The exclusion of diesels is never more glaringly obvious than when any mainstream outlet does one of these bits.

1. MkIV Jetta/Golf/Beetle: 50-55mpg

(yes, diesel is expensive right now, but that has more to do with home heating oil demands and the recent shift to ultra low sulphur blends over the past year. It will come back down in the long run)

One thing to remember though, these cars are in higher demand than normal. Higher demand means that people will be selling (and paying for) these cars at prices higher than 'estimated cost'.

@heavylee-again: good point.

Still, as much as I hate getting killed at the pump, it beats getting killed on the road. Some of those cars (Scion xA, Yaris, Fit Sport) I would be terrified to drive around in.

yeah...I'm not seeing any honda insights going for anywhere near that inexpensive-unless they're missing half of their hood

Interesting how none of them are being produced anymore!

My Fiancee has a Civic Hybrid and we never NEVER see average MPG over 30. Its not worth it to buy the hybrid

"None are more than 10 years old, and the decision was based entirely on fuel economy and reliability."

Go back another 10 and you get a different (more efficient) set of vehicles. It seems as if they left off some others (the late Escorts had excellent economy, but who knows what they consider to be "reliable"? --apparently just Japanese manufacturers and one notoriously unreliable British model).

This article also screws up a lot of the stats, especially on the Corolla/Prizm (e.g. the 2001 Corolla was the same as the 2000 Corolla, but was not included on the list). This article looks like it was thrown together hastily by a junior intern.

Sweet! I don't drive any of those cars.

I'm close though, my 2004 Corolla gets almost 25 mpg highway - which is all the driving I do.

@Ash78: Ash beat me to the point. Used VW TDIs get AMAZING mileage. My 05 Passat is still getting better and better mileage (around 40 MPG).

To do a fair comparison between a gasser and a diesel, it would be good to show cost/mile (or cost/100 miles) in addition to mpg. That would show the actual savings.

Based on the $4.73/gallon diesel I bought yesterday, my cost/100 miles is $11.85. My girlfriend's 2001 Focus gets around 25 mpg so, at $3.93/gallon, her cost/100 miles is $15.72.

My wife loves her 04 Prius. I love my 06 Prius. With gas prices going up, they get even better.

Oh, and I average a little over 50mpg.

@sleze69: And don't forget how much more car you have than she does. Just goes to show that you don't need to downsize to make a big improvement...but so much of this "eco-cred" crap is just impression management.

Vehicular asceticism--look how much I gave up to save a little on gas!

Where are these numbers coming from? The half-baked EPA estimates? I have a manual '05 Mazda3, and I don't get anywhere near 30 MPH. Maybe driving downhill on the interstate with all the windows closed and the A/C off I might just barely get it...

i wonder how they account to factor in cost of ownership? i.e. how much you'll pay monthly for insurance, car payments, maintenance costs, etc..

I pay roughly $300/month for my car payment and insurance total.. add to that i spend about $200 monthly on gas and it would come out cheaper than spending $400/monthly for payments and insurance to only spend $125 on gas.

@A.W.E.S.O.M.-O: That's MPG, not MPH, sorry. I definitely get 30 MPH.

What ticks me off is that cars in this size class used to routinely get upwards of 40 mph years ago. Cripes, my 1989 Chevy Beretta got 40 on the highway when it was new, and it was bigger than any of these cars. But I'm sure my Beretta, bereft of airbags and side-impact beams and such, weighed a helluva lot less than any of the cars listed.

@Ash78: CR doesn't list cars they don't have confidence in. Volkswagen has had reliability issues for years. While you can indeed get 50 MPG out of a used VW diesel car, it doesn't do you much good if it's always in the shop.

@A.W.E.S.O.M.-O: If you can't squeeze 30 MPG from a Mazda 3, there's probably something wrong with it. I'd look in the mirror first, but if you're not beating the living crap out of it (CR gets those rock-bottom observed mileage numbers by driving their test cars around New York City), I'd take it to a competent mechanic.

Our 95 saturn, WITH airbags, gets 38 MPG on the highway and 30+ in city driving, STILL! There is a reason why the 2004 Mazda6 is effectively parked and the Saturn gets the miles.

There's no mention of Hyundai, but I get 30-32 mpg in my '06 automatic transmission Elantra. Same as I used to get in my 1997 Tracer (Escort). Mobilene makes a good point, though, about today's safety features making the cars heavier now.

@neilb: interesting is that there where a lot older cars out there with excelent MPG averages, newer is not always better. See list above

@Steaming Pile: CR doesn't list cars they don't have confidence in

I won't disagree with that--VW usually requires either deep pockets or DIY skills.

