It’s pretty easy to find the cars with the best gas mileage. You only need look at the U.S. government EPA numbers. It’s there in black and white for all to see. What’s not so easy to find are the cars that get good gas mileage that are actually fun to drive. If you’re one of those that view your car as something more than a simple transportation appliance, the act of getting you to work in the morning isn’t the only thing you expect out of your car.

It may not take rocket science to find a car that gets good gas mileage, but it definitely takes a bit more digging to root out those that can do that and keep you entertained while you’re behind the wheel. For those that actually like to drive, especially in a car that goes where you point it, pulls respectable Gs in the corners, stops like you tied it to a tree, and at least tries to pin you back in your seat when you put your foot in it, here is the

1^st Annual Super-Gas-Saver.com Top 12 Best Gas Mileage Cars That are Fun to Drive – 2008 Edition.

What’s important here is gas mileage and fun. The number of seats, cargo capacity, and other niceties of these cars are purely secondary considerations, and are used as tiebreakers only. Why 12, not 10? Well, 11 is better than 10, right? That means 12 must be even better still. In the interest of fun and economy these cars have manual or automated manual transmissions. The only other qualification is that the base MSRP must be less than $50,000. Rankings are independent of price, but factor in the elusive “fun to drive” factor and EPA gas mileage posted by these cars.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 11 -

Mazda 3S – MSRP $18,405 – EPA combined 25, EPA Highway 29 – 156 HP, regular gas

If you have to drive a basic sedan, but want one that won’t set off your insomnia, Mazda can get you behind the wheel of the newly revised Mazda 3. It carves a mean corner for a economy car, has best-in-class binders to keep you out of the ditch, and almost touches 7 seconds flat in a 0-60 sprint. Even better, it’s almost downright cheap and has good resale value to go along with it’s fuel frugality.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 10 -

Infiniti G37 Coupe Sport 6MT – MSRP $36,200 – EPA combined 20, EPA Highway 26 – HP 330, premium gas

Couldn’t afford that 240Z in high school? Want one now, but think the 350Z looks like a soft, warm pile on a hot day? Infinity has wrapped the 3.7 liter V6 from the new 370Z in much sexier bodywork to create the G37 coupe. Get the 6MT model, which is backed by, as the name might suggest, a 6-speed manual transmission. It sits on sports suspension, and has some rather hefty Brembo brakes, although recent brake tests in Car and Driver Magazine suggest they might take a vacation after a few hard, panic stops. In any case, the Infiniti is super fun, has a stout motor, and looks great. It manages to do all this and still return 26 miles to each gallon of premium, if you can stay on the freeway. It would have finished higher, but the gas mileage is nothing to write home about in this crowd.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 9 -

Honda S-2000 – MSRP $34,300 - EPA combined 21, EPA Highway 25 – 237 HP, premium gas

Just hearing one of these things rip to the 8,000rpm (used to be 9,000 rpm) redline is worth the price of admission alone. Slap a performance exhaust on it and it will really sing. Handling is superb, if just a touch understeer oriented, and boy is it fast for a normally aspirated 4 cylinder.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 8 -

Chevy Corvette – MSRP $46,950 – EPA combined 19, EPA Highway 26 – 430 HP, premium gas

The Corvette, icon of American performance, would have finished higher, Lord knows the ‘Vette’s performance warranted it, but it was held back by it’s low (for this crowd) 19mpg combined rating. On the performance front, the Vette cleans everything else’s clock. Fun to drive? The Corvette has it in spades, especially if your qualifications include AA-like acceleration numbers. Of course, you won’t see high gas mileage figures while using the Corvette’s 430hp V8 to rocket you from 0-60, but if you keep your foot out of it on the cruise (actually use the cruise, that’ll help) to work, you’ll actually get pretty respectable gas mileage.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 7 -

Honda Fit Sport – MSRP $15,270 – EPA combined 28, EPA Highway 34 – 115 HP, regular gas

Just as the Corvette was restrained by it’s 19mpg rating, the Fit was held back by it’s 115 HP rating. Although this thing returns fantastic fuel economy figures, and is a blast to drive, the lack of acceleration can only let it climb so high in the list. If your definition of fun to drive includes zippy, go cart like handling, but you really need great gas mileage, this could be your car, especially as the price of entry is so low. As an added bonus, it seats 4 comfortably, and has a door for each. No more folding your seat forward.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 6 -

