During the first few years of Prius production Toyota came under a lot of
criticism about how bad for the environment the building and transporting
of their
most efficient car was. Considering this, many
people believed it was better for the environment to keep an old gas guzzler
than buy a new economical Prius. Toyota have taken this criticism on board
and have progressively made building the Prius more and more environmentally
friendly. But its not only their most efficient car thats been looked at.
Toyota have worked hard to make the construction of all their cars, their
buildings and their work practices as green as possible.
From 2003 to 2009 Toyota reduced their water usage for manufacturing vehicles by 20%.
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The strong sales of BMW's efficient little Mini has resulted in other car
makers giving new life to iconic economical cars of the past. Fiat launched
a contemporary take on the classic tiny 500 in 2007 and, like the Mini,
it is becoming very popular, combining both retro styling with modern luxury
and functionality.
Just like the Mini, the original Fiat 500 was a car that ordinary working
class people could afford. It was a small, cheap and efficient car. The
relaunched model has tried to replicate all the characteristics of the original,
including the budget price. This is where the Fiat 500 differs from the
Mini. The top of the range 500 is called the Lounge and is only two-thirds
the price of the range topping Mini Cooper S.
The Fiat 500 consumes just 6.3 litres per 100 km which places it among the
most economical cars. This high fuel mileage
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The most efficient cars are tiny things that barely fit two people and one
suitcase. If you need more room than that the Toyota Prius is the
most
efficient car that also has a decent amount of space. In fact it
would do quite nicely as a family car. The Prius has been super successful
since its launch back in 2004. Its hard to believe this legendary car has
been around that long. Five years on and many car manufacturers still have
their hybrids on the drawing board. The unique aerodynamics of the Prius
was a defining feature for it and Toyota has largely kept the shape the
same for the latest 2010 version.
The Prius power source is a hybrid system consisting of a 1.8 liter 73 kW
gas engine coupled to a 60kW electric motor. Performance is pretty much
comparable to most other family hatchbacks. Its no sports car but its not
designed to be one. The Prius has amazing fuel efficiency. This most efficient
car returns fuel mileage figures of 51 miles per gallon around town and
48 mpg on the open road. No other family car of similar size with a traditional
internal combustion engine can come close to this vehicle for fuel efficiency.
Tailpipe emissions are very low also at just 89g of CO2 per km.
Since this is a Toyota, build quality on the Prius is excellent. Mechanically
its very robust, is made of quality parts and is well put together. This
car shouldn't break down on you. In fact, I drive 15,000 miles a year, and
in the last 5 years since it was launched, I can't remember seeing any Prius
on the side of the road broken down.
The Prius has a range of features at the forefront of car technology. The
best features are saved for the optional Advanced Technology Package.
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on this most efficient car...
Since its launch in 2002 the Hyundai Getz has proven to be a very popular
economic car. The combination of budget motoring, reliability and good looks
has been a winning formula for Hyundai who are now only outsold by Toyota
in this category of car.
The economical Hyundai Getz has recently had a facelift but really very
little has changed apart from some minor cosmetics. Hyundai are obviously
believers of the saying 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it'. Its competitors
in the small car market are coming up with more and more futuristic designs
but Hyundai has chosen to stick with the conservative but neat styling of
the Getz. It is a pretty little car.
Sales of the small economic car have been helped by an overall rise in quality
of Hyundai over the last 5 years.
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Korean car manufacturer Kia has released a new economical car. Its a weird
looking small car designed to compete with other cool micro cars like the
Fiat 500.
Up until now Kia have come up pretty boring looking cars that gave a lot
of value but were pretty dull to look at. Kia is trying to make its image
more cool right now. They released the Cerato earlier in 2009 which looked
quite nice but the new Soul really shows they are trying to shake their
dull image.
The Soul is a radical looking car. This kind of styling has been around
for a while in some Asian countries (most notably Japan) but we're yet to
see it very much outside of the continent. The Soul is an
economical
car with a very tall and boxy design. It has wrap around glass
and some four wheel drive styling. Its very bold to look at and Kia hopes
it will be popular with younger people. Similar to the Mini, the Souls looks
can be customised with different paint, chrome and plastic exterior parts,
and adhesive graphics.
The car is powered by a 1.6 litre 4 cylinder petrol 'Gamma' engine. It generates
91 kW and is combined with either a 5 speed manual or automatic gearbox.
The 5 speed manual gearbox returns a fuel mileage of 6.5 l/100km and CO2
emissions of 154 g/km. This fuel economy is quite high, making the Kia Soul
an economical car to own and run.
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The most economical car is the car that can travel the greatest distance
in miles on 1 gallon of fuel ie. the car that returns the greatest mpg (miles
per gallon). When talking about miles per gallon we need to know which gallon
is being referred to - the U.S. or the imperial gallon. The imperial gallon
is about 20% bigger than its U.S. equivalent. We also need to know whether
the car was being driven in the city or on the highway as highway driving
almost always returns higher mpg ratings. The most economical car is a title
which manufacturers are deperate to have.
The average fuel economy of U.S. cars is about 27 mpg. The most economical
car overall is the hybrid Toyota Prius which has a combined (city and highway)
fuel economy of 46 mpg. Interestingly, its city gas mileage is higher than
its highway mileage. This is unusual for cars and its due to the incredible
fuel saving technology in the Prius. When in the city the car is able to
shut down its petrol engine at low speeds and solely use an electric motor.
It therefore burns no fuel at traffic lights or in a queue of traffic while
standard internal combustion engines keep running, damaging their mileage
figures. The Prius has lots of other fuel saving techniques when in a city
such as recapturing energy when braking which would be lost in a normal
car.
The most economical car with a standard internal combustion engine
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Welcome to Most Economical Car!
On this website you can find out the most economical car for lots of different
categories of vehicles. We'll not only tell you about efficient micro cars,
but you'll discover which family cars are the most fuel efficient, which
station wagons, which sports cars and which SUV's are the most economical.
There'll be in depth reviews of the most efficient cars so you'll know that
you're not only buying a fuel efficient car but a good quality car in all
other areas. We'll let you know whether the micro car you've got your eye
on is safe or not.
Finally, we'll also provide you with the latest news relating to the most
economical cars - we'll fill you in on the latest technology to be developed
and new cars to be released. The most economical car market is rapidly expanding
and changing and we'll keep you up to date at all times.
Enjoy your stay at Most Economical Car.
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