The Top 10 Best Gas Mileage Cars of All Time
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Money per mile
You are considering buying a new car and you want to get the one with the best gas mileage. Maybe it's because you're socially aware and want to be kind to the environment. Or maybe it's just because you want to save yourself some money in the long run by paying for a car now that will cost you less in gas on a day-to-day basis. Whatever the reason, gas mileage is the number one thing that you have on your list as you're looking for a new car.
Here are the top ten cars to think about when looking for the best gas mileage for your ride:
Cars with automatic transmission:
- Toyota Prius - The Prius gets just over fifty miles per gallon on the highway and does even better in the city.
- Honda Civic Hybrid - This hybrid car gets somewhere between forty five and fifty miles to the gallon depending on where you're driving it.
- Toyota Scion XA - This four speed automatic car gets over thirty miles to the gallon in the city and nearly forty miles to the highway gallon.
- Toyota Celica - The Toyota Celica is a popular choice because it's a cute car that still gets almost thirty miles to the gallon in the city and over thirty five miles per gallon for highway driving.
Cars with manual transmission:
- Honda Insight - This car gets nearly seventy miles to the gallon on the highway and about sixty miles to the gallon in the city making it the all-time best gas mileage car on this list.
- Volkswagen - This brand isn't limited to any one style. The new diesel versions of the Volkswagen Golf, the Volkswagen Jetta and the Volkswagen Beetle all get approximately forty miles to the gallon.
- Honda Civic Standard - Although not as good on the gas mileage as its hybrid counterpart, the standard Honda Civic gets over thirty five miles per gallon in the city and almost ten miles per gallon more than that on the highway.
- Toyota Echo - The Echo is another cute car, like the Celica, which gets thirty five miles per city gallon and 43 miles per highway gallon.
- Toyota Corolla - At forty miles per highway gallon, the Corolla is a sturdy car which holds its own in terms of good gas mileage.
- Toyota Scion XB - This car doesn't quite hold up to the standard set by its automatic counterpart but it's not exactly bad on the gas mileage, getting just over thirty milers per gallon in the city and about thirty five miles per highway gallon.
As you can see, the top ten cars that you're looking at when you're looking at getting the best gas mileage are either Hondas or Toyotas (with the exception of the Volkswagen). If you aren't a Honda or Toyota kind of driver, there are certainly other brands which get good gas mileage. Look into the ones that most interest you with an eye towards both highway and city gas mileage.
(Note: This information was obtained via research; the original article with these statistics was a CNN Money article available at http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/gasmileage/.)
In the real world the Prius averages close to 41 mpg, overall. Real, measured, mileage. More is hype.
One more thing to add is that hybrid cars that make the top of your list cost several thousand bucks more than their regular version. You never going to offset this cost difference by gas savings for a typical peroid of 3-5 years of ownership...
I think I have the solution to high fuel costs. Build a car that runs on methane and run hoses from the injector system to all seats and equip them with sphincter adapters. I figure we could get about 50 mpbc (miles per bowl of chille.
Chille only costs about 50 cents per bowl if you make it yourself. Think of the savings!
What about the Smart Car made by Mercedes I think they use about 4.6 to 5 litrs of fuel per 100 kilometres
In World War II, congress mandated that All chemical companies to research and
develope a synethic rubber for military used because of the shortage of natural
rubber or lose tax status. A synethic rubber was developed. With all of mankinds
modern technology, why has hasn't congress mandated that the tech companies
develope a better fuel delivery system. Forget congress' recently passed bill
for gas mileage improvement in the year 2020. Cost of gas will be high by then
that the cost per mile ratio won't be much different. It didn't take 12 to 13
years for the chemical companies to develope the synethic rubber for military.
Why doesn't the grovernment have the guts to do what's right.
What do you mean by a 'fuel delivery system', Tom?
For the record, while the Prius may have the best gas mileage, it is actually terrible for the environment. Thank you for reminding me of this; I'm off to write a hub about it!
(Also, great hub! People are always after this these days.)
the mr2 toyota 86-89 got 45 miles to the gallon , why doesn't toyota repeat that car?
