So much has changed in the past few years. Fuel costs have been in flux, and there were instances when shelling out $120 to refuel a pickup truck was quite painful. Thankfully, an entirely new category of crossover-based trucks has emerged as well.
Small and even midsize trucks aren’t entirely “new:” They were what a massive share of people drove in the 1970s and 1980s, even as work trucks, but they were essentially absent from the marketplace after Ford unceremoniously dumped the original Ranger in 2011.
Pickups based on car platforms aren’t new, either—we had those as far back as the 1957 Ford Ranchero. And trucks based on car platforms were a thing right through 1986, with the El Camino, but they all but disappeared thanks to the influx of terrific small pickups from Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Chevrolet, Mazda and just about every other major manufacturer. Subaru made strong efforts with the unibody BRAT and the Baja off-road-inspired trucks, but those seemed either ahead of or behind their time when they launched.
History notwithstanding, there are now three of these car/truck hybrids—one an actual hybrid—and it feels like this new class of pickups finally has some staying power, not to mention better mpg ratings. We’re looking forward to seeing this change continue in the future with improved efficiency and gas mileage.
Dropping from the list in 2024 are several models that no longer offer diesel engines, including the Jeep Gladiator and Ram 1500 EcoDiesels, as well as the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon Duramax diesels.
One final caveat: The bulk of pickups sold in the United States are four-wheel drive, so we’ll be looking at mileage for those, even though we do know that you can generally save about five miles per gallon on the highway by selecting the rear-wheel drive version.
The Best Gas Mileage Trucks of 2024
- Chevrolet Colorado
- Chevrolet Silverado 1500/GMC Sierra 1500
- Ford F-150
- Ford Maverick
- Ford Ranger
- Honda Ridgeline
- Hyundai Santa Cruz
- Nissan Frontier
- RAM 1500
Chevrolet Colorado
Equipped with rear-wheel drive (RWD) and Chevrolet's 2.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the Colorado is expected to return 19 mpg city, 24 highway, and 21 combined. Those numbers won't impress someone cross-shopping their pickup against a sedan or a hybrid crossover, but they're nonetheless commendable in the pickup truck segment.
Admittedly, to achieve those numbers, you'll need to buy a rear-wheel-drive Colorado, which means a penalty to towing. With a four-wheel-drive (4WD) Colorado, towing tops out at 7,700 pounds, however RWD models come equipped with a less-powerful (and more fuel efficient) version of the turbo-four engine, meaning their maximum trailer weight hits only 3,500 pounds. However, things look better in terms of payload. The RWD WT and LT trims max out at nearly 1,700 pounds in the bed.
Chevrolet Silverado 1500/GMC Sierra 1500
The diesel options provide the best fuel economy, although we'll admit that the entry price for a Chevy Silverado or GMC Sierra with a turbo-diesel engine is not as enticing as it once was. For 2024, if you want the diesel, it’s going to set you back $56,685, which is almost $10,000 more than it was in 2022. If you’re interested in a diesel purely for fuel economy, you blew more than a year’s worth of fuel cost in just the price bump. That’s tough to justify.
Of course, most people are buying a diesel for dual purposes, not just because they want the most fuel-efficient truck they can get. Diesels provide better fuel economy than gas engines, yes. But, typically, they also have increased towing capacity. That is not so with the Silverado and the 3.0-liter Duramax, according to the towing guide provided by Chevrolet.
According to this guide, the only way to get appreciably lower towing capacity than you can from a Silverado with the diesel is to order the 2.7-liter turbo four-cylinder. The 6.2-liter V8 even provides slightly greater towing capacity than the diesel does.
Fortunately, the diesel engine does provide better fuel efficiency, and adds just over $2000 to the sticker price, so it may pay for itself rather quickly.
Ford F-150
The cost of buying an F-150 goes up just about every year, and that hasn't changed for 2024. The most efficient configuration of four-wheel drive (4WD) F-150 with the PowerBoost V6 yielded 23 mpg in 2023, and while the official 2024 EPA estimates were not available at the time of publication, we expect that figure to remain the same. Ford has chosen to eliminate the hybrid price premium over the standard V6, so it’s a much more cost effective choice at the pump to go hybrid from the day you drive it off a dealer’s lot. Any 2024 F-150 you do configure with the PowerBoost engine will come equipped with the mid-level 2.4-kW version of the Pro Power Onboard feature allowing the truck to generate electric power for use with power tools, tailgating equipment, or practically anything else you may want to plug in.
Of course, you can load up a PowerBoost-powered F-150 to $60,000 in nothing flat, but it’s nice to know that you can still buy a bare-bones, four-wheel drive pickup in XL trim as well. These are capable, powerful trucks, and the 10-speed automatic transmission makes the absolute best use out of it.
Ford Maverick
The Maverick is the only truck on this list that gets more than 30 mpg. In fact, it hovers closer to 40. And the price? You could buy TWO Mavericks for the price of one Chevy Silverado diesel. Its average estimated annual fuel cost is around $1,450, about what you’d spend on a rental fleet special like the Mitsubishi Mirage G4—which is only priced about $4,000 less but is likely to be worth about a third of the Maverick’s value in three years.
