Good Magazine is out with its list of the 15 most fuel efficient cars on the road. And the most remarkable thing about it? After over 100 years of US automotive engineering since the 1908 Model T, things haven't gotten that much better.

A couple of years ago we wrote about the fact that the terribly inefficient Model T in 1908 got 21 miles a gallon while then-current industry-wide statistics show average fuel economy for a new car was 17.2 mpg and in 1979 it was 16 mpg. And a couple of years before that we also wrote about how gas mileage in 2005 was the same as 1982. And the 2009 mpg average? The EPA reports it to be just a lousy 21.1 miles per gallon.

While average miles per gallon on the most fuel efficient vehicles on the Good Magazine list are far more than the average car on US roads, when you look at the numbers, there have to be some real gas hogs out there for the overall average to be pulled down to 21.1 mpg.

Here's the Good Magazine list:
15. The Hyundai Elantra Blue (manual)Miles per gallon: 26 city, 35 highwayManufacturer's Suggested Retail Price: $14,145
14. Mini Cooper (manual)MPG: 28 city, 37 highwayMSRP: $19,500
13. Toyota Yaris (manual)MPG: 29 city, 36 highwayMSRP: $12,905
12. Volkswagen Jetta TDI (manual)MPG: 30 city, 41 highwayMSRP: $22,830
12. Volkswagen Golf TDI (manual)MPG: 30 city, 41 highwayMSRP: $22,354 for Golf
10. Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI (automatic)MPG: 30 city, 42 highwayMSRP: $24,615
9. Audi A3 (automatic)MPG: 30 city, 42 highwayMSRP: $27,270
8. Smart For-Two Coupe or Convertible (both automatic)MPG: 33 city, 41 highwayMSRP: $11,990
7. Ford Escape (and Mazda Tribute) Hybrid (both automatic, and both SUVs!)MPG: 34 city, 31 highwayMSRP: $29,175
6. Nissan Altima Hybrid (automatic)MPG: 35 city, 34 highwayMSRP: $26,650
5. 2010 Lexus HS 250h (automatic)MPG: 35 city, 34 highwayMSRP: $34,650
4. Honda Insight Hybrid (automatic)MPG: 40 city, 43 highwayMSRP: $19,800
3. Honda Civic Hybrid (automatic)MPG: 40 city, 45 highwayMSRP: $23,800
2. Ford Fusion (and Mercury Milan) Hybrid (automatic)MPG: 41 city, 36 highwayMSRP: $27,950
1. Toyota Prius (automatic)MPG: 51 city, 48 highwayMSRP: $22,800

Read more: http://www.good.is/post/the-15-most-fuel-efficient-cars-for-2010/#ixzz0hG4k0uW9

Of course, that Prius may be the recalled one with brakes that don't work when you first hit them, giving you that extra thrill of terror while you get those really good mpg's.

The reason the overall average mpg for US cars being so low is that there are an awful lot of fuel inefficient vehicles on the road and very fuel efficient ones. I guess that clunker program didn't work so good after all.

Ford introduced the Model T in 1908. It got 21 miles per gallon and was remarkably inefficient. Now a hundred years later, latest industry-wide statistics show that the average fuel economy for a new car is 17.2 mpg. And this is more efficient?

What in the world is going on in Detroit (and everywhere else, for that matter)? We talked about Detroit's lousy fuel economy attitude before (click here), but then we didn't know about the Model T numbers.

If we can put a man on the moon (more than once) and shrink a computer from a massive room down to a laptop (and increase its capabilities in the process), how come we haven't figured out how to substantially increase mpg across the board?

Worse yet, mpg numbers are going the wrong direction. It hasn't been this bad since 1979 when it was about 16 mpg. In fact it went up from there. Sure the numbers bobbed and weaved a little but they were generally up. Now? Worst numbers in 29 years. And back then it was much, much worse than the Model T. I'll give Henry that one. At least he didn't invent a gas guzzler when he started out. How we turned it into one is just mind boggling.

It can't all be just because we put an a/c and radio in the car. It can't be just because we put smog devices on them. Something stinks here, folks. Only thing we can't figure out? Which stinks more, the Big Oil Companies or Detroit's mindset. Either way, it's high time for a change.

No one in Washington has forcefully pushed for better mpg mandates for nearly a decade. Why not? Conservative politicians gather major donations dollars from oil companies and car companies. Time for a change, folks.

A short while back we got a phone call at home one night from a local pollster. They asked if we would favor replacing the local 3 term mayor or keeping the mayor for another term. We bluntly said "replace the Mayor." When asked why, the answer was simple. Every once in awhile you have to make sure politicians know who's in charge.

It starts at the top and it flows downhill. If you want to get gas mileage up, you have to vote for someone who cares more about people than about corporations, Big Business and Big Oil. Folks, it's that simple.

Until then, you'll get more lemons from Detroit and they won't go that far on a gallon of gas either. For now, if you've got a lemon, call or contact us. Getting rid of lemons everyday is what we do. We were doing it before there ever was a lemon law (heck, we were doing it before some of those other lawyers were even out of high school).

California is taking the global warming fight straight to the tailpipe!

Talk about creative government lawyering, for the first time a state is trying to hold car makers liable for the greenhouse gases that scientists believe are warming up the atmosphere and damaging the environment.

"Global warming is causing significant harm to California's environment, economy, agriculture and public health," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a statement announcing the lawsuit his office was filing against GM, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

The lawsuit claims that the carmakers have created a public nuisance by turning out millions of vehicles that emit massive quantities of carbon dioxide. The car companies did not appear to be immediately worried, probably relying in part on a similar New York case that was filed against some utility companies there and was thrown out of court.

California and 11 other states also are involved in a lawsuit that challenges what they call the federal EPA's refusal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, now awaiting Supreme Court review.

Some people shake their head at California's decades-old struggle to clean up its air by battling Detroit, but it did establish the first air pollution control districts way back in 1947, in an attempt to help rid Los Angeles of the smog that was already being recognized even back then (the word "smog" didn't even exist then; they called it a "gas attack").

This new lawsuit may be political grandstanding by the Governator, but it certainly will at least get Detroit's attention for the moment.

Anything that makes Detroit think about building more fuel efficient and less polluting cars is a step in the right direction. People might put up with a few more defects (lemons?) if they got such good mileage that they couldn't resist it.