Best non-electric car for MPG

pineappleshooter

pineappleshooter

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I recently started a new job that has me driving approximately 550 miles a week. My 2014 Ford Escape gets 24 mpg on a good day. Both kids are getting their licences so my Escape and my fiance's Mazda 3 (both paid off) will be passed on to the kids. My fiance doesn't drive much mileage wise, so she is looking at leasing. I am looking to buy a late model (or new) small car that gets good mpg. I am not interested in a hybrid or all electric vehicle. I was thinking a Toyota Corolla or Honds Civic. Any others I should consider?

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With apologies for not telling you what you want to hear: Why the lack of interest in a hybrid? All the kinks are worked out, and they get great gas milage.

In Japan I own a Prius C, called an Aqua over there. Had it since 2012. Zero problems. Milage is 48 MPG city, and 43 highway. BUT, it is a hybrid.

On the downside, it's noisy on the highway as it is a very light car, and if you drive on a bumpy road the ride sucks.

So, if you wanted to go upscale and quiet, but still get pretty good milage, you could go with, say, a Lexus hybrid.

There are a lot of high MPG, reliable hybrids out there...;)
 
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We rented a Nissan Altima non hybrid, a few years ago in Denver that was brand new with the window sticker and its EPA mileage stated 39 mpg on the highway and I thought,...there's no way! I didn't check the mileage but wouldn't doubt it if we even got better than that! Drove all over the place in mountains and the fuel gauge barely was moving. Don't get caught up in the little tiny cars, the Altima was fairly big with 4 of us in it and very quiet and comfortable with decent power and acceleration. The tiny cars may get a hair better mileage but many are not near as smooth, powerful, and comfortable to be driving 550 miles a week.
 
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pineappleshooter said:
I was thinking a Toyota Corolla or Honds Civic. Any others I should consider?

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Click to expand...

There's too much to consider to give an educated answer because we don't know what you are looking for in a car.

But both you have named have earned their place in the car world I'd say.
 
VW TDI.
I get 47to 50 Mpg. 2015 Golf Diesel station wagon. It's the 5th VW diesel I have owned.
Check out TDI Club Forum.
My 06 Chevy Duramax only gets 15mpg . The $$ I save on fuel is making VW payments
 
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Farmer17 said:
We rented a Nissan Altima non hybrid, a few years ago in Denver that was brand new with the window sticker and its EPA mileage stated 39 mpg on the highway and I thought,...there's no way! I didn't check the mileage but wouldn't doubt it if we even got better than that! Drove all over the place in mountains and the fuel gauge barely was moving. Don't get caught up in the little tiny cars, the Altima was fairly big with 4 of us in it and very quiet and comfortable with decent power and acceleration. The tiny cars may get a hair better mileage but many are not near as smooth, powerful, and comfortable to be driving 550 miles a week.
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Ditto on the 4 cylinder Altima. I've leased several, and on cruise control at 73mph crossing the Appalachian mountains, it gets 38mpg with two adults, a trunk full of luggage, and a back seat full of coolers and snacks.

Edit: Hubby wants to add his "Driving Fun" preference for the SR version of the Altima. It sacrificed 1mpg, but handled tight turns on our mountain roads much better with upgraded suspension components.
 
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bigwheelzip said:
Ditto on the 4 cylinder Altima. I've leased several, and on cruise control at 73mph crossing the Appalachian mountains, it gets 38mpg with two adults, a trunk full of luggage, and a back seat full of coolers and snacks.
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Ditto. Purchased a new Nissan Altima 2.5L in 2015 for my wife's use. First road trip (Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona) delivered 41 MPG overall. Five years old now with about 36,000 on the odometer, still getting 39-plus MPG on the highway, 25-plus around town. Very comfortable for up to 4 adults, very roomy trunk, accelerates like a scalded dog when needed, quiet on the highway, handles very well, loafs along on cruise control at 75.

The Altima has received top ratings by Consumer Reports in recent years.
 
Farmer17; Don't get caught up in the little tiny cars said:
I will go along with this based on my experience. My last job had me driving 90 miles a day or 450 miles a week just commuting to work. I drove one of the twin Batmobiles (2008 Mercury Grand Marquis that I bought new) most of the time. It had the speed, power and comfort, and I sure felt a lot safer on the Baltimore Beltway in it. I always kept pretty good records and I was getting 22 mpg pretty consistently in a commuting situation. I put 238,000 miles on that car and somebody came up to the Gettysburg Auto Auction and bought it.

The old V-8 Ford products (Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car) have been out of production now for 10 years, but a fair number of them with under 100,000 miles are still floating around. Ford revived the Taurus nameplate for 2013 and it became the successor to the old V-8s. It went out of production after the 2019 model year but there are low mileage specimens around. Hope this helps.
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I drove hybrid Ford Escapes at work. Got them up to the high 30s, 38mpg, in summer, spring and fall with sparse AC use. Couldn’t handle 36mpg in winter. Accessory draw may affect your MPG in Hybrids as well as their tuning relative to driving profiles. I am still pretty doubtful on the Hybrid RoI.

Had a 2008 or 2009 Corolla Sport. 34-36mpg. My wife wanted to get the Prius, but I figured out the price differential between the two based on fuel price. Gasoline needed to be $4.50/gal for 4.5 years to make the Prius break even. That convinced her buy an all ICE car with basically all the same features for $4k less, missing only a Hybrid badge.

I used to drive a 1982 VW Diesel that beat 50mpg everyday of week. With the wind, 55mpg was doable. My BiL has a 2002 Golf that still does 45-48mpg. I keep trying to get him to sell it to me. As noted above, TDi would still get my strong consideration, depending on how available diesel is in your area (they often have stupid high resale value).
 
My wife's last Honda Accord averaged 28 town and 34 highway.

At 220K miles she traded it for a Nissan Rogue The Nissan gets the same mpg but has a lot more room.

,
 
Toyota RAV 4
Really dependable and gas mileage is surprisingly good.

Lots of room and good ground clearance if we ever get snow in Pa again. lol

For 550 miles a week I am going to want something roomy.
 
64 MPG. :D

citroen-2cv-cest-pratique.jpg
 
I had a mazda 2 that averaged 34mpg mixed driving. It wasn't great on gas about 60mph but around town it was great.

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I've always done very well with the gas powered 4 cyl. Honda civic. It has a good ratio of power, to size, and comfort. I get at least 33 mpg in the city. And consistently get 36 on the highway at 70mph. If I drive 65, it'll get 39 mpg. I've owned a couple of these for my 180 mile round trip commute. The one I drive now is an 07.
 
I have a 2015 BMW 328d (turbodiesel) that will go 45 mpg easily once the highway miles are the majority. Buddy at work also has the latest Altima 4-cylinder and it gets stellar mileage for its size. Doesn't have the 280 ft/lbs of torque and the hill flattening turbo like the BMW though. Good luck finding a used 328d though. People tend to hang onto them.
 
Honda Civic CR-X HF gotta travel back in time to find a nice one, or a Geo Metro stick/FI. Same deal. Crazy that fuel economy was better, or the same 2 decades + ago.

The european only Ford Focus diesel gets 61 mpg easily.

My 2013 Toyota Prius Plug-in (never gets plugged in) averages @55 mpg city, @50 on freeway only. It's battery is different chemistry than the regular Prii. The other end of the spectrum is my '71 Buick GSX. It gets 6.9mpg in the city, and 12 on the freeway. Same mpg at 60 as at 80. I suspect it would drop off after 90 or so (power curve/fuel efficiency)
 
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