Top 10 Fuel-Efficiency Surprises

 

The first winding road experienced at the controls of the Porsche Cayman is like the first block walked in a bespoke pair of shoes. “Ah,” you sigh, “that’s what it’s supposed to feel like.” Other than the Cayman’s price, which starts steep and gets foolish, there is not a damn thing that doesn’t make us covet this dynamic superstar.

 

The 245-hp Porsche even gets respectable fuel mileage—as much as 20 mpg city and 29 highway when equipped with a five-speed manual. That’s better than some economy cars get, such as the Suzuki Reno. The Cayman S, bulked out with more displacement and another 50 horsepower, rockets to 60 in 4.8 seconds but gives up 2 mpg in the city and 3 mpg on the highway.

 

Porsche keeps a horsepower cap on the Cayman S, so the relevancy of the thirstier and more expensive 911 is less readily in question, but in making a car this good, it’s apparent anyway. With trunks front and rear, the mid-engine Cayman is even practical, and an entirely reasonable option as a daily driver for the childless sort who can afford bespoke shoes.

 

 

Yes, the Ford Escape, the Mazda Tribute, and the Mercury Mariner hybrids better the Highlander hybrid’s fuel economy by 2 mpg city and highway, but the all-new 2008 Highlander hybrid is of the physical size that most people think they need in an SUV—big—will seat eight in a pinch, and is about three seconds quicker to 60 mph. Americans aren’t celebrated for their embrace of compromise, and unlike the Escape, Tribute, and Mariner triplets, the Highlander hybrid doesn’t require much.

 

Toyota combines a 3.3-liter V-6 (down from 3.5 liters in the nonhybrid version) with electric motors on the front and rear axles. A combined total of 270 horsepower matches the nonhybrid version’s, although it is meted out through a continuously variable transmission. Teens will appreciate the button that engages electric-only operation up to 25 mph, allowing silent escape from the cul-de-sac when “borrowing” the car for an evening out.

 

A Highlander Limited hybrid can weigh more than 4600 pounds, the kind of curb weight that used to be associated only with ladder-frame SUVs and cast-iron V-8s, but such are the costs of modern equipment, hybrid-drive systems, and proportions proportional to American posteriors. That it still manages 27 mpg city and 25 highway is impressive, but just imagine if Toyota could excise the weight of a Yugo or two.