The best fuel economy cars around are hybrid automobiles, for example the Toyota Prius or Honda's Civic. These are closely followed by the tiny foreign cars like the Honda Civic, the the Toyota Corolla, the Mini Cooper, Nissan's Altima and even the luxury Mercedes E320 Bluetec diesel sedan. Toyota's Prius has an EPA mileage score of 48/45. That's 48 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city and 45 miles per gallon out on the freeway. Not bad, eh? The Prius mixes a normal 1.5 liter, 4-cylinder petrol engine with a bank of batteries and an electric motor. When you press the brake pedal in slow traffic, the momentum that is routinely used up as heat in brake drums is utilized to recharge the hybrid machine's storage batteries.
The Honda Civic Hybrid car manages an EPA mileage score of 40/45 mpg and is powered by a 1.3 liter, 4-cylinder petrol engine and the hi-tech electric motor. It looks the same as the regular petrol-powered Honda Civic (see below), except for a badge which says Hybrid.
The normal Honda Civic records an EPA rating of 26/34 mpg (manual) or 25/36 (auto). The Honda is small, stylish and luxurious, and Honda certainly know how to make this baby squeeze every inch of distance from every molecule of gasoline that it burns.
The Mini Cooper has an EPA rating of 28/37 mpg (manual) or 26/34 miles per gallon (auto transmission). The first number is for driving in the city. The second is on the freeways. This modern redesign of the world-renown 1960s English "Mini" car is actually built by BMW nowadays. It is a really small vehicle with a surprising amount of room when you sit inside. And just like the tiny Cooper S model of yesteryear, this tiny powerhouse can accelerate and corner like a racing car. Sadly, that makes it a bit of overkill with all the speed cameras we have to live with today!
The legendary Toyota Corolla just keeps on going as a famously favorite, reliable and cheap to run vehicle. It returns 26/35 mpg (with manual gears) and 27/35 mpg (auto gearbox) according to EPA testing. That's truly excellent fuel economy. The 2009 Toyota Corolla is affordable, roomy and comfortable. And the Corolla's reliability is a legend.
The Nissan Altima achieves an EPA 23/32 mpg (manual transmission), 23 mpg city driving, 31 mpg highway (auto transmision). Like the hybrid vehicles mentioned earlier, its got a continuously-variable transmission (CVT) that means you cannot feel the gear changes - since it is making infinitely-small gearing changes as you drive. Nissan Ultima is a medium-size vehicle with a 2.5 liter engine, and it squeezes every ounce of power out of the machine while giving you great fuel economy.
The Mercedes E320 Bluetec does a respectable 23/32 mpg according to the EPA, and does it with luxurious style both inside and outside, powered by its 3 liter V6 engine which is so good it makes you imagine you are driving an 8-cylinder vehicle.
Rising and falling gas prices and the international financial crisis are forcing American car owners to think twice over their big expensive-to-run automobiles. And while Japanese and Korean-made imported autos were cheap in looks and quality some decades back, that is no longer the case. The quality is now excellent and the money and fuel savings cannot be ignored. That's why it's high time to pick your next car from the most efficient high-mpg motor cars you can get. At present the best fuel economy cars are almost all made in Asia, but you can expect this to change real fast.