The best fuel mileage you’re going to see from a Maverick comes with the optional front-wheel drive (FWD) hybrid powertrain. In addition to the optional 2.5-liter hybrid, which is paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT), Ford also offers the Maverick with a 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine, which unlocks the option of all-wheel drive (AWD).
The Maverick hybrid pulls off a hat trick: It’s the least expensive truck in America, it’s the least expensive hybrid truck in America, and it’s the most fuel-efficient pickup in America. At the base level, the price comes in under $24,000. The hybrid drivetrain is a $1,500 premium but you gain a significant 11 mpg combined.
The other dramatically interesting thing about the Maverick is the way Ford is marketing it. It’s partly due to a shortage of inventory at new car retailers, but what Ford hopes you’ll do is—hold onto your hats here, folks—order the vehicle you want and wait for it. It’s the way a lot of people bought cars in the 1950s and 1960s. You can’t blame the retailer for ordering the vehicles that most Americans are most interested in buying, but if you want the hybrid with the lowest number of options, get in there and order it yourself.
Ford Ranger
For the 2024 model year, the Ford Ranger Crew Cab in four-wheel drive with the 2.3-liter four-cylinder EcoBoost turbo remains the cheapest way to get into a four-wheel drive pickup with a low-range transfer case. The Maverick is cheaper, but it has all-wheel drive, without the benefit of a low range.
Fuel economy out of the 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine is merely good, hovering in the low 20’s with 4WD. But for the cheapest 4x4 pickup on the market today, it’s also technologically advanced, as the Ranger features Ford’s fantastic 10-speed auto.
Honda Ridgeline
The Ridgeline barely holds its place on the list of pickups with the best fuel economy, and to be honest, it’s in a sea of trucks that can offer that kind of combined fuel mileage. The sole 3.5-liter V6 engine makes 280 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque.
People loved to hate the Ridgeline. With the Maverick and Santa Cruz now established, it’s less controversial than it was, but it’s still hard to figure why the base Ridgeline is over $15,000 more expensive than the base Maverick. Yes, the base Ridgeline now includes AWD, but it does so at a 16-mpg penalty.
A few years ago, we said “The question to ask is whether the Ridgeline fits your truck needs and your parking constraints. If it does, then there’s no other truck that will meet your requirements as completely.” That argument for the Ridgeline is gone.
Hyundai Santa Cruz
Compared to the hybrid Maverick, anyway, the fuel mileage of the Santa Cruz is pretty grim. Note that you’re looking at mileage that’s the same as both full-size pickup trucks here. However, those other numbers are achieved with the addition of a hybrid or diesel engine that adds a whole lot of coin to the bottom line.
The Santa Cruz is a surprisingly fun and also surprisingly useful vehicle. The week we had it, we stuffed a thousand pounds of flooring under its roll-top tonneau cover and had a great time driving around with the entire four-person family. If the lot at our nearby Hyundai dealer is any indication, you’re going to see a lot of these vehicles driving around in the coming years.
There are a lot of advantages to a vehicle this size. They slither into tight parking spots. They easily tuck into normal-sized garages. And they’re less expensive than the average pickup, although the one we drove had a price tag of around $40,000, making it a whole different value proposition from the Maverick.
Thing is, the Santa Cruz's engine options make it a whole different driving experience from the Maverick, too. The base engine is the 191 horsepower 2.5-liter four, but most people are going to opt for one of the two higher trims, which are both equipped with the 281-horsepower turbocharged version of the same engine. The turbocharged Santa Cruz is super fun to drive, especially for this class, even though fuel economy takes a slight hit and drops down to 22 EPA-estimated miles per gallon combined.
Nissan Frontier
The most fuel-efficient Nissan Frontier will deliver 18 mpg in the city, 24 highway, 21 combined. That's the SV trim level with RWD, and while those numbers don't look hugely impressive, they're packaged with a truck that looks, drives, and feels like a genuine truck. You won't confuse the Frontier for a unibody crossover from behind the wheel, and that tough-truck feeling is worth a lot to a lot of shoppers.
The Frontier SV RWD maxes out at over 6,600 pounds of towing capacity and over 1,600 pounds of payload. We think this is one of the best-looking trucks on the market. Add in reasonable towing and hauling capability, a tidy footprint, and a relatively frugal powertrain, and it's an attractive choice in more ways than one.
RAM 1500
The Ram 1500 with the 3.6-liter V6 gas engine is one of a number of pickups that offer 21 mpg combined fuel economy, according to the EPA, though for 2024, it starts with a hefty price tag of about $45,170.
Nevertheless, the 3.6-liter Pentastar in the Ram 1500 is a good engine, despite what most people will tell you in Facebook groups and internet forums. The 3.6-liter V6 from Ram offers just as much power as some V8s did not 15 years ago. With 305 hp and an eight-speed transmission, a V6-powered Ram 1500 can get a lot of work done for the average homeowner. According to the towing guide, the base Pentastar-powered RAM 1500 4x4 has a maximum towing capacity of 7,730 pounds.