Consumer Reports lists best, worst new cars for fuel economy
Product watchdog Consumer Reports on Tuesday announced its list of the best (and worst) new cars for fuel economy, based on the magazine's own tests at its 327-acre test facility in Connecticut.
Frankly, the list is a mix of the expected and unexpected: the Toyota Prius continues to dominate the mid-size family sedan class at 44 miles per gallon, but did you know that the Chevrolet Aveo was the worst subcompact car in its class for mileage, arguably the very reason you'd buy this kind of vehicle to begin with?
Drumroll, please:
- Best subcompact car: Honda Fit (30 mpg)
- Worst subcompact car: Chevrolet Aveo LT (25 mpg)
- Best small wagon or hatchback: Volkswagen Golf TDI (diesel, manual; 38 mpg)
- Worst small wagon or hatchback: Scion xB, Subaru Impreza Outback Sport AWD (23 mpg)
- Best small sedan: Toyota Corolla LE (32 mpg)
- Worst small sedan: Subaru Impreza 2.5i (24 mpg)
- Best family car: Toyota Prius IV, $24,750 (44 mpg)
- Worst family car: Ford Fusion SEL V6, AWD, Chevrolet Impala LTZ V6, Mazda6 V6 (20 mpg)
- Best luxury/sports sedan: Lexus HS 250 h (31 mpg)
- Worst luxury/sports sedan: Lincoln MKZ (20 mpg)
- Best small SUV: Ford Escape Hybrid (26 mpg)
- Worst small SUV: Dodge Nitro SLT 3.7-liter, Jeep Liberty Sport (16 mpg)
Interesting stuff. As expected, the (admittedly more expensive) hybrid models are way out in front of their gasoline-powered brethren.
Still, this list makes me think that I should have rented a 32 m.p.g. Toyota Corolla instead of the 24 m.p.g. Chevy Cobalt during my last cross-country trip.
The full list of vehicles is available in CR's July issue, on newsstands now.
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com