The CAR WIZARD shares which vehicles TO Buy & NOT to Buy for Fuel Economy 

Definitely get a 7.3 diesel if you want an excursion. The 5.4 is gutless and the V10 guzzles fuel like crazy.

Ford Excursion - will pass anything except a gas station. Eight mpg isn't fuel mileage that's a fuel leak.

I was shopping for a car in 2016. Started looking at used Prius. For about $2,000-$3,000 more than a loaded Prius, I got a used 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited. Now it doesn't get Prius mileage, but it gets 35 MPG in town, 40+ on the road, but it's big and comfortable and loaded with features -- heated and cooled seats, radar cruise, navigation, etc.. In addition it's been very reliable. I haven't spent a dime on unscheduled maintenance.

Believe It! Wizard, I used to own a 1973 Continental Mark IV. After a tune-up the car averaged 6 to 8 mpg! People regularly came up to me to say how beautiful the car looks parked in my driveway. I would usually reply, "yes, I'd rather look at it than drive it". And no, I wasn't joking!

Hey gas is also $1.80 in France ! ...per liter :(

I own a 2008 Prius that I ALSO bought from EuroAsian Bob. It’s been one of the best cars I’ve ever owned. Proud to have a car that the Wizard approves of.

I'll throw my hat in the ring. I absolutely LOVE my 05 Crown Vic. Base model with a 3 speed. 18-20 city, 22.5 -24 highway with 600,000 to damn near a million mile reliability engine wise. And parts are DIRT CHEAP😁

In 2008 during the recession those used Geo/Chevy Metros were popular, selling for like $7k or $8k at the time.

Own a 2005 lesabre for the last 7 years. Amazing car! I replaced all suspension components... and bearings all around....flawless! Love it! 173k so far

I have a 2008 Volvo S40 1.6 Turbodiesel. it's basically the beautiful version of the Ford Focus from back then (same chassis, platform, suspension etc, but SO good lookin). I was sceptical about the "small" motor, and it's not great performance-wise, but I get about 50 MPG combined, so it always puts a smile on my face when I'm fueling up :)

The Gen2 Prius does have one costly quirk: there’s a bladder in the gas tank (designed to reduce emissions) that can collapse over time and limit how much gas you can get in the tank. I can only get about 6 gallons at once in my 2008 Prius (when I should get 11+). The only fix is a complete replacement of the gas tank, which is an $800 part and lots more in labor. So if you are looking to buy a Gen2, find a way to verify it holds a full tank.

I'd like to hear a Wizard's "Buy/Not Buy" on vehicle safety. May have experience from ones that have come into the shop almost totalled from a 5 mph bump, or things that have been in serious collisions and haven't had a dent on them. Things like land yachts look safe but they fold like paper bags in crash tests.

There is a old lady around where I live that drives a 70s lincoln like the one you showed. Except it's blue lol

My friend has a jetta TDI and we all worship that car. It's a manual transmission, it was an Arizona car so it's rust free, over 200,000 miles and makes turbo sounds. He's had it for around a year and he claims he's never getting rid of it. He also went almost 10,000 miles without an oil change and you'd never even know it.

My 2016 Corolla S is easy on the wallet. I compute gas mileage at the station with a calculator, and I get 35 in the city and 40 on the road. The computer measuring the fuel economy is optimistic in the city and self-deprecating on the highway. 0-60mph is 10 seconds, which is manageable in all but the most relentless traffic. Interestingly, it seems to be an intelligent drivetrain. When I drive spiritedly for a while, it is more responsive but the mileage drops 1 mpg or 2; when I go back to gramps mode it slowly creeps back up to optimal mileage.

I love my 08 Gen 2 Prius. It’s only got 75K miles, and the city mileage is down to about 43-44 in the city, but it works great and never a problem.

Would love to see a Saab what to buy/not buy

Hey Wizard, I own a 2005 VW Bora (Jetta in the USA) It has the 130bhp TDI engine and returns 70mpg through the summer. I paid the equivalentof $900 for it and love it to pieces!

This is one of my favorite videos you have done. It is so practical but range of cars amazing. Don't stop your other subject matter, but this was comforting watching you sit on a car seat and provide good advice.

11:00 The Prius Prime has a Li-Ion battery. The Prius (regular 2nd gen, 3rd gen, 4th gen) have NiMH battery packs. They're all 200V packs but the MaH is drastically different (obviously).

Wizard, as a Saab owner your Saab comments cut me deep. My 2.3 9-5 can pretty easily hit 30mpg and honestly, it's one of the easiest cars I have worked on.

The 1.9 VAG TDI is one of the most reliable diesel engines ever. It runs forever.

That GM 3800 engine is a *very* surprisingly good engine -- I had an Oldsmobile Delta 88 back in the day, and I was *so* impressed by its power *and* its economy. It was a smooth, powerful engine, and always got good mileage. Any vehicle with that engine is going to be a good one. I hate the fact that they quit making it.

Loved the appearance on Car Trek 2! Have a great day.

Hoovie introduced me to your channel and I'm so happy he did. What a valuable youtube channel you have made. Time to binge and learn. Thanks

Owned a Mk4 Jetta TDI with the manual - can confirm, great gas mileage (and during the years I owned it diesel was often _cheaper_ than regular unleaded)

Thank you, Wizard. This is the best of your 'which vehicles TO Buy & NOT to Buy videos' so far.

I am so happy to see a new video from CarWizard. With all the negative, doom and gloom, and arguing all over tv and internet its just relaxing and enjoyable to watch your vids. Granted, ya have to have at least a minor interest in cars.

Even Top Gear mentioned how bad of an idea the 10 cylinder diesel Toureg was when they reviewed it. "The idea of buying a diesel is to get better mileage, not worse."

Fuel economy in USA, where the fuel is like free, haha :)) While I'm using a V8 and the price is around $7/Us gallon.

I Love when he Completely Destroys someone with "Oh your gonna this or that "! NO YOUR NOT! Really Calm! Lol

One of my friend's mom had a 2008 Prius and just in 9 years racked up 398,000 miles before the battery went out and other then that everything still worked on it! They might be hated but they are great cars.

VW 1.9 TDi engine is very good. I've had a few cars that used that engine. Economy is great and isn't affected with the aircon switched on. I didn't get any horrible surprises with any of them.

I once got about 21 mpg in my 1986 AMC Eagle with the 4.2 6 cylinder on the highway. I credit that mostly to being between 55-60 mph due to traffic conditions. 21 mpg's might not sound like much, but for an 80's era American corner-mobile with an engine dating back to the 60's with the added weight of 4WD, I'd say that's pretty darn good.

I absolutely love my 2000 jetta tdi. 340k miles and still runs like a Swiss watch. Winter with long idle times in the morning I averaged 47 hand calc, in the summer time where I turn the key and go I was getting 51-54 hand calc. Love those cars. I have a 114 mile round trip to work and I fill it up Monday morning and I can go the whole week on $35-40! It’s stellar. And the car is super comfortable

I used to get 38mpg highway in my '99 accord with the 2.4l 4 cylinder and 5 speed. ULTRA reliable. owned it 6 years and only did basic maintenance. Sold it for $200 less than what I Paid for it. Couldn't ask for a better experience with a car.

I bought a 1987 Chevy Sprint brand new for $6400, it was the predecessor to the Geo Metro. On the highway I measured 52 mpg, and that was going 65+ mph across NY state where it wasn't all that flat. With the 5-speed stick the 48 HP from the 3 banger actually was reasonably peppy. The car it replaced was a '77 Dodge Monaco with the 318 cid V8, 2 bbl carb and 3-speed auto; that old beast would do 18 mpg on the highway. With a 25 gallon tank it was expensive to fill up, but it'd go a long way before needing a refill. I was most surprised by the Town Car. Sure, I expected it would be bad, but 4 mpg?!? Dang, are you sure it wasn't just pouring out on the street? It sounds like you could watch the gas gauge drop whenever you floored it!

lol Saab 9000. They're nearly impossible to find in the USA anymore. I'd happily scoop one up being a Saab 900 enthusiast.

15:22 I’ve owned 2 suburbans with 454s, 1 with an 8.1 vortec and a v10 excursion. This Is exactly how I felt with each one. I love the power from big blocks. And although I say I plan on bad mileage, it ends up being death by a thousand pinpricks. Yes I can bid gas into a job as a independent contractor. But you can’t bid in grocery runs and cruising around town. At 7-8 mpg, that stuff adds up way faster than you think. I didn’t want to hassle with diesel. But I finally broke down and bought a mid 2000s Duramax. Even with repairs, I’m still ahead with gas mileage counted in.

My mom had a 1973 Continental. It was like having a living room on wheels. Full size couch in the back. Very smooth and no chance of getting run off the road by another car.

For european viewers, when it comes to 1.6 litre VW Gold/Bora/Passat from roughly year 2000-2006, be very wary of the transmission cause the stock one apparently has a flaw that can cause it to fail spectacularly. There was huge amounts of money to be made for aftermarket dealers by selling new transmissions for those engines with certain reinforced components cause the failure rate of the stock transmissions were so high. I am not sure if the 1.6 was sold in the US, but if they do, they might have the same issue.

"60$ of fuel per week of fuel ! How insane is that?!" - *French Daily driving a v6, paying 100$/week of fuel checking in*

Enjoy your channel, Dave...practical and entertaining. Here's what I tell folks who don't know automobiles yet are programmed to be concerned as regards what to purchase. Don't even think about the term, mpg. Buy the Honda or Toyota which best suits your needs and wallet. Keep it simple and drive safe.

I was 50/50 on whether you'd mention the Buicks, as they get surprisingly good mileage for how big they are, but are in no way absolute economy champs. But take into account usually a very low purchase price for usually well-maintained and garaged cars, definitely a good option.

my son drove those metros' when he worked as a parts delivery kid for an auto/machine shop. he hated the metros' he liked the ford festiva so we found him a nice one with fuel injection. 50k miles still had the original tires for 1500. the car gave great service. mazda running gear in a kia body. very easy to maintain.

My grandma had one of those Lincolns when I was a kid. It was a foot or so longer than our Suburban. The Saab 9000 shocked me. I had two 9-5s that were great and got in the low 30s on the highway.

5:52 case in point, we had a 2009 Prius get an oil change, tire rotation and balance and a headlight restoration yesterday at the Walmart Auto Care Center I work at, and it had over 304,000 on it! I’m just waiting for the day that Toyota gets notified of a Gen2 Prius with a million miles on it so they can give that owner a brand spanking new one!

The best fuel economy I had was with my first car, a 1988 MK2 Jetta - it had a 1.6L carburated gas engine, but a 4+E manual gearbox. I could go 80-90km/h with it on our freeways (here, they're called Autobahn, but you don't *have* to go fast on them, if you don't want to! Just stay in the right lane and let everyone pass you!), and it had gotten 4.9L/100km, which is really good. My current car is 10 years younger, has a 1.4L MPI engine and gets about 8L/100km in the city...

I have owned multiple Saab 9000s. Never got less that 20 mpg, even with a turbo and aggressive driving. Easily got 30 mpg highway.

Yeah! Love for the VW 1.9 TDI!! I'm the third owner of a 2000 Jetta GL TDI and it's going strong at 437,600 miles! Still gets 50+ mpg with my highway commute.

I had a 2004 Dodge Ram 150 with the 3.7 V6 and 5 speed manual transmission. You would think that it would get "decent" fuel mileage, but it consistently averaged 15-16 mpg! The highest I ever saw was almost 21 mpg on a highway trip where kept it at 65mph on purpose, and of course I got passed by everyone else on the road! My Durango R/T with the hemi and automatic gets way better mileage, and is a hell of a lot faster and more comfortable to boot!

2002 Chevy Suburban 2500 with the 6.0 v8 and 4.10 gearing, I would average 9-10 mpg. 39 gallon tank and I would go about 350 miles and "Low Fuel" would pop up on the message center. I drove it while gas was around the $4 mark and to fill it up would cost me ~$150. It was one of the few models with quadrasteer. Some days I wish I never let it go.

what happened to Mrs Wizard and who's this ''Jenny'' we have been hearing about

I recommend the first gen Scion XB (or Toyota Echo) with the 1.5L Toyota engine, preferably the automatic. The auto has higher gearing than the manual. My 2006 is very reliable and easy to work on. These are known to go 300,000 miles + on the original engines.

Love these! Very helpful. I would love to see ones for specific types of cars. We are in the market for a large suv, with 3rd row and cargo space, and it’s hard to figure out which one is best in the used market. We don’t need it for normal purposes. We have a special needs/disabled son, and need a large cargo for his wheelchair (and be able to go shopping) and a place to change him bc he is to big to change in stores. My hubby has a big diesel for towing so that’s not an issue. We unfortunately can’t afford anything close to brand new, in this class so it’s hard with so many engines and generations out there. Thanks again for the videos and keep them coming.

Yo Wizzi! The Gen 2 Prius has a Nickel-Metal-Hydride battery. The later gens had Lithium batterys. Got a 2007 myself. Love it. You would love the rest of my fleet: 78 Porsche 928 (just sold) and an 85 Benz 500SEL. Now we're talking somewhat of gas guzzlers (for German standards). Keep up your awesome work! 💪😎

As Ford Excursion 6.8 V10 owner, I can definitely say the wizard is spot on. I get about 8 in the city and 11 on the highway

I've owned two of the cars on your list, a 93 Geo Metro with the 5 speed. I averaged 53 mpg on a road trip from Washington state to Missouri. The other was a Mark IV Cartier edition with the 460 4 bbl and moonroof. Mileage was similar to your experience, but gas was cheap then and it could leave lesser cars in the dust without breaking a sweat!

I’d love to see more videos about efficient cars, your experience is really helpful

My dad is a retired mechanic. He told me he used to see Geo Metros come in the shop all the time and he could lift the engines out by hand (3 cylinder lol)

Good video, but hope your next few mpg vehicle videos you should break it down to small medium and large vehicle because some of these are really comparing apples and orange type of vehicles. Could always add a 4th 5th one (4th) like full size trucks and suv and not (5th) full size suv and truck

Great vid. How about doing cars with performance and gas milage next. My c5 corvette is getting 31mpg on the highway driving moderately. Thanks for sharing.

I had an 81 VW Rabbit diesel, 4 speed manual and in town it got about 45mpg and 50 when I was brave enough to get on the highway. It had 48 angry horsepower lol.

My 2004 Saab 9-5 Aero also didn’t get that great of gas mileage. It only got about 17 city and 23-24 mpg highway. That’s pretty bad for a 2.3 liter but it was made for performance. It also only took premium which kind of sucked but I loved that car. It was so much fun.

About that Saab 9000, it might be that bad with the N/A 2.3 automatic. However, any of the turbo engines together with a manual transmission will return much better mileage, it will depend heavily on your driving style. 20-22 city and at least 26 highway is to be expected.

"What car shocked you most for its mileage?" Even though it was a joke, the Mark III Lincoln. Had a gold colored 1969 Mark III and the fuel gauge would work opposite of the speedometer. As the speedometer would move right, the fuel gauge would move left at the same rate. Luckily at the time of ownership, fuel was cheap, around the 1999-2000 year. Really didn't care (at the time) about the mileage. It was an absolutely amazing car. Comfortable and loved the looks of it. Put an Edelbrock 750 cfm carb on it's stock 460, the burnouts were incredible. Funny that the best looking car on this list gets the worst mileage and vice versa. VT247

1997-2001 Volvo V70 2,5 5 cylinder Turbo diesel manual transmission. 40+mpg on the highway and around 30mpg in the city. Very reliable mine has 261 thousand miles on it an runs well. the highest mileage one that was even featured in our local car magazine has 569 thousand miles on it. the best thing is bodies on these cars hardly ever rust. 1984-1993 Mercedes-Benz 190D(W201 chassy) had it as my first car and that honestly got 50MPG no problem. i drove it a lot and besides normal maintanance it gave me no trobule.

Took me a good minute or 10 to realize that Jenny is Mrs. Wizard 🤣

BUT WIZARD, we buy the V10 TDI Touareg because it has a V10 DIESEL and that’s bad ass

On the other hand a Dodge Shadow 2.5 NA with a 3 speed slush box. I get 19 in the city and 15 highway. 100 HP in a 3000 pound car means cruising at 65 is about half throttle and if you hit a hill floor it.

Excellent video Wizard. Thank you

My uncle Donald drove an 80 or 85 Thunderbird ( the one on the Fairmont chassis) with the 302 V8,,,, It consistently achieved 30 mpg on the hwy,, and it had good highway performance,, :-)

Would anyone really consider a V10 Tuareg for gas milage?

You really should make a video about the distinctions between a E-CVT and CVT. In terms of reliability their is not really a comparison and not much information on the differences.

I had a Ford Focus Estate 2012 1.6 Duratorq (diesel) manual that made 65 mpg, and up to 80 mpg on the highway (55 mph). The best car i have ever owned when it comes to gas mileage👌

My 2013 Volkswagen Passat gets 40-55 mpg highway hand calculated. I get an average of 850-920 miles per tank on an 18.5 gallon fuel tank. I actually went from Manchester, TN to Fort Myers, FL in one tank (775 ish miles).

That was the fastest I've ever clicked a notification

I had a 1999 and 2005 Park Avenue with the 3.8 Series II V6 and they to could get over 30 mpg on the highway in a superbly comfortable and full-size American luxury sedan. It is a shame GM discontinued the 3.8 especially after they changed to the aluminum intake manifold in the Series III which took away the one major flaw these engines had with leaking intake manifolds becasue the plastic and aluminum would cool at different rates and cause warping and cracks in the gaskets. Luckily I never had to experience this. I also had a '97 Lumina in high school with the 3.1 known for the same thing and escaped with that one to. Now I have a 2004 Century as a second car with the 3.1 so hopefuly it will be good to me as well. After all most a year so far so good. None of the V6s GM had replaced the 3.8 with can match the mileage or reliability.

So in my younger and wilder days, I decided to roadtrip from Birmingham, AL to St. Paul, Minnesota. I took a 92 Town Car and it did surprise me, I averaged around 27mpg!

Nice to see the Wizard give the MK4 some love. I have a 1.8T with 280k km and I would love a 1.9 Jetta wagon

My Saab 9-3 2,0L Liner (Automatic) 2011 takes 28 miles per gallon average over one year (approx. 15000 miles), mostly outside city. My previous Saab 9-5 2,0 L Liner Griffin (also Aut) 2009 had 25 miles per gallon average over 90000 miles. Bought it at 30000 miles and sold it at 120000 miles (2011-2018). Only services and wear components. Tires and brakes more precise. No unplanned work shop repairs.

Love the wizard, truly, but as a 3 time Saab 9000 owner, including one that was an Aero, they get 26-30 mpg on the highway!

My first two cars were 1979 Lincoln Continentals. You are not kidding about the fuel economy. 1979 had the smaller 400 as the only option and they still pounded down the gas like there was a hole in the tank. Had to let them go in 2004 - my wallet just couldn't take it anymore. Really reliable, though.

I have a 1972 Plymouth Scamp with a Slant 6 that currently gets around 18-19 in the city and 22-23 highway (on 91 octane non ethanol fuel).

My uncle use to have a geo storm. It was a nice little hatch. I learned to drive stick on it. Those cars were very under rated

I had a SAAB 9000 2,0 150hp 1997 and i try to convert from litre to gallon and miles to kilometer and it was 30miles per gallon on the highway not so good or not to bad but in city it was bad maybe 18-20miles but here in sweden there is not many left now. It was a good comfortable car

My 2015 Chrysler 200 with the 2.4 ltr engine and 9-speed auto consistently pulls 36.75 MPG @ 60 miles per hour. With 106,000 miles behind it, it has been very reliable too.

I remember around 1991 renting a Geo Metro in Miami for a Key West adventure. The little things do get fantastically great mileage. The only downside I remember was having to shut the A/C off when getting onto the highway so that the car could accelerate quick enough.

My pick for great economy car: 1999 Mazda protege 1.8L 5 speed manual. 30 city 35 to the 37 highway. Ours will rust out before it dies mechanically.

He's spot on, I had a 92 Geo metro 3 cylinder 5 speed. Thing was an absolute tank at least mechanically. The interior was total crap door handles would fall off window roller uppers would fall off. But I used it for a pizza and Courier car put 100,000 miles on it in one year never had a single mechanical engine problem. strangely it did go through rear wheel bearings for some strange reason but they were cheap so it wasn't a big deal. He's absolutely right on the second gen Priuses they are pretty much tanks, gasoline engines are very reliable much more so than the third generation Prius . one mistake that he made is that the batteries are actually nickel metal hydride in the Prius and actually they still are except in certain trim levels. They still use the same internal modules as they did for the second gen Prius also , so there is a good supply available if you want to repair a battery pack rather than replace it. I've got 338,000 on my 2008 Prius still gives me 45 to 47 average over a tank of fuel.

Hope the Wizard and his Princess are doing well, staying safe. Don't know that MPG is a huge issue now with prices hoving around $2 gal (think Costco was $1.68 this morning). Difficult to remember the days driving '72 New Yorkers 440ci '74 Marquis 460ci, '72 Deville 472ci

I have a 2017 Ford Fiesta SE Hatch with the 5 speed manual, had it since 10 miles, at about 74k now and its been great. 35-37 on flat highways (closer to 34 avg, Colorado) and still about 30 in the city, typically average about 32 overall. Great little car, fun, and been super reliable (1 evap issues, fixed under warranty though, car would take a few cranks to start after filling with gas but never left me stranded!) and from what I have seen the Fiesta ST's can get good mileage too depending on your driving

Had a Saab 9-3 Turbo and a 9-5 3.0 V6 both were not very economical however they were very straightforward to work on with lots of easy to find GM parts. Pretty reliable too if maintained to Saab exact specification. For example using the Saab specified spar plugs inside of normal plains. Normal plugs could kill the ignite cassette. If I could buy a new Saab today I would.

My Saab 9000 2.0T automatic gets about 8 l/100 km on the highway. I think that the low mileage reported here is due to the Saab being made for 95 RON fuel, but it _can_ run on 87 AKI. Also I don't know what that uncle was on about, but 9000s are a breeze to work on, and doesn't require much work either. There are a lot of US cars that are much worse to work on

Yeah, you're about right with the LeSabre. I get a little over 17 MPG in the city driving respectfully. It used to be about 13 before I figured out that the person who put a straight pipe in place of the cat also decided to also put a blank on the wiring harness end of the O2 Sensor to allow it to pass emissions. Also, the Honda Insight is a great Vehicle except when trying to fit five full sized adults in there. It had 198k on the Odometer and got 40 MPG all day long when my friend was driving a group of us around for a week with no problems, except for the AC.

The main difference between the honda insight and toyota prius is you can operate the honda with a dead hybrid battery. That way, when your battery completely degrades, you can still drive, while in the prius, you can't.

98 toyta camry 2.4l 4 banger. Most reliable car I've ever owned and was still going strong at 205k. 30-40mpg. I think about it every day how foolish I was as a younger teen to trade that car in.... Yea it burnt 1/2 qt of oil every 1-2k miles but that's cheap compared to buying a new car!

Oh dear. It was tough to listen when the Saab’s got a mention 🤣

My first car was a 05 Buick LeSabre. I managed 30 mpg out of it on the highway. I'd love to find another one in good condition. I got half a million miles out of mine before the rear subframe broke on a gravel road due to extreme kansas rust -_-

At the end of the 70’s my parents purchased a 1973 Mk-IV Continental (4 kids!). What I remember as a kid was the amount of oil it took everywhere we went. But it was such a cool car. Thanks for the video.