What vehicle new or used gets the best gas mileage?

I'm about ready to trade my 2006 Kia Optima in for a car that get's better gas mileage. Any suggestions? I want something small, but safe especially for the area I live which can get ice and snow during the winter. |||At 25mpg combined, your Kia Optima is already pretty fuel-efficient. You are not going to see much improvement in fuel economy by switching to another car of the same class in recent vintage. The 4-cylinder Honda Accord for instance also gets 25mpg combined. The Chevy Cobalt mentioned by the guy below only gives you an improvement of 2mpg combined.





I'm not sure if it's such a good idea to trade down to the really lightweight high-mpg cars from 15 years ago-- Such old cars tend to be near the end of their service lives, with lots of wear-and-tear, and they usually lack today's standard safety equipment like antilock brakes, airbags, electronic stability control, etc.





Even if you went for something like a Toyota Yaris you are only going to see an improvement of 7mpg combined, and you are going from a midsized car down to a subcompact.





Unless you want to go for a 46mpg-combined Toyota Prius (which isn't exactly cheap and has a 3-month waiting list due to the demand), you are not going to see much improvement in fuel economy.





I'd say keep your Kia Optima until hybrids become cheaper in the future-- Honda is coming out with their Prius-wannabe next year and it's going to sell for around $18,000.|||I bought a 2008 honda accord and love it. great car with great gas mileage. i live in seattle and drive it in the rain and snow. awesome power, can handle anything. for a upper ended model it is about 30000 (with leather, moon roof, etc.) honda civic is cheaper but with better gas millage but lacking some features of the accord. honda or toyota are both good. stay away from domestic cars (ford, chevy, Pontiac) they are not too good in the snow and get poor gas millage for the price. used luxury cars such as BMW, Mercedes and lexus are being sold for mid 20's. i would look for a four wheel drive. look around, see what deals you can get before you buy.|||Try a Honda Civic Hybrid (extremely slow)





or the Chevy Cobalt XFE coupe or sedan which has gotten rave reviews, because people said they have seen as much as 38 MPG on the highway. It starts at a lower price than the Focus, Corolla or Civic and still gets better Mileage.





http://chevy.com/cobalt|||I had a friend who had an 89 honda civic hatchback with 300,000 miles on it that got around 50-60 mpg highway|||I would go for a hybrid or a honda accord.