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Top 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars for 2004
By Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor , Edmunds.com
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We've compiled a list of the 10 most fuel-efficient cars currently sold in the U.S. based on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) miles-per-gallon ratings for city and highway travel. We considered only those cars that you can refuel at a regular gas station, so there are no electric or natural gas vehicles on this list. In order to arrive at a final hierarchy, we used the EPA's combined fuel economy formula: 55 percent of city mpg rating plus 45 percent of highway mpg rating. The rating for each vehicle below is expressed in mpg as a city/highway ratio. All ratings apply to base models equipped with a manual transmission, except where indicated otherwise with an asterisk. Also, we only allowed a given model to appear once on the list, except in the case of the Honda Civic because it's available in both gas/electric hybrid and regular gasoline versions.

  1. Honda Insight — 60/66


  2. Toyota Prius — 60/51*


  3. Honda Civic Hybrid — 46/51


  4. Volkswagen Golf TDI — 38/46
    Volkswagen Jetta TDI — 38/46
    Volkswagen New Beetle TDI — 38/46


  5. Honda Civic HX — 36/44


  6. Toyota Echo — 35/43


  7. Toyota Corolla — 32/40


  8. Scion xA — 32/38


  9. Scion xB — 31/35


  10. Dodge Neon — 29/36
    Pontiac Vibe — 29/36
    Toyota Celica GT — 29/36*
    Toyota Matrix — 29/36

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