These Are The Most Fuel-Efficient Cars Ever Sold In America – Jalopnik

We must open this one with some housekeeping round methodology. Specifically, gasoline economic system will get messy when electrical energy enters the dialog, so this checklist sticks to EPA miles-per-gallon rankings from gas-powered vehicles bought within the U.S. Hybrids rely, however provided that they do not plug in. Aside from making the maths messy, full EVs and plug-in hybrids are truthfully simply type of distracting on this dialog. If you are into that kind of factor, we’ll benignly concede that the Honda Prologue you are powering with a windmill in your yard is infinitely environment friendly. 

But for the remainder of us, the march of progress offered by humble inside combustion continues to be price at the least a quick web retrospective. That mentioned, we’re going again in time a bit bit right here, so if you happen to’re actively cross-shopping for one thing to purchase proper now, it is best to in all probability additionally take a look at probably the most fuel-efficient new vehicles you should buy, in keeping with Consumer Reports.

If you’ve got ever dug into historic mpg rankings, you could have observed some eyebrow-raising numbers right here and there, particularly in terms of suspiciously sturdy efficiency from older autos. The ’80s and ’90s are type of the doubtful mileage candy spot the place autos have been each legitimately getting fairly environment friendly, but in addition benefitted from a dated testing methodology. 

Anyway, the EPA has since tried to steadiness these measurements again into actuality, with their present and historic figures now reflecting the closest “real-world” EPA mixed rankings accessible at this time. Essentially, the up to date method is meant to mirror precise motoring realities as a substitute of the right storm of optimism that result in inflated numbers up to now. So, whereas we’re not attempting to low cost the rosy glow of nostalgia-tinted glasses, we did attempt to make sense of the information and are not attempting to get away with something. After all, that is Jalopnik, not Volkswagen circa 2015. See one thing about all this you do not like? Just roll with it. Miles per gallon is not truly one of the best ways to measure gasoline economic system anyway.

One of Honda’s defining traits is a relentless dedication to squeezing each final drop out of one thing that has been iterating to perfection, earlier than cautiously transferring on to the subsequent factor. You’d assume the corporate that got here up with the Insight means again within the 1900s would not be fixing for its fully-electric mannequin with a half-hearted General Motors collab in 2025, however right here we’re. 

Roughly midway between the Insight and that GM-partnered Honda Prologue was the 2012 Honda Civic HF, a design train in getting the final little bit of juice out of pure gasoline structure, earlier than conceding that actually huge batteries might have some endurance on this business a technique or one other. Tall gearing, low-rolling-resistance tires, and aerodynamic tweaks gave it Prius-like effectivity with out hybridization, one thing of a John Henry story set towards an automotive engineering backdrop. Still, regardless that all of these tweaks and optimizations can add up, this one wasn’t in a position to push any additional up this rating, maybe begging the query of whether or not the boundaries of ICE effectivity might have one thing to do with how metropolis mpg is often worse than freeway mpg.

A masterclass in unpretentious effectivity, this specific Corolla is what occurs once you optimize airflow and gearing with out asking house owners to alter their lives (or personalities) as a part of the discount. The Corolla LE Eco is the definition of sneaky genius, with no single styling cue that goes out of its option to present everybody that they are taking a look at some hypermiling car of the not-too-distant future. 

Nobody brags about proudly owning one, however everybody who drives it finally ends up with the identical response: “Huh, I still haven’t filled up.” Its 34 mpg mixed ranking comes from Toyota’s meticulous refinement, together with variable valve timing, a “7-speed” repeatedly variable transmission (CVT), and delicate aero methods. Heck, the corporate even went arduous with terminology like “Valvematic,” regardless that everyone knows that VTEC is admittedly the one option to sound cool once you’re speaking about your proprietary method to creating valves go up and down. Anyway, it is an effectivity hero disguised as a boring equipment, touchdown it amongst far more braggadocious firms on lists like this one.

There’s not so much happening with the Mitsubishi Mirage. Its creature comforts are virtually non-existent, with little or no happening that is not required by federal legislation. The Mirage’s major differentiators are enjoyable colours and a worth so low that, as a brand new car, its major cross-shopping opponents are a lot nicer alternate options which can be 15 years outdated, give or take. 

In idea, it’s the excellent automotive for individuals who do not care about vehicles, however a take a look at drive is often sufficient to make even that demographic notice that perhaps they care about vehicles a tiny quantity. In any case, as a lot by chance as anything, this scrappy little Mitsubishi eschewed turbocharging and hybridization (a.okay.a., issues that value cash) in favor of a 1.2-liter 3-cylinder engine with a CVT that allows you to wring severe mpgs out of it via sheer austerity. All issues have a season, although, so even fanatics can often provide you with a case for the Mitsubishi Mirage.

