It wasn't so long ago that getting more than 40 miles to the gallon was considered a major feat in an automobile. A realm reserved for hybrids, few new cars for sale where even in the discussion and electrics weren't even a contender. That wasn't even two years ago, and now today you have nearly a dozen 2011 cars under 20000 that can do 40 mpg.
Remember, and you couldn't even find anything in car search engines that got 40 mpg that wasn't a diesel or a hybrid. Now Chevy, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, and even Ford are all in on the act. It does feel odd however to read that list of names and not see Toyota even getting mentioned, who's only 2011 car that for under 20000 that gets close to 40 mpg is the Yaris with 36 highway.
But is 40 mpg over the hill? The proliferation of special edition eco-trims has lead the way to 40 mpg but artificially, but at the expense of higher cost and limiations. Cruze Eco gives you 40 mpg but cost $2,500 more and only comes in a manual. The Civic HF cost $3,500 more than the base Civic Sedan to get that magic 40 number, but only adds 2 MPG highway. Ford has done some number smudging with its Fiesta, 39 mpg with the standard package but 40 with the SFE package.
And not only can it be difficult to find auto incentives on these very narrow packages, but you often end up paying more to boot especially compared to what you save. Kia and Hyundai however have started to raise the bar by offering 40 mpg vehicles standard on car search engines all over with their Hyundai Veloster, Elantra, Accent, and Kia Rio.
So is forty mpg old news? Not quite yet, while there are plenty of new cars for sale that offer the big four-oh, few are offering it standard yet, and most are charging a premium. Most are high thirty something mpg cars that are taking extra expensive measures such as low resistance tires and missing weight such as no spare tire to achieve those numbers. But there is plenty of incentive for automakers to step their game up, which we are seeing already. Bring on more economy models!