For years the most fuel efficient cars have come from overseas. Places like Japan, Germany and China have always led the way in cars that gave better gas mileage. With the up and down gas prices and the fear that gas might go back up to $4 and $5, the demand for cars that are more fuel efficient is going up.
American carmakers are now trying to get their foot in the door of the less fuel using car market. Some in part to get some of the government bailout money. But is it too little to late? After years of making sub par cars, will people trust them to make a quality fuel efficient car? Will these cars stand up to the European and Japanese cars?
What are the most fuel efficient cars? Lets find out. We’ll look at the cars for 2009.
Standing at the top of list is the Toyota Prius. The Prius gets 45 miles per gallon on the highway and 48 mpg in the city. It only uses 7.4 barrels of gasoline per year
Coming in second is the Honda Civic Hybrid. It gets 40mpg city and 45mpg highway and uses 8.8 barrels of gas a year.
Next comes the Smart Fortwo. Both the convertible and the coupe get 33mpg city and 41mpg highway and they both only use 9.5 barrels of gasoline a year.
Next in line is the Pontiac Solstice, which gets 19mpg city and 28mpg highway and uses 15.6 barrels of gasoline a year.
Then we have the Saturn Sky that also gets 1 9mpg city and 28mpg highway and also uses 15.6 barrels of gasoline a year.
Then there’s the MINI Cooper, which gets 28 mpg city and 37mpg highway, but only uses 10.7 barrels of gasoline a year. The automatic version of the gets MINI Cooper 25mpg in the city and 34mpg on the highway.
The Toyota Yaris is next on the list. It also has two versions. The manual version gets 29mpg city and 36mpg highway and uses 11 barrels of gasoline a year. The automatic version gets 29mpg in the city and 35mpg on the highway and uses 10.7 barrels of gasoline a year.
Then we have the Volkswagen Jetta. It gets 31mpg city and 41mpg highway while using 11.6 barrels of gasoline a year.
Moving on we have the Nissan Versa, getting 26mpg in the city and 31mpg on the highway It uses 12.2 barrels of gasoline a year.
Next is the Hyundai Sonata, which gets 22mpg in the city and 32mpg on the highway. It uses 13.7 barrels of gasoline a year.
Then we’ve got the Honda Accord. It gets 22mpg in the city and 31mpg on the highway. It uses 13.7 barrels of gasoline annually.
Coming up next is the Jetta SportsWagon. It has two versions. The manual transmission gets 30mpg city and 41mpg highway and uses 11.6 barrels of gasoline annually. The automatic gets 29mpg city and 40mpg highway and uses 11.9 barrels of gasoline annually.
Next we have the Kia Rondo, which gets 20mpg city and 27mpg highway and uses 15.6 barrels of gasoline a year.
And last we have Saab 9-5 SportCombi. It gets 18mpg city and 27mpg highway and uses 16.3 barrels of gasoline a year.
As you can see there aren’t many American made cars on this list. But with the changes the American car makers are suppose to make lets how many of their cars make the most fuel efficient cars list next year.
