Two Yaris but no Corolla?

Also, where the freak is Saturn? My SL2 gets 30-35 in-town and it is no hybrid. But then again, it's a 97. Oh well.

wheres my chevy tahoe super family/darryl waltrip edition?

base 1/0/-3

Shenanigans. Not a diesel in the bunch.

Buying a Yaris in 2 years.

Where else can you get that kind of milage for $13k off the lot brand new?

my 18 year old honda does better than most of those and it has 175,000 miles on it.
not a lot of progress.

Once again no mention of the VW Jetta TDi.

Kawasaki EX250 (aka 250R) motorcycle:
75mpg.

Back in the early 90's I bought a used '89 Ford Escort with a 4 speed manual from a buddy of mine for $1000. I took it home and changed the oil to Mobil 1 synthetic. I filled it up with gas and then drove 100 miles from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Cordova, Illinois. When I got back to C.R. later that night I topped off the tank which only needed 4 gallons, 50 mpg. For the next 3 years I drove that car back and forth to work, a 50 mile round trip, and it normally got well over 40 mpg.

@ash78: I'm assuming CR tested new models (2008). There are no diesels being sold in the "compact" class in the US at the moment (so sad). The only diesel "car" you can get right now is a Mercedes, and I'm pretty sure it's not a compact (and not cheap).

@MYarms: There is no mention of the VW Jetta TDI because VW has not gotten it approved by the EPA yet. Check out www.tdiclub.com

What's interesting is that if you look at the top 10 most fuel efficient/least polluting vehicles in the UK, there is not a hybrid or gasser on the list. It's all diesels!

@MYarms: It's no longer sold in the U.S. According to VW, the new TDi will go on sale in the U.S. next month.

@harumph

I'm guessing your 18 year old Honda doesn't have side airbags, a passenger airbag, advanced crumple zones, tire pressure monitoring, traction control, stability control, or any other federally mandated safety device that's added weight and complexity to cars. There's nothing like the government protecting us from ourselves.

@ash78: No diesels, no new 1 series bmw's with stop start....

@harumph: My thoughts exactly. My kids drive older Honda Civics (a '93 DX sedan and a '95 DX coupe) and they both top most of the cars on this list without even trying. I understand that newer cars are heavier and have more powerful engines by popular demand, but wasn't anybody even trying to make them more efficient while they were at it?

I have an '05 Prius and love it. I just did the #'s and for CY07, I've avg'd 49.5 MPG, typically driving 90 miles/week -- mostly freeway miles on the 405 in SoCal.

All I can say is:

Prius, Prius
First they wanna beat us,
And now they wanna be us!
Prius, Prius
Most fuel efficient,
Least in emissions!

(Linky to this rap to follow shortly...)

@thunder:

Thunder, apparently all of the engineering expertise for the US market has spent the last 15 years figuring out how to get MORE power while maintaining fuel economy (they've done a great job...), rather than trying to maintain power and increase efficiency.

The market is slow to catch up, but I think it will still happen.

'95 Dodge Neon 4dr 2.0 5sp w/ over 175,000miles averages 37mpg combined with 89 octane and pumped up tires... Always keep your tires at the max inflation and you'll get better mileage - screw ride quality...

@thunder: Nope. Not when gas was $1.50/gallon and the biggest threat to the environment was CFCs.

And I still wouldn't drive a single one of them. The list could double as the 12 ugliest cars.

didnt the 85 civic coupe get 50-ish mpg?

the real problem is getting all the beasts that get less than 20mpg off the roads. after that, we can worry about getting everyone into a 40mpg

Too bad most of them fit only 2-3 people max (semi-comfortably)

PEEL P50 100 miles to the gallon, seats 1 simy-uncomfortably

As a counterpoint, I'd like to note that a Suburban with 7 people in it absolutely blows away all of these cars when they only have 1 person in them.

Just saying. I've never actually seen a Suburban with more than a mom and two young kids in it, though.

@sven.kirk: The Fit will seat 5 people comfortably. There's loads of leg room for all passengers, and plenty of storage space to boot (ha). It's a very well-packaged vehicle.

@newspapersaredead: Meh, some of 'em are nice. I just can't stand the center mounted gauge clusters.

I can fit five people (one of them being a rather big guy) in my honda fit sport, COMFORTABLY, and I get better milage than the list says. That is because I maximize my trips to get the best gas mileage, and don't drive aggressively. After I learned that second idea, my gas milage improved greatly, you would be surprised how much it helps!

I get about 36/32/42-45 (this last number varies because I drive uphill one way on my trip and back down the other...) compared to 34 / 26 / 39, which I guess would be great for the people who drive "normal" around here. I was going to buy a Prius, or thats what my Mom was nudging me towards, but I don't feel like driving around in the most recalled car ever made by Toyota, especially after seeing how unsafe it is for being in an accident. Besides, who wants to spend an extra $10,000 to "save on gas"??? I went to a dealership where the Fits were in stock and paid inventory for it, thanks to my wheeling and dealing :D For my purposes, the Fit was a better deal because most of my commutes are short....

