There a many cars that get great gas mileage. Many are even affordable, fun to drive, and reliable too. The problem is that if you need transportation for a family of 6 or more, many of these vehicles just don’t cut it. A Mini Cooper S may be a great car for the daily commute or running a canyon road, but trying to fit a family of seven in one is akin to practicing for a circus act.

What do you do if gas bills are killing you, but you really can’t drive a Honda Fit, Mini Cooper, or Prius Hybrid? What if your transportation duties run the gamut, from running 3 or 4 kids to school, soccer or swimming, picking up 10 bags of groceries, and running the whole family for weekend trips to Grandma’s? Even a normal sedan, such as an Accord or Taurus just isn’t big enough.

Here are the top vehicles to drive if you have to move more than the average number of people and their gear.

Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #6

2009 Chrysler Town and Country Minivan – 4.0L V6, 6-sp auto, 17city / 25highway / 20 combined MPG, Base MSRP: $24,195.

The latest from the ones who started the minivan revolution (but didn’t actually invent it, that goes to VW), the latest Town and Country comes in at number 7 on the list. It also demonstrates the importance of an advanced transmission (see my post on technology to increase fuel economy) in the quest for better gas mileage. The 4 liter engine with the 6-speed actually gets better EPA fuel economy ratings than it’s smaller engined counterpart, which is mated to only a 4-speed auto.

The relatively good mileage, coupled with the utility of such innovations as Chrysler’s “Stow-n-Go” seating make this one a winner if you have a large family and need to get them around town.

Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #5

2009 Ford Flex Crossover SUV, FWD – 3.5L V6, 6-sp auto, 17 city / 25 highway / 19 combined MPG, Base MSRP: $28,295.

One of the main reasons so many drivers eschewed minivans in favor or SUVs in the last decade and a half is that they don’t want to be perceived as dowdy, un-cool, or devoid of style. Well driving the new Ford Flex definitely won’t get them pigeonholed into any of those categories. It drips of style, but still delivers enough room inside to get the whole brood to their little league practice and the swim meet without having to sit atop one another.

The Flex is a (very) modern interpretation of something right out of So Cal in the ‘50s. It’s not a minivan, but replaced on in Ford’s lineup, the never really popular Freestar. In a land of all the same, derivative products, Ford looks to have broken the mold for large family transportation. All that and it has suicide doors and returns very respectable gas mileage for a quasi-large people mover.

Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #4

2009 Mazda 5 Minivan FWD – 2.3L I4, 5-sp auto, 21city / 27 highway / 23 combined MPG, Base MSRP: $18,665.

The 2009 Mazda 5 has one real ace in the hole; great fuel economy for a vehicle that can hold your entire family. It also looks pretty cool, with little of the boring, me-too styling that so many others in the genre find themselves draped in, and you can get one at a bargain price compared to other vehicles that can hold 6 people. It has two things going against it that kept it from finishing higher in this list of great vehicles for transporting a large family while getting excellent MPG; it really isn’t that large, and it really isn’t that quick. In fact part of the reason it gets such great fuel economy is a result of precisely those two traits.

If you have a family of 6, and 2 of the family members are small kids, this will definitely do the trick. It handles well, a hallmark of most Mazda products, and should be very reliable, if past reliability stats are any indication. If your group includes teenaged twins that happen to play tight end on the high school football team and a few more kids over about 10 years old, you should probably find another mode of transportation however. The Mazda will simply be too tight of a squeeze.

Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #3

2009 Chevrolet Traverse FWD – 3.6L V6 direct injection, 6-sp auto, 17city / 24 highway / 19 combined MPG, Base Price MSRP: $30,810.

The Chevrolet Traverse is the latest iteration of the GM large SUV platform that’s also spawned the GMC Acadia and the Saturn Outlook. It’s modern, with a 3.6 liter V6 that includes direct injection fuel delivery, one of the reasons a 288hp vehicle that transports 8 full sized people can get such good gas mileage (for this sized vehicle). The interior is modern as well, proving again that American vehicles can deliver in this department, even if it took 30 years for U.S. automakers to figure it out.

