The Most Fuel Efficient Cars of 2009

Although gas prices have retreated considerably since peaking above $4 per gallon over the summer, consumers who are in the market for a new vehicle are still putting a high importance on choosing cars that deliver exceptional fuel economy. The retreat from big SUVs, pickup trucks, and other large vehicles has been historic with demand for certain smaller cars outstripping supply.

Each year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes information about every vehicle sold in the US to include city, highway, and combined driving fuel economy. Up until recently, those figures were considered to be inflated, but over the past few years the EPA has taken great strides to make certain that fuel economy numbers parallel real world driving conditions. If the EPA says that a car can get 40 mpg, you should be able to realize that number under optimum driving conditions.

The Most Fuel Efficient Cars For 2009

For the 2009 model year, the EPA has released its Top Ten list of most fuel efficient cars. The list is evenly split between hybrids and gas or electric models, with top honors going to the Toyota Prius:

1. Toyota Prius (hybrid) — 48/45

2. Honda Civic Hybrid — 40/45

3. Nissan Altima Hybrid — 35/33

4. Ford Escape Hybrid FWD; Mazda Tribute Hybrid 2WD; Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD — 34/31

5. Smart ForTwo convertible; Smart ForTwo coupe — 33/41

6. Toyota Camry Hybrid — 33/34

7. Volkswagen Jetta (manual, diesel); Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen (manual, diesel) — 30/41

8. Volkswagen Jetta (automatic, diesel); Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen (automatic, diesel) — 29/40

9. Toyota Yaris (manual) — 29/36

10. Toyota Yaris (automatic) – 29/35

The Worst of the Lot

Now that you know the most fuel efficient vehicles available, can you guess which model finished dead last? If you said the Lamborghini Murcielago with its 6.5L V12 engine, then you guessed correctly. The Italian sportscar gulps gas to the tune of delivering just 8 mpg city and 13 mpg highway finishing just ahead of the Bentley Arnage RL which gets 9 mpg city/15 mpg highway thanks to its 6.7L V12 powerplant.

To find the fuel economy of a vehicle that interests you and to make side by side comparisons with other cars, trucks, vans, crossovers, and SUVs, visit the EPA website to plug in that information.

Nissan Offers Buy Outs To Tennessee Workers

The Nissan Maxima is one of several models built by the automaker at its two Tennessee assembly plants. Truck and SUV sales have dropped dramatically for the automaker this year, resulting in separation packages being offered to as many 1200 employees.

The Big 3 aren’t the only automakers suffering this year. Of course, if you discount the US market, mostly everyone is doing quite well including Ford and General Motors. Overseas sales are up, but the US market is down thanks to a sour economy and high gas prices.

Honda Plays It Safe

Nissan and Toyota have been hammered, mostly because both automakers dared to tread where Honda refused to go: build big trucks and SUVs. In Tennessee, where Nissan has a pair of production plants, workers are being offered money to quit their jobs as Nissan contracts production. The company has plants in Smyrna and Decherd where employees are being offered incentives of $100-125,000 to leave the company.

This is the first time since Nissan started building cars in the US that the Japanese automaker will be letting people go. The company hopes that 1200 workers take advantage of the offer considering that come August 11th one assembly line in Smyrna that builds trucks will lose a shift. Demand for the big Nissan Titan is way down as it is for the Ford F-150, Dodge Ram, Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, and for the Toyota Tundra.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the Smyrna plant produces Nissan’s highest-volume car, the Altima, its Xterra and Pathfinder SUVs, Frontier compact pickup, and Maxima flagship sedan.

“We feel this program is a good opportunity for employees wanting to transition to another phase in life,” Bill Krueger, Nissan North America senior vice president, said in a statement. “This will provide many with the financial means to take a step they otherwise might not have been able to take.”

Nissan hasn’t said what they will do if they don’t get the full 1200 people willing to take a buy out offer. To date, the company has never laid off a U.S. worker, but that might change if not enough people agree to voluntarily leave the company.

(Source: Detroit Free Press)

NADAGuides Asserts Most Hybrids Are Not Cost Efficient

That handsome Saturn VUE Hybrid you have your eye on isn’t such a bargain after all. Sure, it can get great gas mileage, maybe 30 mpg or even higher if you are soft on the gas pedal. Still, when buying any hybrid vehicle you are paying a premium over the gas version and in the VUE’s case you probably will never recoup the difference.

In a new study released recently by NADAGuides.com (a vehicle pricing and information site), the company has concluded that only a select few hybrids make financial sense, and only for a specific group of motorists.

Using a formula that takes current gas prices for ten major metropolitan areas, the NADAGuides studied the number of miles needed to make up for the extra cost of buying a hybrid car over its gasoline-only counterpart. “We recognize that every driver’s situation is different and that some people will achieve a return on the extra investment of a hybrid car much faster than others,” said Tara Baukus Mello, senior writer and lead market analyst for NADAguides.com.

For example, the study reveals that a driver in Los Angeles, the city with the highest gas prices in the study, will break even about 18% faster than a driver in Houston, the city with the lowest gas prices, assuming both drivers are driving the same number of miles.

“Drivers near major cities often have a wide range of commute distances, which means that the break-even point can be dramatically different from one person to the next,” cautioned Baukus Mello. “For example, if a Houston-area commuter travels 12 miles one way to work, driving 10,000 total miles annually, while a Los Angeles-area commuter travels 25 miles one way, driving 15,000 total miles annually, the Los Angeles commuter recoups his investment almost 80 percent faster.”

Even at today’s high gas prices, the study found that only five hybrid cars make financial sense for a consumer who buys a new car every five years or less and drives an average number of miles per year. Even taking into consideration Los Angeles-area gas prices, there are no more than five hybrid cars that would allow consumers to recoup their additional investment before they sold the car, assuming they drove an average of 15,000 miles per year. In order of shortest time to break even, these five models are:

1. Toyota Camry Hybrid
2. Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid
3. Nissan Altima Hybrid
4. Toyota Prius
5. Honda Civic Hybrid

“Consumers who are thinking of purchasing a hybrid car solely to save money on gas should calculate the number of miles they drive per year and their typical per gallon gas price to make an educated decision,” advises Baukus Mello. She also recommended consumers use NADAguides.com’s Cost of Ownership tool to obtain estimates of other costs, such as car maintenance and car insurance.

Of course if you are planning to keep your hybrid for the long haul, for many years beyond the average, then most any hybrid could be worth it over an extended period of time.

(Source: NADAGuides.com)