Over here in Europe the top three places are shared by Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo/Citroën C1. If I recall correctly, even the Mini diesel with stop-start system beats the Prius, which came in only 7th or something...
BTW: where's the hybrid Tahoe?

I average 35mpg in the summer and 32mpg in the winter in my Honda Civic EX.

I drive about 20% city and 80% highway.

It only needs oil changes every 7k miles based on the integrated oil monitoring system.

Nice car.

@sven.kirk: The last time I checked (which was about 2 or 3 years ago), Prius had larger backseat legroom and cargo space than most small SUVs. So, um, yeah.

It doesn't matter what mpg your donorcycle gets when it's -10F.

Hah! I routinely get 70mpg in my Honda Insight and that's a monthly average, not one time shot; I've hit over 100mpg on short (~10 mile) trips in perfect conditions.

Why oh why did Honda stop selling these in '06?

um, Mini Cooper S? Why not the base Mini Cooper? Doesn't it get better mileage than the "performance" model?

The Honda Fit is awesome. It looks really small from the outside, but it's fairly roomy on the inside. Plus it's a 5-door hatch, so it does offer some utility. I think the next generation model is already out in Japan. It should be hitting the US next year.

But if you're trying to save some cash and don't want to buy a new car, go out and get a used Honda Civic CX. Great MPG, reliable, and affordable.

Why pay so much more for hybrids that can't even eek out a substantial MPG increase over a manual transmission car that runs complete on gas.. Hell my 2003 VW Gulf TDI stick got better mileage than any of these hybrids.

I can just imagine my friend and his F350 getting into a wreck with one of these little cars.

Saving $$ on gas is great, but saving all the money in the world isn't worth dying for. You have to remember there are a ton of huge trucks on the highway.

@strum40: true. they should apply the same effort toward making it tougher to get a license. there are too many people out there who really have no good grasp on how to drive.

why pay 10k for a car that gets 40 on the highway when craigslist is full of $300 cars that get 30 on the highway? (plug for dodge omni's and neons)

spend that extra $9,700 on a hot rod, drive a shitbox to work!

@scatyb: I've kept track of my 2000 SC2 and have a 32.14 mpg over the last 17 months. Most all driving is city driving and trips less than 10 miles. I have taken road trips to Florida and managed to squeeze 38mph. I slipstreamed behind a 97 station wagon and managed to get 52 mpg.

These most efficient lists are all stupid.

Hybrids are stupid. Not many people can justify the additional cost of the option with gas savings. I am so sick of this partial story. Don't know about you fellas but I would rather drive a diesel vw beater getting about 45mpg and spend all my extra money on my cool car then be seen in a Yaris. Just me. I don't know.

Power and efficiency are dependent. You can't have an increase in one without an increase in the other. @ash78:

I just got a Honda Fit and it's fantastic. My first fill-up I averaged 35 miles to the gallon, second time at 32.

The only thing is that the Fit has a teeny tiny gas tank - only 10.8 gallons total, so it feels like you're filling up even faster than with whatever car you had before.

I like my Civic.

It amuses me that there's the fighting over cars in the entries for today, but people don't try to take a bus to work and leave whatever car they do have for road trips, late trips, and emergencies.

Before you say "I live in Timbuktu" I didn't mean you. But there's A LOT of people who live in cities with buses and they NEVER take a bus.

@ash78: Of course there isn't a diesel in the group, given that the title is "gas savers." Just how much gas does your diesel burn?

Jokes aside, there are currently no current model diesels on the market that can best these numbers in the US. The most efficient diesel currently available is the MB E320 which gets 32hwy/23city.

Once the belated VW TDI's reach our shores, that will all change.

@full.tang.halo: frankly i was surprised jeremy clarkson could fit into the thing.

I'd love to get one because it's so cute, but I'd probably be killed in a matter of minutes driving it on a busy LA freeway by a douchebag driving a hummer :)

TroutDeep and spinachdip, sorry about that. I meant that comment more towards the Mini and the Mazda3.

Yay for my new Fit! But like someone else have said, it needs a larger gas tank, gone 85 miles so far and it's almost half empty.

I find this comment interesting, because I've spent my entire adult life in cities and around people for whom what they drive isn't that big a deal - if they really, really, really need a car, they find some beater for cheap on Craigslist or some shit, or rather, skip the whole ownership thing and go with Zipcar.

So it's interesting, if not surprising when I hear someone say "I wouldn't be caught dead in a...". I forget that in much of America, your identity is tied to the kind of car you drive.

@spinachdip: uh, that comment was in response to @DanWarner: