Top 10 Cars With The Highest Fuel Consumption Ever

Updated: 09 Dec 2024

I’ve based this selection not only on the fuel consumption as such, but also took into consideration more factors like the relation of the vehicle’s engine power to its fuel consumption and the overall recognition of the vehicle having an excessive fuel consumption (thus I didn’t include any American cars of the 1950s and 1960s as for them the fuel consumption was just a statistic without any meaning back then). Also I tried not to include multiple vehicles using the same engine family.

10. Alfa Romeo Alfa 6 (2.5l V6): 19l/100km (12.4 mpg)

9. Volvo 164 Automatic (3.0l I6): 19l/100km (12.4 mpg)

8. Datsun 300ZX TT (3.0l V6): 22l/100km (10.7 mpg)

7. Opel Diplomat V8 (5.4l V8): 22l/100km (10.7 mpg)

6. Porsche 928 (4.5l V8): 22l/100km (10.7 mpg)

5. NSU Ro 80 (1.0l Wankel): 23l/100km (10.2 mpg)

4. Lamborghini Espada (3.9l V12): 30l/100km (7.8 mpg)

3. Jeep Wagoneer (3.8l I6): 30l/100km (7.8 mpg)

2. Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 (6.9l V12): 40l/100km (5.9 mpg)

1. Lamborghini LM002 (5.2l V12): 42l/100km (5.6 mpg)

Comments

I drove my family’s motorhome into the wind at about 60 mph and managed about 6.5 mpg. That thing is a pig.

ESPADA FTW!!

Probably shouldn’t have gotten a 300zx as a first car then……..

RIP money

Rip michaels walet

Is the 300ZX economy really that bad? I can understand it not being that good but it’s a fairly modern 1990s engine under 300hp, it can’t be 22l/100km. My S15 usually gets under 10l/100km on the highway and it’s from the same era of Nissan’s engine technology and lord knows they went all out with the 300ZX’s engine

The 450 sel uses a v8 not v12

well, that merc is not that bad. I looked it up at: http://www.spritmonitor.de/de/uebersicht/28-Mercedes-Benz/0-Alle_Modelle.html?constyear_e=1985&exactmodel=450&powerunit=2
a page where real people put their everyday consumption and it managed around 15l/100km

I think you overestimate the US’s fuel thirst in the 50s and 60s. The straight six was often the ‘standard’ equipment and V8s would cost extra. It’s not like everyone was just driving ‘64 Impalas with 409s and ‘69 Chevelle’s with 454s. The Nova, Valiant, and Falcon were notable family cars that came with straight sixes as original equipment. People even when gas was cheap would not always opt for the huge engine.

The Wagoneer had a system that would burn the whole car in case of an accident.
The system was allways spilling fuel everywhere, Jeep couldn’t fix the problem.
Thats why it has such horrible mileage.