Honda went arduous on hybridization early, pioneering the entire method in 1999 once they launched the Insight that you will examine in a minute. A decade and alter later, a handbook model of the Civic Hybrid arrived, and, to at the present time, it stays a cult favourite and an enormous effectivity win by any normal. This was additionally a time when the thought that tremendous environment friendly autos can in all probability simply appear to be common vehicles was a comparatively novel one (this statement dropped at you by the Honda Insight’s rear wheel skirts). 

In any case, it was a time when squeezing each little bit of effectivity out of a automotive like this was a mix of automotive engineering and no small quantity of driving finesse, rowing your individual gears not in pursuit of dynamic efficiency, however spectacular mpgs. The handbook Civic Hybrid was bizarre, earnest, and perhaps a bit forward of its time. It’s additionally one in all only a few hybrids to ever let drivers really feel a way of superiority about their environmental footprint and their gearbox on the identical time. Still, regardless of the area of interest win and the technological head begin, 25 years later, Honda would not even present up among the many 5 most fuel-efficient hybrids you should buy, in keeping with Consumer Reports.

The CR-X HF was actually the primary mainstream hybrid, assuming you imply that it felt like a hybridization of inside combustion and brisk strolling. Nineteen Eighties Honda was minimizing weight with the identical fervor that trendy German sport sedans at the moment are packing it on. In retrospect, this was the period during which the corporate was simply starting to form its Si-framed efficiency ethos you could nonetheless respect in its lineup at this time (kind of). 

Anyway, lengthy earlier than automotive nerds have been arguing about whether or not the final Si was an actual Si, the CR-X was a easy, smile-inducing grocery getter that additionally had the DNA (and chassis, kind of) to be an entry-level supercar for the AutoZone set. But alas, staggering pace was left on the desk, and we as a substitute bought this charming and fuel-sipping piece of historical past that to at the present time will simply get you smiles round city, at the least from those that know. At lower than 1,900 kilos, it makes the light-weight fanatic favourite Alpine A110 look bloated, that means that the CR-X has a spot not simply on this checklist, but in addition in our hearts.

This subsequent automotive gives three cylinders, trivial curb weight, and gasoline economic system that you simply earn just by being keen to be caught lifeless behind the wheel of 1. The Geo Metro XFi is the automotive that outlined naked minimal for the motoring lots, a religious predecessor to at this time’s Mirage with no shred of the cool issue of the CR-X that helped pave the way in which for such unrepentant economic system. It barely had seats, it barely had horsepower, and but, none of that actually mattered. You weren’t there to flex, you have been there to drive 40+ miles on a gallon of that awesomely low cost ’90s gasoline. 

Still, what it lacked in dignity the scrappy Geo made up for in mpg math. At barely 1,600 kilos, it was much less a automotive than an unintended experiment in how few sources an organization might dedicate to the act of inside combustion and nonetheless technically qualify as locomotion. That three-cylinder (1.0-liter) engine doled out 52 horsepower, which simply goes to point out that generally that is all you really want. 

The Metro grew to become an unlikely cult traditional for hypermilers, who realized {that a} mild proper foot and an open stretch of freeway might push a Suzuki-built shoebox previous something you could have thought doable, particularly with tailwind. The Metro was a masterclass in doing absolutely the most with absolutely the least and is proof that effectivity has by no means required complexity, only a beneficiant portion of humility and a really mild automotive.

This is the one. It was the Prius that modified the world. We’re speaking a few cultural tipping level the place 50+ mpg was doable in an exceedingly regular automotive, bringing the eco-savvy, celebrity-embraced smugness of earlier Prius fashions to the lots. It drove like a automotive, regarded pretty regular, and delivered on the promise of Toyota reliability, even when skepticism towards hybridization was a lot alive and effectively. Whether you find it irresistible or like to hate it, this automotive redefined what effectivity regarded like within the mainstream, and it paved the way in which for future iterations that may result in the then-unthinkable opinion {that a} Prius is not simply not ugly, however probably the most effective wanting automotive in the marketplace.

Under the hood, Toyota did not simply tweak the hybrid drivetrain, it overhauled it. The 1.8-liter Atkinson-cycle 4-cylinder engine and electrical motor combo delivered improved efficiency whereas hitting an official EPA ranking of 51 mpg metropolis/48 mpg freeway/50 mpg mixed – the most effective gasoline economic system of any non-plug-in mass-market automotive on the time. And that is to say nothing of the fashion, because the physique bought sleeker, flatter, and extra aerodynamic.