The 2009 Traverse has a great combination of ride and handling for such a large vehicle, and is by most reports, relatively quiet too. All in all it’s a great place to spend time on a long road trip with the entire family, providing you can still afford to take one, with the high price of fuel these days. At least the Traverse burns regular gas, currently the least expensive liquid motivator you can get at the local filling station.

Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #2

2009 Honda Odessey LX Minivan FWD – 3.5L V6, 5-sp auto, 17 city / 25 highway / 20 combined MPG, Base MSRP (LX version): $26,255.

Honda has wrought a vehicle that consistently finishes at the top of its class with the Odyssey minivan. Honda has always created spectacular power plants, and the 3.5 liter in the Odyssey is another example of one of their sewing machine smooth, internal combustion, creations. The only nits that kept this one from finishing even higher on the list is that it’s a mite noisy on the freeway and could be a bit larger if you’d like to transport 7+ people. It has a cockpit that is a fantastic place to spend time, with everything falling readily to hand, and large, easy-to-read instrumentation that’s been a hallmark of Honda binnacles since the early ‘80s. The Odyssey even handles fairly well for vehicles in the minivan category.

Best Gas Mileage Vehicles to Buy if You Have a Large Family #1

2009 Chevy Tahoe SUV Hybrid 4×2 – 6L V8, CVT, 21 city / 22 highway / 21 combined, Base MSRP: $50,490.

The new hybrid Tahoe is a technological tour de force, enabling a huge, vehicle with a 6 liter V8 engine to return 20mpg. If you have to have a large vehicle to transport 8 people, and all their stuff, on a long trip, while towing a trailer, this is about the only vehicle to be driving. It uses a hybrid power train, combined with advanced transmission technology to wring every last bit of energy from a drop of unleaded regular and use it for getting down the road. About the only downside, and it’s considerable, is the monster MSRP of $50,490. That’s for the 2-wheel drive version; you’ll pay more to deliver power to all the wheels, should you want to.

The new Hybrid Tahoe is really expensive, but if you need the combination of this much size and towing capacity, nothing else makes the list while delivering anywhere close to this kind of fuel economy, especially if you do much of your driving in urban areas. In stop and go driving the hybrid power really comes into it’s own and saves gas. It comes with every option under the sun, and if you check all the boxes, you can rapidly find your bank account depleted by an even larger sum, so exercise some restraint.

Until next time………..

Making the best gas mileage cars is at the forefront of every auto manufacturer’s agenda these days. Big trucks and full sized SUVs languish on auto dealer’s lots throughout the country, as consumers look for something that will save them money on gas, rather than draining their 401k to fill their tank. Car manufacturers have responded as best they can but lead times on new vehicle models are measured in years, not months.

Developing and implementing new gas saving technologies and staying within the ever changing regulatory framework takes time, and there’s not much the manufacturers can do about it. Those of you thinking that the Big 3 passed on the 100-mpg carburetor because it was too expensive, or that it was suppressed by the oil companies should take this time to remove your cranium from which ever bodily orifice in which it’s buried.

General Motors alone employs over 6,000 power train engineers in an attempt to develop powerful, efficient, quiet and smooth engines and transmissions that consumers want to buy. You should ask yourself why:

A) None of these bright star engineers have stumbled on the formula for the esteemed, 100mpg carburetor?

B) GM has squandered hundreds of millions of dollars developing fuel delivery, engine management, and other technologies that deliver increased fuel mileage, reduced emissions, and smooth running engines if they could have just cut a deal to fast track the 100mpg carb?