Then how about the Mercedes E320cdi? 27 city, 37 highway from a large luxury sedan.

@mobilene: Pisses me off, too. Engineers are shrugging their shoulders and saying, "30 MPG is good enough for a Chevy Cobalt," and stop working. Uh, no it's not. The Cobalt is somewhat smaller than a Honda Civic, yet the Civic will eat Chevy's lunch on MPG every time. Why? Because GM engineers (at the behest of management, no doubt) cut corners.

We could have 45 MPG cars right now, and without ridiculously complicated technology like hybrids. The problem is, manufacturers think people won't sacrifice even a little bit of performance for economy. I think when gas is $4 a gallon, they're full of shit.

@A.W.E.S.O.M.-O: Your MPG is all about usage and maintenance. By changing your driving habits, you can GREATLY increase/decrease mileage. The same goes for keeping your car well maintained. An old fuel filter or low tires can have a large impact on your mileage as well.

I get 3 MPG over what the EPA says I should because I drive with mileage in mind. There are people with TDI Golfs that AVERAGE 60+ MPG. Check out [forums.tdiclub.com] .

@Steaming Pile: The unrealistically optimistic EPA fuel economy estimates in 2005 rate my car at 26 MPG for mixed environment driving. How am I doing something wrong if I can't get 30?

@Ash78: Same goes for Benz lately, but add a zero to that for the money requirement. The merger with Chrysler was bad for both companies, but Daimler-Benz took the biggest hit to its reputation for quality. They just don't make 'em like they used to.

I leased an '01 Honda Insight for four years. It was a lot of fun to drive. It had a nice, tight shift pattern (5-speed), hugged the road well, and accelerated well from a stop. Something about hybrids that isn't emphasized enough is that electric motors have very good low-speed torque, so they're very quick off the line.

@Ash78, @sleze69: My current car is an '00 Beetle TDI automatic. I average 39mpg using B20 (biodiesel blend). At local prices, my fuel cost is the same as for a gasoline car getting around 32mpg. The gasoline version of my car is rated 19/26mpg, so I figure I'm coming out ahead.

Our Scion xB gets more like 25-27 city, 30 highway. I don't know what the +/- margin of error on the EPA estimates is, so maybe that's still within norms.

The car I drive more, my 1993 Metro, gets 32 city and probably more highway, but that's untested (I might do 5-15 highway miles per tank in it, but no more).

If I could find a Honda Insight for as low as they claim, I'd have one sitting in my driveway ASAP. Love those cars.

I usually get about 37 in my non-hybrid 2002 Civic.

@neilb:

the late Escorts had excellent economy, but who knows what they consider to be "reliable"? --apparently just Japanese manufacturers and one notoriously unreliable British model).

Yeah my '94 Escort got great economy...when it was actually running! I guess by "notoriously unreliable British model" you're referring to the MINI which is uhh...not the same as the Mini.

@A.W.E.S.O.M.-O: Dang! Does Mazda suck that bad? Is that possible? I know they're not quite in Toyota's league, but gee whiz. Well, see my previous comment re. GM and how it blows off fuel economy for "some" performance. I still think one should be able to get 30 out of any car in Mazda 3's weight class.

My '97 Hyundai Elantra still pulls an average MPG of 30 when it's mixed city and highway driving, so I am not totally complaining. I know if I were to drive it in a straight shot of highway speeds, it would be closer to 37 MPG.

I'm hoping with the Fuel Mizer [www.digitalfuelmizer.com] I'm buying that I can improve my MPG's further.

@chucklebuck: I got the xA, and I typically got 33 to 35 before I changed my driving habits. Of course, I rarely drive in city traffic; I'm usually on a two-lane country road where the speed limit is 55. I have adopted the saner and safer techniques of hypermiling (which involve my doing a lot of coasting at red lights and such, and holding the speed to about 52 MPH), which I think will consistently get me close to 40.

I hate the new Scion cars. They don't look like they have the soul the original ones have. Who's with me?

@A.W.E.S.O.M.-O: How can you not get 30 mpg in an Mazda3? I can get around 31 in my 200 hp Civic Si, if I play nice. (nice = shifting early and staying around 70 w/ cruise on and no air)

@theblackdog: I think everyone without an instant and average MPG readout in their car should invest in something like that. Nothing has changed my driving habits more than seeing how I'm doing on every single trip. Almost makes saving gas into a game.

The ScanGauge II is a really nice toy ($160 at amazon)--it does four different memory settings and also does all the check-engine-light code reading in most cars, too.

