Spreading awareness about the dangers of SUVs.

According to Toyota, its plug-in Prius hybrids are averaging 65 miles per gallon in real world testing. This is an improvement of 15 mpg over the recently-unveiled 2010 Prius. The secret to the big fuel mileage increase is a battery with the capacity to store much more energy than the unit in the standard Prius. This means a lithium ion technology and a much greater expense. So far, Toyota has not committed to a date when you’ll be able to actually purchase a PHEV Prius for yourself, but it does plan to bring in another 150 test cars for testing.

Bill Reinert, Toyota’s U.S. alternative-fuel vehicle manager, points out that this 65 mpg figure is from drivers who were instructed to pilot the test car the same as any other vehicle, so there are no hypermiling techniques required to achieve the mileage boost. Of course, the car must be plugged into an outlet to recharge its battery pack and fuel but mileage and range are still mostly determined by the driver’s right foot. This is one reality that affects any car, including hybrids and fully electric machines.

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We are in quite the pickle when it comes to cars. Our society is based on transporting goods and people from one place to another inside of gasoline-powered vehicles, and not enough people use electric cars yet. After awhile, we realized that we can’t transport things in oil-powered contraptions forever, and that our climate and possibly our society might be destroyed by the machines we’ve based it on.

We can’t do away with cars overnight. We’d have anarchy. People rely on cars to bring them life-sustaining foods and medicines. Plus, people have to get to work and perform the necessary tasks to keep our cities and governments running. We have to find a way to preserve our civilization without destroying our civilization. We are in a very awkward transitional age. Soon, mankind will probably find some way to travel about in green way—we’re already seeing cars running on biodiesel, ethanol, hybrid and electric cars—but until that time, we all just have to do the best we can by choosing to rent or buy a car based on fuel efficiency. With that I give you Department of Energy’s list of the most fuel-efficient cars of 2009.

The Most Fuel Efficient Car

The 2009 Toyota Prius
The most fuel efficient car ranked by the Department of Energy. No surprises here. This hybrid car gets 45 miles per gallon on the highway and 48 mpg in the city. It uses 7.4 barrels of petroleum per year and emits only 4 tons of CO2 during that time on average. (All numbers henceforth are on an annual average.)

Most Efficient Two-Seaters

1. 2009 Smart Fortwo Convertible and Smart Fortwo Coupe
   These cars get 33mpg city and 41 mpg highway. They use 9. 5 barrels of petroleum a year and only emit 5.1 tons of CO2. Check out the upcoming electric drive smart fortwo.
2. Pontiac Solstice
   This car gets 19 mpg city and 28 mpg highway. It uses 15.6 barrels of petrol a year and produces 8.3 tons of CO2.
3. Saturn Sky
   The Saturn Sky gets 19 mpg city and 28 highway. It also consumes 15.6 barrels of petrol and produces 8.3 tons of CO2 annually.

Most Efficient Minicompact Car

2009 MINI Cooper
If you drive the manually shifting version of this car, you’ll get 28mpg city and 37mpg highway. The automatic version gets 25/34 respectively. The manual version emits 5.7 tons of CO2 and burns up 10.7 barrels of petroleum annually. The automatic emits 6.3 tons and uses 11.8 barrels. Find out more about how the MINI Cooper works.

Most Efficient Subcompact Car

Toyota Yaris
This car also has two versions of transmission. The manual is better for the environment than the automatic.

The manual gets 29mpg city and 36 highway. The automatic manages a competitive 29/35. The manual version uses 10.7 barrels of petrol and injects 5.7 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The automatic version stays fairly competitive with 11 barrels used and 5.9 tons emitted.

Most Efficient Compact Cars

1. 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid
   The Honda Civic Hybrid is the second most energy efficient car on this list. It gets 40mpg city and 45 highway. It only utilizes 8.8 barrels of petroleum and emits 4.4 tons of CO2.
2. 2009 Volkswagon Jetta
   This guy gets 31 city and 41 highway. It only eats 11.6 barrels of our petrol and emits 6.1 tons of CO2.

Most Efficient Midsize Cars

1. Toyota Prius
   See top.
2. Nissan Versa
   This car gets 26mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway, consuming 12.2 barrels of petrol a year and emitting 6.6 tons of CO2.

Most Efficient Large Cars

1. 2009 Hyundai Sonata
   This car gets 22 city and 32 highway. It eats up 13.7 barrels a year and emits 7.3 tons of CO2.
2. Honda Accord
   The Honda Accord gets 22 city and 31 highway. It uses 13.7 barrels annually and pumps out 7.3 tons of CO2.

Most Efficient Small Station Wagon

The Jetta Sportswagon is the top of this list. It has two types of transmissions. The manual transmission is more fuel efficient. It gets 30 city and 41 highway compared to the automatic which gets 29 city and 40 highway. The automatic consumes 11.6 barrels and produces 6.2 tons of CO2. The automatics stats are 11.9 by’s and 6.4 CO2.

Most Efficient Midsize Station Wagons

1. Kia Rondo
   This stationwagon gets 20 city and 27 highway, using 15.6 barrels and pumping out 8.3 tons of CO2 annually.
2. 2009 Saab 9-5 SportCombi
   The SportCombi gets 18 city and 27 highway. It consumes 16.3 barrels and pollutes 8.7 tons of CO2.

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The most common compliant about true hybrids like the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius is probably the bland pod-shaped looks. There are now some leaked photos of the new Honda Insight with sporty new looks that should answer most of those concerns and possibly help it break into the youth market. Now this is what a hybrid car should look like…