C) The whole 100mpg carb idea just doesn’t pass the smell test. You’re not going to get 100mpg, good power, a smooth running engine, and low (actually almost non-existent these days) emissions by simply swapping a carburetor. Also consider that no carburetor equipped vehicles are manufactured by major auto manufacturers any longer, and haven’t been for about a decade. There’s a reason for that.

Since the 100mpg carb isn’t going to be around to increase the fuel economy of vehicles, let’s take a look at the new technologies that are being used to save you gas on your daily slog to work.

The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 6 -

Cylinder Deactivation – This is the technique of cutting off certain cylinders when the power isn’t needed. In many cases the valves are closed to reduce pumping losses. There are many different names for this; Chevy calls theirs Active Fuel Management™, Chrysler marketing gurus came up with Multi-Displacement Engine, and Honda likes Variable Cylinder Management™. This is a very nice way to use modern engine management systems to really manage the engine in a quest or better fuel efficiency. Depending on how you drive, you’ll save about 10% – 15% on your fuel bill over a comparably equipped vehicle without cylinder deactivation technology.

The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 5 –

Multi-Speed, electronically controlled automatic transmissions and Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVTs) – The advent of extremely sophisticated vehicle management systems have allowed electronic control of your vehicle’s transmission to the n’th degree. The greater amount of transmission control and coordination with the engine, coupled with the increased number of ratios offered by many transmissions (an infinite number, in the case of the CVT), allows large increases in gas mileage. As an example, the new 2009 Chevy Impala 4-cylinder went from an EPA 30mpg highway to 32mpg with the change from a 4-speed automatic transmission to a 6-speed unit.

The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 4 –

Turbocharged, small engines – Turbocharging technology coupled with smaller displacement engines has experienced a resurgence in the last couple of years. Acura for example has offered their first turbo engine, the turbo 4-cylinder found in the new Acura RDX small SUV (You’ve got to love a vehicle named after the explosive that’s the basis for the military plastic explosive C-4).

The increased capability of sensor and engine management, fuel delivery, and ignition systems, combined with better materials technology and improved combustion chamber designs, have breathed new life into the turbocharged engine. The added expense and weight of the turbo and its’ associated plumbing can’t really be justified when gas prices are low, but if they stay over $3.50 a gallon, expect to see the turbo / small engine combo stick around for a while.

The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 3 –

Engine cut off / restart – Your car never gets better mileage than when it’s not running (infinite mpg), and it never gets worse mileage than when it is running but not moving (0 mpg). Now, what’s good enough for your golf cart moves into the realm of automotive normalcy with the adoption of auto engine cutoff / restart technology.

Used by most hybrids, this changes your vehicle from living in the domain where it gets the absolute worst mileage to the one where it gets the absolute best. That change adds up to increased gas savings and better overall gas mileage with the improvement coming in city driving, the bane of most vehicle’s fuel economy profiles.

The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 2 -

Direct fuel injection – As I mentioned earlier, there hasn’t been a non-fuel injected car sold in the U.S. for about 10 years. Most cars now use port fuel injection, where fuel is injected into the intake port, right behind the intake valve. With direct injection, the fuel is injected directly into the cylinder using high pressure fuel injection systems. This gives three big advantages; The cooling effect of the fuel allows higher compression ratios for increased engine efficiency, more precise fuel timing and delivery is possible, and better fuel atomization is realized. These add up to an additional 10% – 15% in fuel economy, often coupled with better drivability and more power.

The Top Technologies Used to Get Better Fuel Mileage 1 -

Hybrid power train technology- You probably saw this one coming a mile away. With the Hybrid Prius’ popularity (even though I personally prefer the Honda Civic hybrid) of late it’s hard to Escape (hey, isn’t that another hybrid) the conclusion that combining both an internal combustion and electric power plant with some of the technologies mentioned above will lead to much improved fuel economy, especially in city driving. Looking at most manufacturer’s best gas mileage cars, it’s fairly obvious most of them are some variation of hybrid.

The hybrid’s ability to recapture heretofore lost energy through the use of regenerative braking, it’s ability to move at lower speeds purely on electric power and the ability to shut off the engine completely when stopped really deliver far better city gas mileage. Soon hybrids will be implemented with small, common rail diesel engines to deliver even greater fuel economy, possibly on the order of 60 – 70mpg in the city.

These are the technologies used to make the best gas mileage cars. There are certainly improvements coming as these technologies are refined. In addition several promising, new developments are on the way in the not too distant future that will make the best gas mileage cars in the next decade fairly embarrass even the best hybrids of today. In fact the vehicles that do burn fuel probably won’t burn gas at all, but some sort of biodiesel.

Until next time…….

As a manufacturer built on the success of relatively fuel inefficient vehicles, such as the Silverado and Tahoe, GM needs alternatives that consumers want to by with the same fervor that they flocked to lots with when gas was $1.80/ gallon and new Tahoes had dealer incentives. With gas hovering at $4.00 per, those days may never return, but GM’s hoping that a new era of profitability returns, driven by $30,000+ plug-in hybrids.

$30,000+? Yes, the initial versions of the Volt promise to carry a fairly robust price tag. Don’t for get that fuel efficient vehicles will continue carry with them some pretty attractive tax incentives. Unfortunately the $30,000 price for the first versions of the Volt likely factors those tax benefits in already. The actual price is closer to $40K! Now, if you’re Leonardo DiCaprio, that’s no big deal. For those of you that get your paychecks from Paramount Sand and Gravel, Paramount Landscape Services, or Paramount Electric, rather than Paramount Pictures, the Volt’s price may be a bit of a stretch.

If Chevy can just get the Volt to have the same cachet among the ultra green set as the Prius enjoys, the same automaker that draws ire and wrath for daring to concoct the Tahoe / Suburban will ironically be lionized for popularizing the plug-in hybrid.

One thing’s for sure, it will take more than $4 or $5 gasoline to make the Volt a success. Chevy’s marketing department had better do a bang-up job. After all Toyota will be hot on their heels with the plug-in Prius. The Volt promises a higher level of technology than the Prius, and will be larger, theoretically appealing to those with larger (Suburban sized?) families.

The Volt will face stiff competition in the marketplace when it arrives however. Besides the aforementioned Prius plug-in, Honda is readying a few possible competitors, such as a hybrid version of the already economical Fit, a “Global Small Hybrid”, and the new CR-Z, being referred to by some as the “CR-X for the 2010’s”. All will feature hybrid power trains and outstanding fuel economy. Nissan also has electric cars just around the corner, having announced them in May of this year.

The question is weather or not Chevy’s “electric car” (it can go up to 40 miles on electric only power), as they like to call it, will rise above the competition and generate sufficient sales and profits to pull GM out of its doldrums. GM may be able to generate substantial licensing revenues from some of the technologies it’s developed for the new car and its E-flex drive train. GM has substantial engineering might, and has developed some of the things we take for granted in cars today, like another electric enhancement to our rides, the electric starter.

It’s already reportedly talking with rival Ford to use some of the power train. How long will the batteries in the Volt last? GM is saying that they expect a 10 year battery life, which is a good thing, considering the initial cost of the advanced lithium ion battery pack. Priced a replacement lithium ion battery for your laptop recently? Now you see what I mean.

So, although the Chevy electric car may be a paragon of modern technology, and may in fact help the General return to profitability, it will not be a cheap car for the masses, which may be okay, since they’ll only build about 10,000 units the first year, and could probably sell them all, even at $40,000. If the price of gas remains above the magic $4.00 per gallon barrier, or people expect it to, the Chevy Volt will be a slam dunk for GM.

If the price of gas should decline to around $3.25, and people expect it to stay there, the less expensive traditional hybrid alternatives will be much more attractive to car buyers, especially given the rising price of electricity.

Until next time, save that gas, you’ll need it.