There is a guy named Ron Amadon that writes an article called Financially Fit-A Guide to Saving Smart and Living Well.  A recent article he wrote was the 5 best low-cost, high mileage cars out there in his opinion. Amadon says that he constantly hears the question: “What car would you buy that is well made, gets good gas mileage, and doesn’t cost much?”  So here is Amadon’s top 5 cars with these criteria. 

1.  Volkswagen Jetta Diesel - base price $23,169 and gas mileage between 30 and 41 mpg.

2.  Toyota Prius- the Prius has been updated substantially for 2010, especially on the inside that in my opinion desperately needed it.  The gas mileage is fantastic - 51 mpg in the city and 48on the highway.  The Prius starts at $21,000.

3.  Ford Escape Hybrid - Base price is $20,515 but you definitely will probably spend close to $30,000 at least once you get a few options.  The gas mileage is 31 mpg on the highway and 34 in the city.

4.  Kia Soul - The Soul is cheap!  The base price is just under $14,000. The gas mileage is 24 city and 30 on the highway.  It was named the top-safety pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and there is a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty.  Sounds pretty good to me. 

Rounding out the top 5:

5.  Honda Insight- The Insight gets 40 mpg in the city and 43 on the highway.  Amadon tested the top-of-the-line EX with a navigation system and is was only $23,770!  Base price is $19,800.  A sister/brother of the Insight is the Honda Fit, which starts at $14,900.

I am a big fan of the bigger cars. I don’t know if I will EVER be interested in these smaller vehicles.  I know that the gas mileage and price are good, but I can’t really get past the look. I just don’t like the look.  Maybe they will grow on me, who knows.

www.autoblog.com

Nissan has unveiled a all-electric vehicle, which is a four-door hatchback called the Leaf.  It will be going on sale in Japan, Europe, and the United States next year.  This is a midsize car that can “comfortably seat five adults.”  The Nissan Leaf will be able to go 100 miles between chargings, and take about 8 hours to fully charge at home, and just a half hour at a special charging facility.  Nissan has not announced the price yet, but according to the CEO it will be “affordable and not priced out of reach of most consumers.”  The Leaf will also be about to qualify for the special tax breaks and incentives for zero-emission vehicles. 

The Leaf has an 80-kilowatt electric motor, which gets its power from a lithium-ion battery pack.  There is no tailpipe or gas tank, which makes it a zero-emission vehicle.  My only problem with the electric vehicle is that the automakers HAVE to figure out a way to get the Leaf and other electric cars to last longer than 100 miles. That just isn’t long enough between chargings, especially since there are limited charging facilities currently in the U.S., so most people that would own these cars will need to charge them at home for 8 hours. 100 miles is not a lot of miles whether you are driving around your town let alone travelling.  Just my thought….

www.green.autoblog.com

The BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept car is currently on display at the Frankfurt Auto Show.  This car is being described by BMW as “BMW’s most innovative concept car ever.”  Supposedly this car can go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds and it received a score of 62.6 miles per gallon on the EU combined test cycle according to autobloggreen.com.  The concept had a 1.5-liter turbodiesel engine but rumor has it that BMW may go with a smaller engine than this.  The doors to the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics car (that’s a long name!) flip up like a Back to the Future vehicle. I think thats cool, but something even cooler is that this car is green. It is a plug-in hybrid. It can go approximately 31 miles in all-electric mode and an additional 400 miles if you use the diesel engine as well.  Charging with a regular 220 volt outlet takes about 2 1/2 hours.  BMW has not said that it will make these vehicles, but hints state that there will be a car similar, if not the same, as the concept car available in the future.

www.ridelust.com

One of the hottest Cash for Clunkers cars has been the Honda Civic Hybrid.  It actually ranks third behind the Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla, but it’s the only hybrid.  The base price of the Civic Hybrid sedan starts at $23,650.  Several Honda dealerships actually sold out of the Civic hybrids, and then those customers started buying the regular Civic instead.  Before the Cash for Clunkers program, dealers had said that the hybrid was down more than 70% in July.  It has a lot of safety features with a great deal of air bags and anti-lock braking system that is good.  The gas mileage is exceptional getting 40 city, 45 highway miles per gallon.  I guess that even though the Cash for Clunkers program is just about over, you may want to check out the Civic hybrid. I think the price is definitely right!

www.treehugger.com

Here’s a car with good gas mileage.  The new rechargeable electric car, the Chevy Volt, will supposedly be getting 230 miles per gallon in city driving according to General Motors.  The Chevy Volt will be powered by an electric motor and a battery pack with a 40-mile range. After the 40 miles, a small combustion engine will kick in and give electricity for a total of 300 miles. 

The EPA guidelines have figured that cars like the Chevy Volt will travel more on straight electricity in the city than on the highway.  Therefore in theory, a person could drive the Volt at less than 40 miles, they could go without using gasoline. Who knows if this is really true, but according to the theories it should work.  The highway mileage of the Chevy Volt has yet to be determined.  The GM CEO, Fritz Henderson, is confident that the highway mileage will be triple-digits as well.  The EPA, who actually determines the fuel economy that is written on the car stickers, has not tested the Chevy Volt’s gas mileage.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see what the “official” fuel economy is for the Chevy Volt, but you have to think that it won’t be off by too much. That’s an exciting standard that GM will be setting in the triple digits!

