The Most Fuel Efficient Cars Ever (2024)

At our fleet fuel card company, we know fuel efficiency is a big deal these days – with so many hybrid cars, electric cars, and cars with engines that can run on alternative fuels, we’re quickly moving toward a greener world of vehicles. In fact, automakers have a goal of producing cars that get an average of 54.5 mpg by 2025. What many people may not know, however, is that before this fuel efficiency push, there were plenty of gas cars that already met these demands – and some of them may surprise you.

Here are the most fuel efficient gas cars of all time, with some help from Wired Magazine:

1990 Geo Metro XFi – 43 mpg city / 52 mpg highway / Combined 47 mpg

1986 Honda Civic HF – 42 mpg city / 51 mpg highway/ Combined 46 mpg

1989 Honda Civic CRX HF – 41 mpg city / 50 mpg highway/ Combined 45 mpg

1978 Volkswagen Rabbit (diesel) – 40 mpg city / 50 mpg highway/ Combined 45 mpg

1978 Datsun B-210 – 39 mpg city / 50 mpg highway/ Combined 44 mpg

1994 Honda Civic VX Hatchback – 39 mpg city / 50 mpg highway / Combined 44 mpg

1986 Chevrolet Sprint ER – 39 mpg city / 47 mpg highway/ Combined 43 mpg

1985 Suzuki SA310 – 39 mpg city / 47 mpg highway/ Combined 43 mpg

1989 Suzuki Swift – 38 mpg city / 45 mpg highway/ Combined 41 mpg

1990 Geo Metro – 38 mpg city / 45 mpg highway/ Combined 41 mpg

1990 Chevrolet Sprint – 38 mpg city / 45 mpg highway/ Combined 41 mpg

1995 Geo Metro – 37 mpg city / 44 mpg highway/ Combined 40 mpg

1984 Ford Escort – 35 mpg city / 47 mpg highway/ Combined 41 mpg

1993 Ford Festiva – 35 mpg city / 42 mpg highway/ Combined 38 mpg

After looking at these figures, you may wonder why, with so much modern technology, today’s gasoline cars don’t achieve the same fuel statistics. One reason is because cars back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s featured smaller engines that produced less horsepower, so they needed less fuel to run.

Also, features in today’s cars like airbags, air conditioners, power seats, speakers, and more weigh cars down, making them less fuel efficient. However, with the breakthrough of electric technology and alternative fuels, fuel efficiency is making a big comeback.