SUVs that are small offer better efficiency than their bigger counterparts, but even the most efficient models can get expensive to top off, since gas is over $4 per gallon in many parts of the country.

But, if you are still determined to purchase an SUV, what are you to do? One of the most fuel-efficient SUVs on the market is the 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid, with an estimated 34 mpg in the city, and 31mpg on the highway for front wheel drive, and 29/27 mpg for all-wheel drive. Other than a few hybrid-specific characteristics of the drivetrain, the Ford Escape Hybrid drives pretty much like a small conventional SUV. Also, this vehicle offers great new car warranties.

Determine your priorities when considering purchasing the Ford Escape Hybrid; they might easily swing your choice either one way or the other. To make this purchase worth your while, you need to be purchasing it for its hybrid benefits because when you factor in other attributes that may be less-desirable, like rear-seat folding that is archaic and interior quality that is spotty, the hybrid opens the door to Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota competitors.

Still, the crash-test scores of the Escape Hybrid are much better than they were previously, and you can get an improved appearance in the cabin with the Limited. And, with consumers’ concern about high gas prices and a good auto warranty, this hybrid system is reason enough for motorists to consider buying a Ford.

When purchasing a new car, it is up to consumers to do their homework before shopping.   This will ensure the best deal possible.  Three important tips will save you from unnecessary costs.

First, look around to find the best dealership.  One way to do this is to check the Internet about dealerships. Web searches can be a wealth of information. Many times you will find complaints or positive revues that could help you.  Also, it is a good idea to contact several car dealerships in your area to see which ones are going to respond quickly and be helpful.

Next, don’t buy alarm systems or dealer financing. These are two ways that consumers lose in the end. For example, when cars are manufactured they already have wiring installed.  However, automakers sell alarms separately for up to $1200.  This is added on to the price of the new vehicle.  Also, finance offices don’t usually give you the best deals.  A better option would be to put your money towards a much needed auto warranty.

Finally, sell your car before arriving at the dealership.  If you sell it yourself, you will get a much better deal than you would on a trade-in.

The bottom line is that any mechanical breakdown leaving a motorist stranded could wipe out all of the gains from a perfectly negotiated deal.  New car warranties should be an essential part of your purchase in order to protect you from unnecessary repairs.

In August and September the economy took quite a hit.  Also, these months proved to be unpredictable for auto incentives.  Instead of offering the typical program, GM promoted an Employee Pricing Sale, and Chrysler told people to Shop ‘Til You Drive.

Those great deals will be ending on September 30th, which means if you would like to take advantage of the great prices and terrific new car warranties you better act now.  The deals by GM continue: you might like the $9,000 you would get off the H3 or the $10,000 you would get off of the Corvette Z06, but consider that getting $2,000 off of the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu isn’t shabby either.  Chrysler experienced some problems with promoting percent-off deals; they probably would have done better by promoting cash-back numbers.  However, the fact remains that you can still get $9,000 off of pickup trucks like the 2008 Dodge Ram.

There are various other incentives out there, too.  In certain regions you can get $2,000 off of the 2009 Ford Taurus, while you can get great deals on Ford trucks, like the 2008 F-150 has a $7,000 cash back deal.  In addition, now is the time to inquire about great deals on an auto warranty, as well.

Toyota is following in Honda’s footsteps to manufacture natural gas powered products. The carmaker of the successful Prius hybrid is planning to debut a Camry concept car that uses natural gas in November at the L.A. auto show. These cars are called CNGs, or compressed natural gas. There are only 1,000 refueling stations for these vehicles to fuel up at, and only half of these are retail pumps that are standard of refueling stations that are based at home.

So far, CNGs have not become popular, which is why the Honda Civic CNG is just sold in two states, California and New York. The CNG Honda Civic performs pretty much the same as the gasoline version. However, it is unclear why natural gas is a good alternative source of fuel for vehicles when there isn’t near the infrastructure for it than there is for E85. Also, by creating more of a demand for natural gas, prices will go up for those people who use natural gas to heat their homes.