GM announced today that they will stop making the Chevrolet Malibu hybrid as well as the Saturn Aura hybrid, according to msnbc.com.  GM is currently working on a more efficient hybrid system.  The Malibu and Aura hybrids are considered “mild” hybrid systems, which means that they only get about 4 miles per gallon more than the standard models, but they cost about $4000 more.  Some models have even closer gas mileage than four mpg.  The new hybrid versions will be available next summer.  There will be 14 gas-electric hybrids on the market by the end of 2012. The problem was that these hybrids just weren’t selling. The fuel economy wasn’t good enough for people to justify spending the extra money.  The sales have been very slow for all GM hybrids, cars and SUVs/trucks, so they need to revamp their hybrid systems with hopes to come out stronger in the next few years.  I think it’s a good idea. Why continue to make a product that no one really wants? What a waste?  Take some time, make it better, than show me the goods!

www.jetsongreen.com

Toyota announced yesterday that they will start leasing plug-in hybrid cars later this year in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, according to msnbc.com.  There will be 200 plug-ins available in Japan, 150 in the U.S., and 150 in Europe as well.  The plug-ins will have lithium-ion batteries, that are more common in laptop computers and other gadgets than in cars.  Currently, Toyota’s hybrids use nickel-metal hydride batteries.  The lithium-ion batteries will produce more energy and the cars will run like other electric vehicles do.  Plug-ins are charged in a regular household socket, and if the battery runs low, the vehicle will then drive like a regular hybrid, so don’t worry about your battery dying while driving.  More and more companies are trying to make plug-in models. Who knows. I wouldn’t be surprised if these cars are the norm in 10 years.  We shall see I guess.    

www.autobloggreen.com

The new Audi A3 TDI is not for sale yet, but there is a great deal of talk about it already.  Diesel is so popular elsewhere, that the U.S. just needs to get with the program and start buying diesel as well.  The clean diesel is here and trying to make a push in the U.S.  Autobloggreen.com gives a very elaborate and fabulous review of the Audi A3 TDI. I’ll just give you some key points in my mind (for whatever that is worth!)

Let’s start with the fuel economy.  It will probably be getting around 40 miles per gallon, and the A3 TDIs averaged about 50 mpg on the highway.  The prices have not been announced either, but according to autobloggreen.com, they are thinking the price for the TDI will be about $30,000. That’s kind of high for a compact 5-door hatchback, but I think (according to the review) if you test drove this car and checked out the interior, you might not be thinking the price is too high.  There were several pictures on the website of the Audi A3 TDI. I think it’s a very nice looking car. Hard to tell how small it really is from the pictures, but I’d take an Audi A3 TDI if anyone is offering. 

The Wall Street Journal wrote an article yesterday talking about whether GM should ditch the new all-electric Chevy Volt.  This is a tough decision either way. You could say that since it looks like GM will be filing for bankruptcy on Monday that they and the new owners, the government and us (the taxpayers,) that no one can afford to make and especially sell these $40,000 compact sedans and have “mass-market success.”  That’s one stance. The other side of the coin is that if you do not continue with the Chevy Volt, that has potential to be successful and help GM to get out of the red and back on track.  Tough decision.  Autobloggreen.com did a poll asking readers “Should the government pressure a bankrupt GM to ditch the Volt?  Overwhelming the responses said “No Way!”  It was 224 for Yes of course!” and 1085 for No Way the last time I looked.  Here’s my thoughts…I think that we need to give the Chevy Volt a try at least. At this point, GM needs something different, something outstanding to try and differentiate themselves, so this could be the answer.  Yes, it’s $40,000, but that’s before rebates and hopefully it won’t be long before the price comes down.  I hate to see a good idea go to waste, which is what would happen if the Chevy Volt is ditched.

An article by G. Chambers Williams III of the San Antonio Express-News, talks about how the Kelley Blue Book has come out with their “Top 10 Best New Family Vehicles.”  The list has small vehicles for small families and then the big vehicles for those of us that have several children.  Kelley Blue Book also took into account fuel efficiency when determining this list.  So, here’s the list. You can decide, which ones, if any, fit your families needs.

The list goes in order of roominess, with the first one having the most room.

Honda Odyssey - this is the best-selling minivan and most fuel-efficient.  It gets 17 miles per gallon in the city and 25 on the highway. The base price is $26,355.

Chevy Tahoe Hybrid - This is the most fuel-efficient full-size SUV, with seating for up to eight people.  The fuel economy is 21 city and 22 highway. The base price is $50,455.

Chevrolet Traverse - This is the largest crossover with room up to eight people as well.  It gets 17 mpg in the city and 24 on the highway.  The base price is $29,215.

Toyota Highlander Hybrid - This is a seven-passenger model, that is the most fuel-efficiency three-row vehicle on the market, according to Kelley Blue Book.  The vehicle gets 27 mpg in the city and 25 on the highway, with a base price of $34,700/

Toyota RAV4 - This is a more compact crossover, but it still can fit up to 7 passengers.  The fuel economy is 22 city/28 highway, with a base price of $22,900.

Ford Escape Hybrid - This is a five-passenger compact crossover getting 34 mpg in the city and 31 on the highway. The base price is $29,645.

Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen TDI (Diesel) - The diesel is awesome, producing very low emissions and it get 30 mpg in the city and 41 on the highway.  The starting price is $23,870. 

Chevrolet Malibu - Kelley Blue Book calls this car a “fuel-friendly family sedan. It also edged out the Honda Accordto win our 2008 Family Sedan Comparison Test.”  It gets 22 mpg in the city and 33 on the highway.  The base price is $21,605.

Toyota Camry Hybrid - It gets 33 city/34 highway.  Kelley Blue Book says that this car gets “an average of 135 more miles from a 15-gallon fill-up than its gas-only counterpart.”  The price starts at $26,150.

Last but not least, for the small families out there, the Honda Civic.  The base price is $15,305 (very nice!) and it gets 25 mpg in the city and 36 on the highway for the regular gasoline model, and 40 city/45 highway for the hybrid, which starts at $23,650.

So many choices. That’s good, right? I like choices, and for most families only a few of these cars will be right for them.  Pick your favorite!