@sleze69: I agree with you on everything you're saying, but those TDI owners are just plain stupid. Coasting out of gear in traffic and inflating tires to 10% of their SIDEWALL maximum are terrible ideas, and any extra mileage you squeeze out is cancelled out by the higher chance you have of killing yourself.

@Steaming Pile: I think what you're saying is true of Mazda too, they sacrifice some fuel economy to stuff slightly bigger engines into their cars. I sort of appreciate it, it's fun to drive, but then again, I don't really fill up that often.

@A.W.E.S.O.M.-O: Yeah... seems like you might be due for a tune up... and you might have to start driving like a grandma. My car can do 0-60 in the mid 6's, and still get 31-32 mpg on the highway (probably not at the same time tho.)

@A.W.E.S.O.M.-O:
My sister regularly gets 35mpg on the highway in her 08 Mazda3. Unless there were some big changes over the model years (maybe? dunno), there's something wrong with yours.

Glad to see they listed the Saturn SL or SL2 series which easily get 35-40mpg on the highway. Whoops, wait, reading the wrong list. Hell, whenever CSR has a listing of cars its a joke. Their obsession with everything Japanese is legendary.

@argosreality: As well as their failure to disclose anything about their research methodology details...I'm sure it includes "we were taken out for all-you-can-eat sushi before we made the decision" :D

@shocker: If there's something wrong with my car, I'd love to know, obviously. But you are aware that there are three trim levels of the 3, all with different engines (plus four lower horsepower California low emissions variants) and mileages, right? Which engine does your sister have? I'm guessing the 2.0 liter. Mine is the 2.3.

@Steaming Pile: Um no the Cobalt is LARGER than a Civic, and gets better milage. My wifes Fit and my Cobalt 4 door both get around 26mpg city driving, and my Cobalt has gotten as much as 36 driving between the Elizabeth/ Newark area of NJ to the Jersey Shore. It still doesnt beat my 95 SL2 saturn though.

I don't get the chip on the shoulder of people who think CR should include domestic cars simply because they exist. CR doesn't recommend anything that can't hack at least average or better reliability.

The reliability ratings aren't made up - they're based on detailed surveys from people who own the cars. I fill one out every year.

Just because you had a Chevy once that was a stellar performer doesn't mean most people had that experience. Count yourself as a lucky one.

@argosreality: Well, it's usually because build quality of certain Japanese makes far exceeds that of the American Big Three. A Toyota or Honda with 80,000 miles is barely broken in, but 80,000 on a Ford makes it feel like a really old decrepit shitbox. And then there's the repair bills. My son's Ford Focus cost us a couple grand in a year fixing this or that nitnoid thing that made the car undriveable.

Now, before you get all in my face about blaming UAW people for this (or even worse, agreeing with such an assessment), the union people just put the things together. It takes management and engineering (rather, a lack of both) to make a vehicle suck.

@friendlynerd: THIS. In general, people who own Toyotas or Hondas are deliriously happy with them, and rarely have problems.

@Steaming Pile:
Well-said. It's not the Americans assembling them, it's the Americans half-assing the designs to begin with.

Look at how many Hondas and Toyotas are put together in the US...they're doing just fine.

These numbers definitely have a bit of fudging in them somewhere... My '97 Integra has never crossed the 30mpg barrier, even once! And that is including 4 hour highway drives.

Don't get me wrong though - it is probably one of the most fun cars out on the road! Even the non-VTEC variety is zippy! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a fuel sipper that isn't a snore!

Completely stupid list.
I drive an '02 Golf diesel. Except for a $600 timing belt I've invested almost nothing into it. I consistently avg around 42-45 mpg no matter how fast I drive.

The lack of diesels will hopefully go away in the next couple of years. Although I love my VW, a Honda Civic with a diesel would be sweet. If you could drop an oil-sipper into the Prius, I'm sure that it would consistently out-perform the gasoline-electric hybrid by itself.

For you greenies out there fill it up with B20 diesel and you would reduce your carbon footprint even further.

@Ash78: Luckily my 06 GLI is still under warranty. The A/C crapped out and had to be replaced.

I picked up a '94 escort with 95k miles for a grand. I'm getting 36 mpg in almost exclusively city driving. 5-speed, air (works), airbag. Parked the Explorer. It'll pay back in a year.

And yes, I do know about the reputation of these cars, but this one was one-owner, well cared for, and I'm handy.

@toolboy32: I really don't get this obsession with biofuels. People need to realize that while they can reduce your carbon footprint, the use of biofuels, namely E85 made from corn ethanol, takes up a great deal of resources, and has led to the grain shortage we are currently experiencing. The lower carbon footprint is also negated by the fact that E85 burns much less efficiently than gasoline.