BMW 335i – MSRP $39,300 – EPA combined 20, EPA Highway 26 – 300 HP, premium gas

The gold standard of sports sedans. If you need a car that holds more than 2, but still want to have a rip roarin’ good time, the 335i is the car for you. It will tickle your funny bone, and if doesn’t, you probably don’t have one. Remember when 300hp was pure sports car territory? Yeah, me too. Now you can get the jewel like response of the 6 cylinder and handling that other manufacturers strive to emulate, in a car that lets you take along the Biffy, Buffy and your wife/husband for the ride to grandma’s.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 5 -

Chevy Cobalt SS – MSRP $22,995 – EPA combined 25, EPA Highway 30 – 260 HP, premium gas

Handles far better than any Chevy save the Corvette and can more than get out of it’s own way, thanks to the force-fed 4 cylinder. It won’t set you back a fortune either. The Cobalt SS is a hot rod for the one who wants to turn and stop too. With an EPA 30mpg on the freeway and 25 in town, you can probably even make it to work more than a couple of times on a tank full of premium. Car and Driver Magazine, typically loathe to say nice things about American cars that aren’t bodied in fiberglass, even called the 260hp version of the Cobalt SS “shockingly good”.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 4 -

Pontiac Solstice GXP – MSRP $28,775 – EPA combined 22, EPA Highway 28 – 260 HP, premium gas

It looks pretty darn good, has a direct injected, turbo motivator that put 260hp at your command, and gets better gas mileage than it’s non-turbo cousin that has 86hp less. How’s that for technology in action? The brakes work great as well, and as Pontiac is proud to point out, will haul the Solstice down in less distance than the Audi TT. In addition, the Poncho gets better mileage than the TT. The upcoming coupe version looks great, even better than you remember the original convertible Solstice looking when it was makin’ the Donald look good on The Aprentice.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 3 -

Mazda MX-5 Miata – MSRP $21,305 – EPA combined 24, EPA Highway 27 – 166 HP, premium gas

The Miata is one of the original “real car” sports cars. You know, a car that starts every morning, illuminates the night with it’s headlights, not flames, and doesn’t leave puddles adorning your driveway. The new version is even better, with a healthy increase in power from the original version’s 116 hp. (There have been several power increases since way back then) It has really tossable handling, uses hardly any gas, and you can get a sunburned dome on a nice Sunday. What could be better? Well, actually…….

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 2 -

Porsche Cayman – MSRP $49,400 – EPA combined 23, EPA Highway 29 – 245 HP, premium gas

If you can’t make this car handle well, you have no business driving. One of the best handling cars Porsche has ever built, and it will get even better next year with the introduction of direct injection for the flat 6 power plant.

Unfortunately there’s a good chance the combination of the falling dollar and increased content will push the ’09 Cayman above the $50,000 ceiling for this list, so next year it may be #2 no longer. It reaches number 2 on the fun to drive gas mileage list this year by the virtue of it’s incredible handling and pretty brisk acceleration, even though it isn’t the fastest car on the list (Corvette, of course), combined with the almost 30mpg highway mileage figure.

Best Gas Mileage Car That’s Fun to Drive 1 -

Mini Cooper S – MSRP $22,600 – EPA combined 29, EPA Highway 34 – 172 HP, premium gas

You want a car that screams “Fun to Drive” so loud Beethoven would be dancing to the beat, and sips gas like a Canary tasting Kentucky Bourbon for the first time? Well you darn well should, if you have half a pulse. Here is your car. It handles like the proverbial go cart, stops from 60 mph in about the length of the Starbucks drive through, and is even pretty darn quick, especially since Mini traded the previous S version’s supercharged engine for a new, direct injection, turbo mill.

As an added bonus it can even seat 4 real adults in relative comfort, it just depends on how big your relatives are. If you can either overlook or embrace the funky dash and instrument design, you can love the Cooper S. I know I sure do!

See, you can have a great time behind the wheel and still save gas. Until next time!