

Since one of those needs with this class of vehicles usually entails a good amount of distance travel, we’re use the highway fuel economy as the benchmark for our Top 10 list. A few hybrid and clean diesel models are out there, so the key is to check out the most fuel efficient models that fit your needs.

Plug-in hybrids are just hitting the market this year and more are promised, but again most are luxury first and SUV second. The first electric SUV has appeared (after one short-lived version, the RAV4 EV was on the market for a brief time), but the Tesla Model X is out of most buyers’ price range. If your lifestyle points you toward an SUV or crossover, you still want to do what you can to minimize your contribution to further CO 2 in the atmosphere. Winging it…on electricityĪll of which leaves the environmentally conscious consumer with some tough choices. Regular trips up to the mountains in the winter to ski could similarly motivate a car buyer to look for an all-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive vehicle rather than the front-wheel drive found on most high-mileage hybrids. One trip to Costco is enough to convince many families that a Prius won’t cut it. The reason is simple: they are functional. Sport utility vehicles and crossovers (crossovers being sport utility vehicles based on a car rather than truck chassis) are more popular than ever in 2017, even as the general trend toward higher MPG vehicles moves forward.

While many in the environmental community might see this as the point at which personal transportation should be curtailed–starting with SUVs or Crossovers–it is clear the automotive market is not going to make such a quick shift. The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has hit a concentration not seen for millions of years. So the scientists announced this last week (ed note: we originally wrote this three years ago–and updated it since–but the climate change news has not gotten any brighter in the intervening years) that the world has hit another milestone. Subaru’s latest AWD model ups its MPG The Wheels You Need with the Fuel Economy You Crave
