, base-model economy car, and it was exactly what it was supposed to be: cheap and basic.

I quickly learned to live without luxuries such as air conditioning and power steering – though I did eventually install a radio – and reveled in its quick handling and phenomenal gas mileage. The Environmental Protection Agency estimated my 1991 Ford Escort would go 36 highway miles per gallon, but mine often got 39 to 42 mpg on the open road.

Even with the advent of gas-electric hybrid technology and the incentive of $3 per gallon gasoline, my old car’s EPA estimate beats three of the top 10 fuel economy leaders for 2007, as reported by the EPA.

What’s more, no new U.S. car can touch the 58 highway mpg rating served to the 1990 Geo Metro XFI, one of the poster children of economical cars. The most fuel-efficient car of 2007 is the Toyota Prius Hybrid, managing 51 highway mpg.

There’s one major cause for this drop-off in fuel economy: weight. Cars today are heavier than they ever were.

The science here is simple. Pick up your TV and move it across the room. Now imagine moving a much bigger TV that same distance. More difficult, right? That extra energy needed to move the heavier TV has to come from somewhere – and for a car, that somewhere is gasoline.

Here’s an example: The Honda Civic, when first introduced to the U.S. in 1972, was almost 140 inches long and weighed 1742 pounds. It could also get 44 mpg (using 1978 numbers, the first year the EPA calculated mpg estimates).

That’s roughly three feet shorter and 1000 pounds lighter than the 2007 Civic coupe. Even with improved fuel-management technology, today’s much-heavier Civic can only get 38 mpg.

Imagine the fuel savings (and speed!) attainable if today’s technology were put into lighter cars such as that early Civic. Imagine those savings in your pocket.

Car companies today are touting their green credentials by advertising how many of their cars get more than 30 (and less than 40) mpg. Is that all we’re striving for? Is that all we’re demanding of car companies? We did better than that 35 years ago.

Car companies build cars that most people want. We fuel-misers need to make our voices heard.

With today’s technology, we can see vast improvements just by driving smaller, lighter cars. I eagerly await the U.S. release of the Smart ForTwo. Until then, I’ll be shopping for a mid-’80s econobox to fall in love with.