Cutting-Edge Fuel Sippers
Many people are fascinated by anything high-tech, harboring an infatuation with technology that often sees them in long lines to get their paws on the latest gadgets, like the iPhone.
We can appreciate that sort of obsession with the latest and greatest technology, which guides the automotive purchases of some like it does the cell-phone purchases of others. Today, technology escalation in the automotive realm deals with fuel economy, and the five cars we’ve gathered here are the iPhones of modern transportation. They scrimp on gas in tricky, technological ways that few—if any—other cars can match. And although all five reside at the pinnacle of the EPA’s fuel-economy ratings, their appeal extends beyond simply saving a few bucks by going more miles between fill-ups. These cars impart an in-the-know feeling of technological savvy, a feeling that you’re piloting the absolute state-of-the art in high fuel-saving technology.
Let’s face it, if it wasn’t for this left-brain appeal, we’d all be buying $2000 clunkers and driving them into the ground, which is a much more effective—albeit less stimulating—way to save on transportation costs.
So what’s your favorite among this differentiated group: the Volt, the first Chevy with a combustion engine that doesn’t drive the wheels? The Guinness-World-Record-holding Jetta TDI diesel? The darling of hybrids, the Prius? The copy-cat Prius, the Honda Insight? Or the nearly unobtainable Honda FCX?
