The Fast and the Frugal

Editor-in-Chief

Road & Track recently set out to determine which performance-oriented cars were the most frugal. Road & Track’s Matt DeLorenzo wrote, "we decided the car must be capable of exceeding certain thresholds including 0–60-mph acceleration of less than 7 seconds, a slalom speed in excess of 65 mph and an average EPA mileage rating of at least 20 mpg, all while carrying a sticker price of less than $60,000." After running their recent test cars through their magic formula, they came up with this top ten list:

Audi TT 3.2 Quattro
Mazda MX-5
Pontiac Solstice GXP
Nissan Nismo 350Z
BMW 135i
Mini Cooper S
Chevrolet Corvette Z51
Lotus Elise SC
Honda S2000CR
Chevrolet Cobalt SS

I was impressed that the Corvette made the list. Then again, the Grassroots Motorsports guys told me recently that they had averaged 30 mpg with a new Vette on the highway. Not bad for a car with 430 hp. You can read the full article at Road & Track.

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Posted at 9:38 am in Gas, Road & Track

Comments

Oafman
Jul 15, 2008 at 4:51 pm

7urtle – the Cobalt SS is actually a pretty sporty little car. Chevy races the Euro version in Europes equivalent to our ALMS and Rolex racing series. Many of these cars are throwbacks to the 30 years ago when companies made cars that were not ‘super cars’ but were econimical and fun to drive. I read that article when I got my issue in the mail last week and I would be happy to own any of the cars on that list.

Anonymous
Jul 15, 2008 at 4:49 pm

30 is acheivable with v8, but always needed a carb and cfm mathed discipline. To see it from a vette v8 is no surprise…excpet fuel injection is erroneus just by existing for efficiency. Never gonna happen. I can sure as hell bet they used every “trick”, like top gear at slow highway, no pumping throttle, short lived, in sprites like the storm they create. Still full of lies and barbaric idiot.

7urtle
Jul 15, 2008 at 10:11 am

mx5? cobalt?