Miles To The Gallon: The 10 Most Fuel Efficient Cars Today

Published on July 28, 2013 at 4:23 pm by Asra Isar in Lists

Curious what cars get the most miles to the gallon? If consumers knew which cars consume less fuel and provides better mileage, it would be a lot easier for them to purchase cars, especially if a list is provided to them, in the style of our coverage of the fastest cars in the world. But what makes a car fuel efficient for consumers is measured differently across the globe. Perceptions also vary regarding the fuel efficiency of a car. The most widely interchangeable terms used for fuel efficiency are “fuel economy” and “fuel consumption.”

The higher the value in terms of distance traveled per unit of fuel used the better; this is determined when the term “fuel economy” comes to mind, whereas the reciprocal is used in “fuel consumption,” in which case the lower the value the better. The former method is prevalent in the U.S. and the U.K., where fuel efficiency is covered using Miles per gallon, whereas kilometers traveled per liter is mostly used as a measure in some parts of Europe and Latin America, as well as some Asian countries like Japan. Cars are also tested based on fuel usage on different road types such as combined (includes city and highway), city and highway.

Fuel efficiency or consumption also varies because of weight and passengers as well as different engines installed. As the cars are tested in laboratories, the variable conditions outside the laboratories that are subject to the user driving the car makes the fuel efficiency scores a little too good to believe.

Hence, many automakers that label their cars with fuel efficiency scores come out totally different in reality while driving. This practice has led the European Consumer Organization to introduce a test to check fuel efficiency. The test, called Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP), will be effective from 2017 as a new procedure to make the comparison between vehicles more comparable.

With all of that in mind, let’s take a look at the most fuel efficient cars on the market today. Images are provided if publicly available, and miles to the gallon figures are the most recent.