Green book ranks cars by fuel-efficiency

If the rusted-out, slush-splashed ’92 Buick sitting in our garage ever stops running like a champ, my wife and I may for the first time ever be in a position to choose our next vehicle, as opposed to scrounging for a budget-beater or hand-me-down. We’ve talked a little about how we should supplement our bus passes. Fuel-efficiency will be a factor, but so will space to stash camping gear. A Prius? A Subaru? Maybe it’s something really cool that I don’t even know about?

We’ll probably take a good look at this list before driving something off the lot. It’s the new greenest vehicle list from Americans for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The ranking is part of the group’s annual Green Book auto guide, out today, which evaluates vehicles according to fuel-efficiency and other environmental factors. The Honda Civic GX, a car that runs on compressed natural gas and is only for sale in New York and California, topped the list for a fifth consecutive year. It’s followed by the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid.

“Hybrids stand out, even after being taken down a notch by the new fuel economy calculations,” ACEEE vehicle analyst Shruti Vaidyanathan said in a release. “And sales rose by a whopping 40 percent last year. This interest in hybrid vehicles should shine the spotlight on other green vehicle technologies that can significantly improve fuel efficiency.”