EPA reveals top 10 most fuel-efficient cars since 1984, original Honda Insight takes top honors

Autoblog Staff — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:58:00 EST

Filed under: Coupe, Hybrid, Sedan, Hatchback

Top Ten EPA-rated Fuel Sippers (1984 to present) - Click above for image gallery

Fuel efficiency has increased dramatically in the last decade, or at least that's what we've been told. So it might come as a surprise to find out that six of the Top Ten EPA-rated Fuel Sippers from 1984 to present were built prior to 2000. Don't believe it? We didn't either, but this info comes straight from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) website, the authoritative source on this fuel efficiency stuff.

While some current vehicles, such as the 2010 Toyota Prius, 2010 Honda Insight and the 2006-2010 Honda Civic Hybrid, garnered a spot on the top ten list, it's really older lightweight models like the 1986 Chevy Sprint ER or 1990-1994 Geo Metro XFI that make it obvious efficiency hasn't come as far as we'd like to think.

Overall, Honda holds top honors for automakers with five models present on the list, while Toyota's Prius made its mark twice. All of the vehicles on the list run with either 3- or 4-cylinder engines and five out of the top ten rely on hybrid motivation. The overall winner, the 2000 Honda Insight (pictured above), scores a combined rating of 53 miles per gallon, a number that exceeds even the modern-day Prius by three mpg.

In many cases, we've been mistakenly led to believe that buying a new car equates to increased efficiency, but this list clearly shows that many of the relics from days gone by can easily hold their own with the most efficient vehicles made today. However, finding a running example of some of these old fuel sippers may prove impossible and we'd venture to guess that many of them are far from safe to drive by today's standards. Check out all ten fuel sippers in our gallery below.

Gallery: Top Ten EPA-rated Fuel Sippers (1984 to present)

[Source: Environmental Protection Agency]

EPA reveals top 10 most fuel-efficient cars since 1984, original Honda Insight takes top honors originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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POLL: Over 70% of Americans want 40 MPG to be the law

Damon Lavrinc — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 11:25:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Green

So we read over this report by the Civil Society Institute that polled U.S. citizens on their support of a federally-mandated increase in fuel efficiency, so that vehicles in the U.S. would achieve over 40 MPG. A mind-boggling 78-percent answered "yes" when asked. However, the questions posed struck us as a little odd, so we though we'd enlist the help of our sage-like readership after you've come out of your tryptophanatic comas to give us your opinion.

The report also claimed that 45-percent of Americans would be more inclined to purchase either a "hybrid or other fuel-efficient vehicle" and that 76-percent believe that the Big-Two-Point-Five are to blame for their current financial and marketplace predicaments.

We're not saying that the information presented is flawed, but we were mighty surprised by the results. So we'll pose the question to you. The poll is below, vote away.

Polling is closed and the results as of 7:30 PM EST are below.

POLL: Over 70% of Americans want 40 MPG to be the law originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 24 Nov 2006 11:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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