By mid-May, gas averaged $4.50 per gallon nationally, up 28% from a year earlier. aaa. Americans are paying nearly $6 per gallon in some states, meaning refueling a truck like a Ford F-150 could cost more than $150 per tank.
It may take some time for those prices to come down. So if you’re in the market for a new car, SUV or truck this year, you’ll want to choose a car that gets great gas mileage.
This makes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2025 Automotive Trends report worth noting. Released in February, the model covers every new light-duty vehicle sold in the U.S. through model year 2024 and gives consumers a clear picture of which vehicle types – and which automakers – provide the best gas mileage in the real world.
EPA’s fuel economy estimates come from laboratory tests designed to simulate everyday driving. While the individual city and highway numbers match up on the new car’s fuel economy window label, the combined estimates differ.
The window label calculates combined mileage using a mix of 55% city and 45% highway, while the real-world estimate in this report uses a 43% city and 57% highway split to better reflect modern driver activity.
How fuel economy breaks down based on vehicle type
The simplest way to shop for efficiency is by category. The spread between the best and worst vehicle types is dramatic. Here’s the average real-world fuel economy for each class in model year 2024:
- Sedan and Wagon: 33.5 miles per gallon (MPG) – the most efficient conventional class by a wide margin
- Car SUV (most 2-wheel drive SUVs under 6,000 pounds): 39.2 MPG – highest in any class, boosted by hybrid and electric vehicles
- Truck SUVs (most 4-wheel drive SUVs or those weighing more than 6,000 pounds): 25.7 mpg
- Minivans and Vans: 26.1 mpg
- pickup trucks: 20.5 mpg – lowest in any class
The huge numbers for the SUV category reflect how much electrification has reshaped the segment. In the broader market, the removal of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) dropped the overall industry fleet average from 27.2 mpg to 25.6 mpg.
American consumers have increasingly gravitated toward purchasing larger vehicles over the past 18 years, slowing progress in improving fuel efficiency. report notes: :
“Fuel economy has also increased across all vehicle types since model year 2008, however, the market shift toward less efficient vehicle types has offset some of the fuel economy gains across the fleet that otherwise could have been achieved through additional technology.”
The most – and least – efficient automakers
The EPA report also ranks the 14 largest automakers based on fleet-average fuel economy for model year 2024, with an industry average of 27.2 mpg.
For electric vehicles, it is measured in miles per gallon-equivalent (MPG), which is the amount of electrical energy a vehicle can travel on equivalent to the energy in one gallon of gasoline.
Here are the brands that beat the industry average:
- Tesla: 117.1 mpg
- Honda: 31 mpg
- Hyundai: 29.8 mpg
- Did: 29.2 mpg
- Toyota: 29 mpg
- Nissan: 29 mpg
- BMW: 29 mpg
- subaru: 28.7 mpg
- Mazda: 28 mpg
Here are the brands that fall under the industry average:
- Volkswagen: 26.5 mpg
- Mercedes: 26.1 mpg
- Ford: 23.4 mpg
- GM: 22.9 mpg
- Stellantis: 22.8 mpg
Where do efficiency gains come from?
As mentioned, the total fleet average reached a record 27.2 mpg in the 2024 model year, up 41% from 2004. The EPA notes that increased production of BEVs and PHEVs has impacted overall trends in recent years.
Honda, Toyota and Nissan stand out because their fuel economy remains intact even when electrified vehicles are removed from the calculations. Their gas-only fleets average 30.1, 28.4 and 28.5 mpg, respectively – competitive numbers that reflect strong conventional engine efficiency.
Preliminary data for the 2025 model year shows that the overall average is projected to increase to 28.1 mpg, the car SUV average is expected to increase to 37.6 mpg and the sedan average is expected to increase to 36.2 mpg. Technological and design improvements are likely to boost fuel efficiency, as the report notes:
“Vehicle fuel economy is clearly related to vehicle characteristics … namely weight, horsepower, and footprint. Future trends in fuel economy will depend, at least in part, on design choices related to these characteristics.”
For buyers looking to reduce fuel costs, choice of category matters as much as brand. An SUV from a top-ranked manufacturer can deliver twice the fuel economy as a full-size pickup – a difference that adds up sharply at $4.50 a gallon.