EPA Fuel Economy Honor Roll Crowns Hybrids

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has issued its annual Fuel Economy Guide to 2010 models, and hybrids — not too surprisingly — are dominant on the leader board. Nine of the top 10 fuel-sippers, in fact, are hybrids, led by the Toyota Prius at 51 miles per gallon in town and 48 on the highway.

Rounding out the top five are the Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan Hybrid at 41/36 mpg (FWD model), the Honda Civic Hybrid (40/45), the Honda Insight Hybrid (40/43) and the Lexus HS 250h (35/34).

The remaining five on the best-fuel-economy top 10 are the Nissan Altima Hybrid (35/33), Ford Escape, Mazda Tribute and Mercury Mariner 2WD hybrids (34/31), the traditionally powered Smart Fortwo Cabriolet and Coupe with automatic transmission (33/41), Toyota Camry Hybrid (33/34) and Lexus RX 450h 2WD at 32/28 mpg.

The distinction of lowest fuel economy goes to an expected group. The Lamborghini Murciélago gets the number-one spot for the manual-transmission model at 8/13 mpg and 3rd place for the automatic at 9/14 mpg. In between is the Bugatti Veyron at 8/14, and it's followed by the Bentley Azure/Brooklands at 9/15 mpg and the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti at 10/17 (automatic) and 10/15 mpg (manual). Rounding out the bottom 10 are the Maybach 57/57S (10/16), Bentley Continental (10/17 mpg) and a tie for a number of other high-end and sporty models from Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche that all get 11/15 mpg or 11/17 mpg.

The EPA has rolled out a new consumer-friendly Web site with details on its fuel economy ratings.

Inside Line says: More fuel for the hybrid fire that burns ever hotter. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent