Buying a Fuel Efficient Station Wagon

Although they are usually not as fuel efficient as small sedans and compact hatchbacks, some station wagons have relatively good gas mileage. Their fuel efficiency is often preferable to that of trucks or large sport utility vehicles, despite having substantial passenger and cargo capacity. Read on for details regarding some of the more fuel efficient station wagon models, separated by the time periods in which they were manufactured...

2007/2008

Some of the most fuel efficient mid size station wagons of the 2007 model year include the manual transmission Ford Focus wagon (24-33MPG), the Subaru Legacy (20-28), the Honda Fit (28-35), the four-cylinder Volkswagen Passat (20-29), the 4-cylinder Kia Rondo (19-26), and the Volvo V70 with a 2.4 liter engine (19-27). Small 2007 station wagons with good gas mileage include the 2.4 liter Volvo V50 (20-28MPG), the Suzuki Forenza (19-27), and the manual transmission Pontiac Vibe (26-33). Two of the more fuel efficient 2008 station wagon models (as of June, 2007) include the Subaru Outback with automatic transmission (20-26MPG) and the 4-cylinder Audi A3 (22-29).

1996-2006

Fuel efficient station wagons of the 1996-2006 period which were worthy of note consisted of such models as the 1996 Toyota Corolla (25-31MPG), Hyundai Elantra (21-29), and Mercury Tracer wagon (26-35), the 1997 manual transmission Ford Escort (24-34), the 1999 Suzuki Esteem (26-33), the 2003 diesel version of the Volkswagen Jetta wagon (29-40), the 2005 five-speed Toyota Matrix (26-33), and the 2006 Suzuki Aerio SX (22-28).

1985-1995

A wider variety of brands manufactured station wagons during this period of time, with models capable of exceeding 30MPG being more common. Such models included the 1985 Honda Civic wagon (27-33MPG), the 1987 five-speed Buick Skyhawk (23-33) and manual transmission Ford Escort (27-38), the 1990 Nissan Sentra wgn. (23-33), and the 1995 Toyota Corolla (24-31). Fuel efficient diesel station wagons from this time period in the 28-40 miles per gallon range included diesel versions of the 1986 Ford Escort, '86 Mercury Lynx, and 1985 VW Quantum.

Remember when purchasing any vehicle that the type of transmission (automatic, manual, 4/5/6-speed) and engine (cylinders, liters) substantially affects the gas mileage on different versions of some models, so it is important to be aware of these specifications. Diesel cars usually have better gas mileage than others, but there have been some exceptions.

Miles per gallon statistics were obtained from the FuelEconomy.gov website. Some above-mentioned model names are also used for sedan versions of the same model.