Also, many people forget that any car can get better gas mileage by: not carrying around heavy loads in your trunk or hatch, keeping the windows rolled up, and most of all, driving slower.
the 2002 chev monte carlo get as high as 35 hwy averg 32
still I do not know approximetely,what is 89 toyota camery gas millage.
smarashi10@yahoo.cvom
its time to switch to reliable electric cars.
Its funny that theres no american cars on here and that leaves the question ..Is america not worried about consumers and the wallets the tec is out there give us electric cars ....go green
I have a 1995 toyota pasio that get 40 mpg on the highway. It has 130,000 miles on the old girl Take that prius.
I'll have to pass this along to my daughter who's just getting into the market for a new car.
See the official numbers here. Very helpful.
www.fueleconomy.gov
You missed Honda Life www.hondalife.co.nz
Yep, have a Beetle here. Great milage with those little guys :)
There were many fuel efficient cars in the 70's and 80's. I had a '77 Toyota Corolla that got 35 MPG+, '92 Plymouth Colt 40 MPG, '79 Trans Am with a 6.6L 30 MPG, all these are highway calculated. In fact those huge '80s Chevy Caprice where getting 32 MPG I see these new "crossover" station wagons getting 20 MPG. Why? Are car builders that dumb to think that we need new technology to get good numbers? The cost of electric cars is huge, never mind replacing the batteries every few years. Is this the answer? Batteries are terrible for the environment when dispossed of. With simple logic, cars can run on air (with help of few batteries). In fact they are being designed already.
Great information! By the looks of it, domestic car makers have to play catch up before it is too late.
I think they already had a fuel efficient car that got the gas savings that some companies are bragging about. I know we all can do better than what we are on saving the planet. It's too bad that money talks and the little guy sits back and has to listen to it. Let them put there money where their mouth is. Goverment should be having some way to promote business to build better more earth friendly companies in general and a way for all people to be able to buy what we need to use now not tomorrow. I thought we heard this same song and dance before. Let's quit talking about it and just do it.
1987 Honda CRX 35-40mpg easy. no better car it can fit in any parking spot in seattle.
I have a 2007 focus, it gets 37 mpg. I wish it was a diesel. Most likely it would get 50+. Plus it would be cleaner as well.
It is amazing how 20 years ago they could build fuel efficient cars but now they can't do it without making them hybrid monstrosities.
on tv it says that the volkswagon has 54 mpg you might need to update
I have a 2008 Prius and I get 49.6 miles to the gallon and have gone consistently over 500 miles on on tank of gas. And I have the picture to prove it too.
Let just go back a few year and build the "Henry J" it was priced at an affordable price and got good gas mileage!
The original CRX from the early 1980's still gets like 30 MPG. And you do have to drive a hybrid civic for 8-10 years before the savings on gas offsets the price of a regular gasoline civic. But one car missing from here is the Toyota Yaris.
Check out my Blog about the cars with the best gas mileage for the 2010 Model year http://www.gasmileageace.com/2010-cars-best-fuel-e
how long do the batteries last on the electric cars (life.) What about disposal after they are deemed finished?
Great info in this article. Also, another way to improve gas mileage is to SLOW DOWN! Speeders waste more fuel regardless of the car or truck they drive! :)
My 2001 Daewoo Lanos with 142K miles on it.. gets 45mpg on the freeway and around 30 in town....
The Honda Insight does a little less mpg than the Prius, but it is a considerable amount cheaper. With the two vehicles looking pretty much identical, it is debatable whether or not people will want to pay all that extra money for what amounts to a negligible saving on fuel.
My Honda CRX gets 49 mpg so toyota can quit trying
Very helpful hubpage! Thanks very much!
what about the 1986 chevy sprint.
1971 Volvo p1800 with fuel injection, I get 40-45 plus at about 80-85 miles an hour on the highway, a lot of this has to do with the final drive gear ratio and fuel octane rating, higher octane fuel will result in better economy in most cars especially European. I also drive a 1990 Volvo 245 that averages 35 mpg. Both these cars have 5 speed manual transmissions. I hope to get more after some modifications.
