The Cars, SUVs And Trucks With Worst Fuel Economy On Sale Today

Today’s ICE-powered cars are, almost without exception, massively quicker than their ancestors were 10, 20, 30 or 40 years ago. But the really incredible thing is that the leap in performance has also come with a corresponding leap in fuel economy in most cases.

A modern VW Golf GTi is rated at 28 mpg by the EPA compared with 23 mpg for the equivalent car 20 years ago, and even its 315 hp (319 PS) all-wheel drive Golf R big brother can do 26 mpg combined when equipped with a dual-clutch transmission. Then there’s the current Porsche 911 Carrera: 20 mpg combined and up to 25 mpg on the highway. None of these cars have any kind of hybrid assistance.

Throw a couple of volts into the equation, as seen in something like the Ford Maverick hybrid, and you start seeing some really impressive numbers. The EPA rated Ford’s light truck at 42 mpg and, unsurprisingly, the order book was swamped soon after.

Guess what these two have in common? Why, their official combined MPG figure, of course

But there are still plenty of villains to go with those heroes, and we’re not just talking about the 8.6 mpg USPS mail truck that just got the go-ahead. We counted 33 cars, trucks and SUVs that can’t achieve more than 15 mpg on the combined cycle, and there are far more than that if you include variants of each model.

Yes, the really filthy end of the list is dominated by the kind of vehicles you’d expect to see there. The Bugatti Chiron ranks as the biggest gas guzzler with a horrific 9 mpg rating, while the Lamborghini Aventador isn’t far behind at 11 mpg.

But you might be shocked to see some very ordinary names on our table, like the Jeep Wrangler (in Rubicon guise), the Toyota Sequoia, and the mud-tire-equipped Chevy Silverado, which are all partying like its 1979 at 14 mpg. And interestingly, though Chevy’s 5.3 Silverado doesn’t quite make the table, thanks to a positively Prius-like 16 mpg showing, we noticed that it dropped to just 12 mpg when tested on E85 fuel.

America, this your 2022 MPG Hall of Shame.

Note: All fuel economy numbers sourced from the EPA

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