By John Rettie, Road & Track - A year ago, as car sales started to rebound and gas prices dropped from previous highs, buyers started to crave V-8 powered SUVs and trucks again.Guess what? The trend has reversed again as gas prices climb and Americans are becoming more fuel conscious.
General Motors, for example, says 46 percent of retail buyers in the U.S. are not opting for Chevrolets powered by four-cylinder engines, which is double the level from four years ago.
Chevrolet says its customers are moving out of V-8 powered SUVs into V-6 powered crossovers and from V-6 powered cars and crossovers into fuel-efficient four-cylinder models such as the Cruze, Malibu and Equinox.
The 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco in particular is garnering praise for achieving 42 mpg on the EPA highway cycle - the best of any gasoline-powered car. That's equal to the best diesel figure obtained by the Audi A3, VW Golf and VW Jetta. It is a figure only bettered by three hybrids - the Honda Civic Hybrid (43 mpg), Honda Insight (43 mpt) and the Toyota Prius (48 mpg).
Granted you have to buy the turbocharged 1.4-liter Cruze Eco with a manual transmission to achieve this remarkable economy since the automatic version only manages 36 mpg on the highway.
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