Midsize Family Sedans Grow More Fuel-Efficient
Several new and refreshed models get higher miles per gallon, and more are on the way.
Automakers’ emphasis on fuel economy is helping cars across the board achieve more miles per gallon. With several new and refreshed 2013 models recently hitting dealer lots, the popular midsize-family-sedan segment is seeing significant fuel-economy improvements thanks to hybrid technologies, diesel engines and other innovations. The better news: Even more fuel-efficient family sedans are on the way.
Chevrolet’s redesigned 2013 Malibu Eco, a gasoline-electric hybrid with a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine that uses General Motors' mild-hybrid eAssist system, achieves an EPA rating of 25 mpg city/37 mpg highway. Prices start at $25,995.
For fuel-conscious customers, diesel-powered options are always something to consider. The 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI, with its 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbodiesel engine, is EPA rated at 31/43 -- the highest rating for a nonhybrid model among family sedans. The 2012 Passat TDI SE starts at $26,765, including $770 shipping.
If you're willing to wait just a bit longer, though, you’ll soon have two more fuel-efficient family sedans to consider.
Last week the EPA rated the redesigned 2013 Nissan Altima sedan at 27/38, which is the highest in the segment for a gasoline-engine model. However, to get this impressive fuel economy, you have to buy the 2013 Altima with a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine and Xtronic continuously variable automatic transmission. The 2013 Altima will arrive at U.S. dealers this month and starts at $22,280, including $780 for shipping.
The redesigned 2013 Ford Fusion is another eagerly awaited new midsize sedan that will get a fuel-economy boost in both standard gasoline and hybrid gas-electric versions, as well as an all-new Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, when it goes on sale this fall.
Although the EPA hasn’t yet officially rated the 2013 Fusion’s fuel economy, Ford said when the car was introduced in January that the Fusion's 1.6-liter 4-cylinder EcoBoost engine will achieve 26/37. The Fusion Hybrid gets a new 2.0-liter gasoline engine that’s expected to return 47/44. If true, that would rank the 2013 Fusion as the highest-rated hybrid in the midsize-family-sedan segment. The 2013 Fusion will start at $22,495, including a $795 shipping charge.
Also expected to hit dealers' showrooms this fall is the redesigned 2013 Honda Accord. Although few details have been released, the EPA rates the 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine in the 2012 Accord at 23/34. The 2012 Accord LX is priced from $22,270, including $790 shipping.
What we do know is that the 2013 Accord will get a new 2.4-liter direct-injection engine, and that its current EPA fuel-economy rating is expected to increase. In addition, an all-new Accord plug-in hybrid with a new 2-motor hybrid system is expected to reach U.S. dealers by next winter, though Honda has yet to provide fuel-economy estimates.
[Source: Inside Line]
The new Fusion and Malibu are sleek looking. The current Honda Accord looks like vanilla ice cream, very bland looking. Honda builds great cars but the exterior/interior design of some of their vehicles are too conservative. Audi's interior design of its dashboard is way too confusing. Too many buttons at your finger tips. Not very well organized. Sure driving an Audi is a status symbol to some.....not to me. It also has a spotty reliabilty record like the VW.
It will interesting to see if Honda breaks the mold and comes out with a more sporty looking Honda Accord.
As an American, we don’t want to hear about fuel efficient cars any more, we want car’s that don’t use gas. No fossil fuel of any kind, no bio fuel of any kind, we don’t want to fill a gas tank anymore; we don’t want anything to do with gas of any kind.
Let the Arabs, Chinese and Russian squabble over fossil fuel, they will be at each other’s throats in a few short years anyway.
The Russians are greedy thieves, the Chinese are just greedy and the Arabs are lazy and greedy.
Ford and Chevy are on a roll. Ford with the redesigned Fusion and Taurus and Chevy with the new Malibu and down the road we will see the redesigned Impala. Many Americans cars are now on par with their foreign counter parts. I owned a Nissan Maxima and was able to put 200,000 on the odometer. The Altimas and Maximas are tin cans with CVT's in them. Why does Nissan continue to put CVT's in their cars? Nissan could have made the Maxima more sporty but chose a more conservative look for the car. Also, why can't the Maxima and Altima have an awd drivetrain? The new Fusion resembles the Maxima but has a more sporty appearance. The new Taurus will have an ecoboost 4 cyl engine that will yield 32/22 in gas mileage and have options that rival the high end SHO.
My mechanic told me a while back to avoid VW. They might look good but they don't hold up over time. Plus if you have to repair them, it will cost a small fortune.
People here who put down American cars don't have a clue what they are talking about. I used to be in the camp of only driving foreign cars but now have changed my mind. I now drive a 2009 Malibu and have to say it drives as good as some of the foreign cars. It's quiet, rides well, and is comfortable. It also gets good gas mileage.
Hmm, I don't call this good mileage at all. The 37 mpg ins't the true, you have to factor city mpgs to get overall all mpgs.
They don't want to build fuel efficient vehicles. They are doing this because the government said you need to build cars that get over 30 mpgs. Have you noticed the price of gas is going down? It leads me to believe in the old saying, That if you turn up the heat quickly the frog jumps out of the pan, but turn heat up slowly the frog boils to death in the pan.
The technology is out there to build cars that run on no fossil fuels and there are technologies out there that allow 50 plus mpgs, so where are those cars? Anybody ever feel like it's getting hot in here? I don't like the tricks the car and oil companies use to make me believe gasolline mileage like this is an big improvement cause it isn't.
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