Road trips offer the opportunity to wide open spaces and savor rolling vistas. If you the person of regularly enjoy road trips, and you are in the market looking for a car, there is probably one attribute that values most for you is great highway fuel economy. This trait ensures that your beautiful excursions will go easy on your wallet, the time you fill up at the pump.
2013 Toyota Prius – 48 mpg highway.
- Pros: Strong Safety scores, available high tech luxury goodies, comfortable ride, spacious cargo area, abundant backseat room and superior fuel economy.
- Cons: Busy looking gauge cluster, slow acceleration, elevated amounts of road noise, disappointing interior materials and awkward driving position for some.
2013 Toyota Prius C – 46 mpg highway.
- Pros: Fairly sporty for a hybrid, roomy interior, favorable pricing and stellar fuel economy.
- Cons: Slow acceleration, noticeable wind noise, poor interior materials quality and ride can be stiff over some roads.
2013 Honda Insight – 44 mpg highway.
- Pros: Low price for a hybrid and thrifty fuel economy.
- Cons: air conditioning shuts off with auto off engine at traffic lights, cramped backseat and unsophisticated ride.
2013 Audi A3 Diesel – 42 mpg highway.
- Pros: High fuel efficiency from available diesel engine, enjoyable driving dynamics and upscale interior.
- Cons: unintuitive navigation controls and limited rear seat room for taller passengers.
2013 Volkswagen Golf Diesel – 42 mpg highway.
- Pros: Refined driving dynamics, spacious hatchback body style, fuel efficient diesel engine, outstanding cabin materials and construction.
- Cons: diesel version is costly and unrefined and inefficient gasoline engine.
2013 Volkswagen Jetta Sport Wagen Diesel – 42 mpg highway.
- Pros:Refined ride, comfortable seats, upscale cabin, very good fuel economy with TDI and cavernous cargo space.
- Cons: Sluggish throttle response with automatic and TDI’s premium price.
2013 Volkswagen Beetle Diesel – 41 mpg highway.
- Pros: More interior space than most two door competitors, lots of features, high style interior, fuel efficient diesel, powerful turbo engine and unique styling.
- Cons: Higher price than conventional hatchbacks and unrefined base engine.
2013 Ford C – Max Hybrid – 40 mpg highway.
- Pros: Elevated driving position, abundant features, quick acceleration, responsive handling, refined ride, stylish and well made interior and superb gas mileage.
- Cons: finicky infotainment controls, less cargo space than rivals and long braking distances.
2013 Toyota Prius V – 40 mpg highway.
- Pros: Roomy cabin, quiet and comfy ride, generous cargo capacity and excellent fuel economy.
- Cons: Too busy to gauge cluster, disappointing interior materials, and awkward driving position for taller drivers.
2013 Lexus CT 200h – 40 mpg highway.
- Pros: Drive friendly cabin with superb ergonomics, engaging handling for a hybrid, attractive price and best fuel economy in its segment.
- Cons: Some controls look dated and less than premium, not a lot of in-cabin storage space and pokey acceleration.
The above ten are the wagons and hatchbacks with the best highway fuel economy for 2013. The list is dominated by hybrids. Even though hybrids are tend to get the better mileage when driving in city, the present crop is also quite economical on the highway. Hybrids like the Toyota Prius C, Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and Ford C-Max Hybrid made the cut. For offering outstanding mileage on the freeway diesel models are well known, and several diesel models also make an appearance. Diesel versions of the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen, Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Beetle and Audi A3 were all frugal enough to merit on our list.