Two seats, three cylinders, and a form designed unrepentantly for the wind tunnel — the Insight was particular. It delivered insane gasoline economic system by leaning into the premise unrepentantly, with solely a modicum of Honda-esque practicality remaining after surrendering all different sensibilities to weight discount and aerodynamic effectivity. It felt like a clean-sheet design train that discovered its option to being the purest expression of effectivity engineering to ever land in an precise showroom.

At below 1,900 kilos, and with a drag coefficient of 0.25, the unique Insight did not simply sip gasoline — it pushed the boundaries of each aerodynamics and the know-how accessible on the time. Honda used an aluminum chassis and physique panels, plastic fenders, and a 1.0-liter 3-cylinder engine paired with a tiny electrical motor, all in pursuit of effectivity purity. It got here solely with a handbook transmission and room for 2, which made it each a technical marvel and a industrial oddity. In hindsight, it wasn’t simply the primary hybrid bought in America, it was a mainstream toe within the waters of unrepentant effectivity with no single take care of flash or fashion.

Still, as vaguely comparable ranges of efficiency grew to become accessible in a lot much less compromised packages, the place the Insight held in Honda’s lineup grew to become persistently unclear, resulting in the often overstated announcement that the Honda Insight is lifeless (once more).

If you need most real-world gasoline economic system from a fuel automotive with out attempting, that is as shut because it will get. By 2016, Toyota had perfected the artwork of gasoline thrift. The Prius Eco trim quietly set a brand new report for effectivity with out altering the automotive’s persona. It did not brag. It simply labored, returning 56 mpg mixed prefer it was virtually an accident. Even if it wasn’t one of many small vehicles America would fall in love with, it did have a sure non-enduring appeal. It was among the many final of its sort within the sense that it nonetheless operated below the premise that maximizing mileage was an train in minimizing all the things else, again earlier than the market began deciding that it wished distinctive effectivity and a comfortable leather-based inside on the identical time.

Built on Toyota’s new TNGA platform, this Prius was lighter, stiffer, and extra composed than its predecessors. Engineers trimmed friction losses within the hybrid system and redesigned the cooling system to run extra effectively below low masses. The Eco variant went additional – dropping the spare tire and rear wiper to shave essential kilos. It wasn’t horny, nevertheless it was sensible in that quintessential Prius means: no nonsense, no drama, and no wasted drop of gasoline. While most automakers have been chasing plug-in hype, Toyota doubled down on perfecting the artwork of gasoline minimalism — and nailed it.

If this have been a Hollywood story, our checklist would possibly finish right here, with the triumphant return of the mainstream hybrid icon that began all of it. The 2023 Toyota Prius was a sizzling hybrid for a altering world, maintaining hybrids within the recreation regardless of their more and more clear function as the center youngsters of automotive progress and representing both the most effective or the worst of each ICE autos and electrical ones, relying in your opinion of such issues. 

After Toyota doubled and tripled down on insisting that hybrids should take a look at least a bit bit silly, this one shocked us all by exhibiting up sooner, extra environment friendly, and dressed to impress. At final, there is a Prius that may catch your eye at a fuel station (assuming you occur to catch it at one) — progress with no aesthetic penance required.

Underneath the glossy new form, sat an up to date TNGA-C platform with a 194-hp hybrid drivetrain and CVT that supplied almost 60% extra energy than earlier than, all whereas nonetheless being able to 57 mpg mixed. It dealt with higher, accelerated confidently, and, for the primary time, regarded like one thing you would possibly truly wish to drive as a substitute of simply defend. It was proof that effectivity and flash do not need to dwell on reverse sides of the design studio.

Even in a world the place an inventory of the 5 most fuel-efficient hybrids you should buy is actually 60% Toyotas, Hyundai took at this time’s prime spot after which promptly moved on to different issues. Setting a brand new mpg mixed report for a non-plug-in hybrid, this factor was environment friendly, unremarkable-looking, and might be unfairly neglected as the last word iteration of quiet excellence, at the least in terms of the driving effectivity of yesterday. We’re keen to guess it wasn’t in your thoughts once you began studying this checklist, and if we ask you about this tomorrow, you will in all probability have forgotten about it once more. However, there’s nonetheless a case to be made for the Hyundai Ioniq 5 Blue as the right EV for somebody who loves quirky vehicles.

The Ioniq used a 1.6-liter Atkinson-cycle 4-cylinder engine and dual-clutch six-speed transmission as a substitute of a CVT, which gave it a extra mechanical and driver-focused really feel than any hybrid had a proper to supply. It was a direct shot at Toyota’s dominance and a reminder that effectivity may very well be achieved via intelligent engineering moderately than sacrifice. Ironically, the Ioniq identify now lives on in Hyundai’s EV lineup — and the standard Blue trim that when beat the Prius at its personal recreation is already a footnote within the electrical future it foreshadowed.