Worst gas guzzlers you can buy today
The price of gasoline is creeping up again, poised to go higher with even the slightest murmur over the price of oil. Funny how the price of gas takes forever to fall after the price of oil drops, yet the price at the pumps jumps instantly the second OPEC sneezes or gathers for apple tea. And isn’t it a bit strange the current average price of gas across the country — $1.19/ litre — is the same as October 2015 when oil was almost double what it is today?
And while the best and “greenest” cars are heavily promoted, the worst guzzlers are less obvious. Natural Resources Canada, however, keeps score of the city, highway and average fuel economy of all makes and models sold in Canada. So, after combing through data in NRCan’s excellent Fuel Consumption Guide, the following were found to be the 2017 vehicles that consumed the most (and least) gasoline in their segments, based on combined average litres of fuel consumed per 100 kilometres.
SUBCOMPACT
Worst: We wouldn’t classify the Bentley Continental GT Convertible or the Maserati GranTurismo as subcompacts, but for NRCan’s classifications, that’s where they fall based on interior volume. The pair also scored worst for fuel consumption. The Bentley and its 6.0L V12 swigs 16 L/100 kilometres compared to the Maserati’s 15.2. They’re followed by the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at 14.9 (depending, of course, on the number of burnouts attempted during each drive). Best: The best in class goes to Ford’s Fiesta SFE with its 1.0-L turbocharged three-cylinder engine, the Fiat 500 hatchback and the Chevrolet Spark.
COMPACT
Worst: How the Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe measures up as compact might be a mystery, but it’s no surprise its 6.7-L V12 devours gasoline at the prodigious rate of 17.1 L/100 lm average — 20.7 in the city — to rank as one darn thirsty car. The Rolls-Royce Dawn follows, as does the Mercedes-AMG S65 coupe, also with a 12-cylinder engine. In the V8 category, the worst is the BMW M6 Gran Coupe. Best: Highest honours go to the Toyota Prius C, the Lexus CT 200h and Mitsubishi’s Mirage.
MID-SIZE
Worst: Bentley’s Mulsanne is rated at 18.1 L/100 km, while the RollsRoyce Wraith takes second at 16.1 L/100 km. Among vehicles not bought by oil barons, however, the Cadillac CTS-V ranks as the highest consuming, with a combined average of 14 L/100 km, followed by the Audi S8 and RS7, both of which require premium gas. Best: Toyota’s Prius, the Honda Accord Hybrid and the Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid rank as the top three least consuming mid-size vehicles.
FULL-SIZE
Worst: Rolls-Royce takes the crown yet again for its Phantom, which devours premium at the rate of 17.1 L/100 km, but it’s only a little worse than second-place BMW M760i xDrive at 15.1, and the MercedesMaybach S 600 in third place, which burns fuel for its 6.0-L V12 at a rate of 15 L/100 km. Best: The Ford C-Max Hybrid and Honda Civic are not considered full-size cars by most people’s standards, but NRCan ranks them as such and puts their fuel consumption at 5.9 and 6.9 respectively, followed by the Kia Forte 5.
WAGON
Worst: Infiniti’s QX50 AWD might be more SUV than wagon, but it ranks as the highest consuming in NRCan’s wagon roundup, at 11.9 L/100 km. Volvo’s V60 and its V90 sibling take second and third spots at 9.5 and 9.4, despite having 2.0-L four-cylinder engines. Best: The Kia Niro, Toyota Prius V and Honda Fit all rank as the most miserly in the class.
SUV
Worst: The Mercedes-AMG G 65, with its 6.0-L V12 powerhouse tops the SUV thirst-meter with a combined consumption of 20.3 L/100 km. It is followed by the G 63 and its more “efficient” 5.5-L V8 that averages 18.5, and the G 550. All three are shaped like bricks and are based on a decades-old formula. Among mainstream SUVs, the Toyota Sequoia, also based on old tech, hits 16.5 with its 5.7-L V8, shadowed by the Lexus LX 570 at 15.8. Best: The most efficient in the class are the Toyota RAV4 AWD Hybrid at 7.3, the Lexus NX 300h at 7.5 and the RX450h AWD at 7.9.
MINIVAN
Worst: The Kia Sedona SX-L and its 3.3-L V6 averages a combined 12.5 L/100 km and will require $2,325 to operate over a year. The ever-popular Dodge Grand Caravan takes second-worst behind the Kia for most fuel used among vans, followed by the all-wheeldrive Toyota Sienna as third-most thirsty. Best: The three best in the class are the Mazda5, the Chrysler Pacifica and the front-wheel-drive Sienna.
PICKUP
Worst: Among 4x4 pickup trucks, Toyota’s long-in-the-tooth Tundra is the highest consuming gasoline pickup on the market today, averaging 16.2 L/100 km from its 5.7-L V8. Second-worst goes to the Ram 1500 at 15.4 L/100 km, and third is the Ford F-150 with the payload package and its 5.0-L V8, at 14.8. Best: The leanest and most efficient 4x4 pickups are the GMC Canyon and the Toyota Tacoma — both compact pickups — followed by the full-size F-150 equipped with the 2.7-L EcoBoost V6 engine.