I have a 1985 toyota tercel that i have owned for 10 years with 286,146 trouble free miles that gets a constent 50 mpg on the freeway, and 40 mpg in the city. I got it for $200. Who needs a $20,000 prius???
I have a tercel the same year and it does get wonderful gas milage but maybe you have a problem adding your miles with your money, perhaps.
Mazda is developing a new technology they call SkyActiv-G, the new cars will use old wisdom to get mileage as high as 70MPG from an almost standard gasoline engine. This will be possible using direct injection of gasoline, more efficient transmission and lighter body. I have a blog post about the SkyActiv-G here http://www.milesgallon.com/blog/28/mazda-to-crush-
I have a '99 Saturn SL that gets 36/42 mpg. I've had an '88 Honda Accord that got 32/38 mpg, and an '89 Honda Civic that got 40/48 mpg. It's all about weight and power.
What about the 2005 Chevy Cavalier? I have owned one since 2005 and the sticker list was 48 mpg, for it being 6 years old i still get 45+ mpg in the city.. I do not find this list very accruate at all.. Please fix it.
I had a 98 geo metro that got around 50mpg, but I think some of you guys are a bit off on some cars and their mpg, some sound too good to be true, maybe modified with hot air intakes and reduced weight, ...
why do you think diesel is so clean? it polutes more than gas just in different emmisions, and harder and more expensive to ceep running clean, all those diesels will smoke and give off noxious fumes. foreign countries build there cars with half the sive engines and get twice the milage as u.s. vehicles, gas eficiency on newer vehicles is 99% clean on emissions machine, diesels will never be that eficient
My father has his 86 chevy sprint stored somewhere. It gets 52 mpg...there was another model fxi or something that got 56 mpg or maybe even better. No expensive hybred systems etc....
The miles per gallon on several of these vehicles is not accurate in the real world. Also, to truly be an all time list, you need to include those cars from the late 70s to late 80s such as the Rabbit/ Golf Diesel (50+mpgs), the Toyota Tercel and Scarlet, The Plymouth Champ, Geo Metro, and a whole list of really low hp cars back in the day that got 50mpgs. I can go on and on. This is more like a best mpg of modern cars of all time.
What about the Chevy corvette?? My 99 c5 corvette with 180,000 miles still gets about 30-31 MPG on the highway! !! That's pretty dam good for a 400 HP beast!!!!!!!!
EPA rates the 88-91 CRX HF (may not have been manufactured in every one of those years) at 54mpg hwy.
Super small/light car with just enough power. Something like 60hp.
in the 60s general motors trashed carburetors that got good gas milage...
Had the Scion xA. Would still have it if someone didn't total my car. I still mourn for its loss. The car was a gem. GREAT gas mileage. I drove that thing up and down California constantly. For a car that is smaller than a honda civic in length it was still a 4 door and was actually quite comfortable inside. And lets just say I could park ANY where.
Wow another reason to get the Pruis then! Gas mileage is one of the first things I look at when buying a car – I don’t care if it doesn’t look as good as other cars out there, at least I’m saving more money in the long run than they are!
what about the 1997 Geo Metro / 5 speed / 3 cylinder / 44 mpg city / 48 mpg hwy
i bought it new and its still going!
I have a Geo Metro 1.0 with 255,000 miles on it. I get 49 mpg on the low end and 52 on the good days. Once I drove 55 mph (yawn!) on the hwy -windows down- just to see what I would get...59 mpg.
BTW, the numbers I gave above are with a an engine that burns oil...SMOKIN!
What about the Honda CRZ?... and the old Ford Fiesta both got over 50 mpg in the '80's & early 90's. Geo Metro anyone?... Even Nash made a 50 mpg+ car during WWII. 60 years ago! I don't get the hype of 40mpg now.
I had a 1979 volkswagon rabbit diesel that easily got 55 mpg on the highway. If I went the speed limit(55mph) I could get in the mid 60's. Great car for mpg but a piece of junk for quality. Bit the dust at 80,000- needed a new engine.
Haywood 4 years ago
well you forgot the Vibe and Matrix as great mileage machines.....both Corolla's in wolfs clothing.......