Whats the most fuel efficient car in the world? A friend of mine said its the "smart car" that you have to order an it takes about 8 months to get, an it gets 50+mpg. Is that true? Doesnt the 3-cylinder festiva get around 40-45mpg? What about the smart car? What does it have under the hood?

 

I think those numbers are about right. You have a good chance of getting one if you go to a dealership and buy someones canceled order. If not, I think its a 9 month waiting list. Kinda like a baby, but this thing stays small. I think the toyota yaris gets pretty close to it in mpg. Its a little bigger, even has a back seat.

 

I heard that someone just came out with a concept hybrid car that gets something like 150 mpg. I think it may be honda but im not sure if it exist. It was just hear say.

 

The Smart car does not get 50 mpg.

http://www.smartusa.com/smart-car-faq.aspx

Engineering and testing continues to take place on the vehicle that will be produced for the United States. The vehicle is designed to achieve 40 city/45 highway mpg according to 2007 EPA standards and 33 city/41 highway mpg according to 2008 EPA standards. The mpg rating for all vehicles will decrease in 2008 due to new calculation methods that the EPA has adopted. These methods involve measuring mpg while taking into account real life driving conditions such as start/stop city traffic, air conditioning, heating, etc. The gas tank of the smart fortwo is 8.7 gallons.

Most actual road tests result in mid 30's.

0-60 in almost 13 seconds!

The Civic Hybrid gets 40 city and 45 highway according to Honda's site. A co-worker has one and gets close to 50 at times. He averages mid 40's with a mix of city and highway driving.

http://www.greencar.com/features/2008-civic-hybrid/

It looks like the Toyota Prius is ranked the best.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/FEG/bestworst.shtml

 

I believe the saturn mentioned was the saturn vue that was fitted with a new drivetrain. They put an extreme hybrid drivetrain (XH) in it, which allowed it to achieve high mpg. It only made the vehicle way 1000 more pounds, and lost the cargo space in the back.

 

The Smart car is a total waste of money. A car that small should get 50+ MPG, but it gets mid 30's at best. On top of that they are going to bury anyone in it that gets into a wreck. Complete waste of money.

 

The TDI Jetta's and Beetle's get about 50 HWY MPG.

 

Totally agree. I've been trying to tell that to people since they hit the US.

 

A parked one.

 

Fuel efficiency and cost effectiveness need to be factored in. The most fuel efficient car may not be the cheapest one to drive and own. A diesel is more costly to maintain and service than a gas engine. Diesel is also 25% + more at the pump. I look at the total cost to own and drive more than strictly fuel economy.

 

I would rather walk, then drive or buy a Saturn.

 

Everyone I talk to loves the Smart car and im not a fan at all. If I was to tap that car with my truck the driver of the Smart cars head will bounce off every window like a pinball machine. I dont care how much gas was I would never buy that so called car.

 

Tune them properly and do a few mods and then can push 60 MPG on the highway. And blow more smoke than my truck can...

 

The most common....keyword common, production car is the BMW 540d. A full size sedan at 70 mpg. The best is a concept car that gets 280 mpg on gas from a 2.0 gas engine. None of these cars are available in the US. The Euro VW diesel is also rated at 63 mpg but not available here.

 

We will not see the most fuel efficient diesels that Europe has because they would not pass our emissions standards or the safety standards. Part of the reason many of their diesels get great gas mileage is because they are lighter than the US versions.