Best gas mileage cars are technology's answer to the present skyrocketing petrol prices and our down-spriraling economy. Fuel saving vehicles leading the charge on high-cost vehicles are the hybrid gasoline and electric powered cars from the Land of the Rising Sun, the Toyota Prius, the smaller Honda Civic the Nissan Altima.
The famous Toyota Prius is a hybrid car, designed from the beginning to add its already-economical 1.5 liter 4 cylinder engine with batteries and electric motor. It returns an EPA fuel consumption report of 48 mpg and 45 mpg on the freeways.
Honda's little Civic is available as a hybrid, with a 1.3 litre 4-cylinder engine. The car's EPA results are 40 mpg in town, and 45 mpg on the freeways. The Honda Civic gasoline-powered auto returns 26/34 mpg, which is great for a petrol engine.
Nissan's Altima Hybrid is a 2.5 liter 4-cylinder passenger car which gives you an EPA-tested 35 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway. It includes an electric motor as do both the Honda and Toyota hybrids, but it fails to reach their excellent fuel savings. Instead the Altima gives some powerhouse performance and acceleration.
Other conventional best gas mileage cars would include the very different Smart Fourtwo, a tiny gasoline-powered vehicle that is often mistaken for an electric vehicle. The Fourtwo is powered by a 1-l, 3-cylinder, 71 horsepower petrol engine that returns 33 mpg city and 41 on the highway.
Volkswagen's Jedda TDI is a 2 liter 4-cylinder turbo-diesel passenger car giving 30/41 mpg city/highway with its 6-speed manual transmission. Yet the automatic transmission still gives you 40 mpg on the open road, by EPA tests. This is quite a Vee Dub, I must say.
The hybrid model Toyota Camry car manages 33 mpg in the city and does 34 mpg on the highway with a gutsy 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine. The Camry hybrid looks like any other Camry, which can be a good thing sometimes.
The powerful little Mini Cooper returns from the 1.6 liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine. The little Mini Cooper seats four adults comfortably and is heaps of fun to drive around in.
The tiny Toyota Yaris gets you 29 city, 36 highway mpg from its 1.5 liter 4-cylinder engine and manual transmission. The 4-speed automatic gearbox is almost as cheap to run on gas, and manages 35 mpg out on the freeway. Like all the better small cars, the tiny Yaris is bigger when you sit in it than you would guess from looking at it. It to be there with the best gas mileage cars.
