ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Yes, your sport utility vehicle has gotten smaller and more fuel efficient over the years. But even with those gains, SUVs still are behind cars when it comes to gas mileage.


"It comes down to the laws of physics," said Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for Consumer Reports. "All things being equal, if you put the same powertrain (engine and transmission) in a vehicle that is taller and heavier, you're going to get better fuel economy out of the car than with an SUV."

A comparison by The Associated Press of the 10 top-selling 2019 SUVs and comparable cars with similar gasoline powertrains found that in all cases, cars beat the SUVs in mileage, in several instances by 14 per cent or more. The comparison is between two-wheel-drive vehicles.


About 70 per cent of new-vehicle sales in the U.S. are SUVs and trucks and 30 per cent cars as buyers opt for higher seating and more space to haul people and goods. It was about 50-50 just six years ago. SUVs also often are all-wheel-drive for better bad-weather performance, and they usually can tow heavier items.

Around a decade ago, many SUVs were based on truck underpinnings, and often their names were preceded by the words "gas-guzzling." But as fuel prices spiked at times during the early 2000s, more efficient car-based SUVs started to gain in popularity.



Another good comparison is Honda's CR-V compact SUV and a similarly equipped Civic compact car. With the same engine and transmission, the Civic gets far better mileage. A two-wheel-drive CR-V gets 30 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, but a Civic with the same 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine and continuously variable transmission gets 36, or 20 per cent higher. On the highway, the difference is even more pronounced with the Civic's 42 mpg beating the larger CR-V by almost 24 per cent.

Likewise, Toyota's Highlander midsize SUV with a 2.7-litre four-cylinder engine gets 22 mpg in combined driving, but the recently updated Camry midsize car gets 34 mpg with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine. The Camry has a more efficient transmission that pushes its mileage 54 per cent higher than the comparable Highlander, which will be updated for 2020.




"I won't ever go back to a small car, not unless it's a sports car," she said. "It's always going to be an SUV for me."


"I have a hard time seeing that it's going to happen anytime soon," she said, adding that they'll quickly change back if gas prices drop.