However, Toyota claims that creating a natural gas infrastructure would be a good way to pave the way for a hydrogen infrastructure in the future.

Are consumers ready for natural gas powered vehicles? The problem is it is inconvenient at the moment. Motorists would rather hang onto their current vehicles and purchase used car warranties, rather than paying money on a new vehicle that will end up being inconvenient.

Analysts have expected the prices of crude oil to go down for months now, yet they keep going up. Will motorists ever be able to afford important things such as an auto warranty and maintenance again? Crude oil prices had a considerable decline early in the year, however the hope is not just that the price will make demand go down, but that the amount of non OPEC production delayed will hopefully catch up late in the year and into next year. The market will soon continue with production, which will cause prices to drop.

The investment of the oil companies are based on around $55-$75 per barrel of oil. If you look at history, that is still very valuable oil. That’s what we are going to see, and gas prices will drop. However, the question on everyone’s mind is when.

Consumers shouldn’t expect price drops to be dramatic until late in the year. Gas prices will likely rise and peak throughout the nation at about $3.50 per gallon. However, motorists could see significant relief late in 2008 as new production is evident online.

There are a few things working in favor of lower gas prices. Ethanol will displace a large part of the demand for gas since it will be taking 10% of gas out of the picture. Also, prices won’t be up an enormous amount from years past, just about a percentage point. However, this isn’t the beginning of the $4-$5 per gallon apocalypse for gas. Never fear, motorists will be able to afford such things as used car warranties and maintenance again.

J.D. Power recently came out with the results from its 2008 Escaped Shopper Study, which gauges why consumers made the decision to walk away from certain new vehicles in their car shopping experience. It’s quite surprising that approximately 80% of car shoppers decided against purchasing a model after they went to a car dealer.

The top three reasons for not buying a car, that are dealer related, included inferior dealer service, a limited availability of various trim levels and colors, and unprofessional employees.

This is a very common anecdotal reason for consumers. If a dealer or salesman doesn’t treat a prospective customer well, that’s it. And, typically the customer not only stays away from that dealership, they also get a tainted view of the vehicle brand.

The study examined 30,000 new car shoppers and discovered that 40% of shoppers decided not to buy a vehicle because of the price, and 40% of those buyers said it isn’t that the car costs too much money, it’s that the car doesn’t seem like it is worth the high price.

Motorists would rather hang onto their current vehicles and buy used car warranties, than purchase a car that they feel isn’t worth the money. And with an auto warranty, drivers can rest assured that they won’t have to pay unnecessary repair expenses down the road.

Ford is debuting its new lineup for 2009, and the majority of the models are not only equipped with new car warranties, and numerous safety features, they come with a gas-cap-less fuel tank.  Ford is referring to this as “EasyFuel,” which shouldn’t be confused with “FlexFuel”, which is when a car can use E85.  However, if you get the two mixed up, cars with the EasyFuel system have a warning that E85 won’t flow easily into the gas tank.

When hearing this you may wonder, “Are people too lazy to even screw a gas cap off and on?” but chances are you have actually forgotten a gas cap at a gas station once or twice.  And sometimes it can be annoying to remember if your gas cap clicked properly when you turned it.

If you purchase one of the new 2009 Fords, you may feel a bit strange just taking the pump in and out without doing anything else.  But chances are that you will get used to the convenience after a short time.  Oh, and did I mention that the new 2009 Fords come with a hefty auto warranty?

The EPA is the arm of the government that is responsible for testing fuel economy, and its results are now posted on the stickers on new vehicles. This is a different rating than the government’s CAFÉ numbers, which you might have heard about in Washington.

The real numbers by the EPA are predicted to go up an average of 0.2 mpg for 2009, compared to last year, the EPA claims, which will be about 20.8 mpg.

The final statistics won’t be in until the early part of 2009, but according to the EPA, these predictions demonstrate the fourth rise in a row in the average fuel efficiency of light trucks and cars. In fact, trucks have actually had the largest impact of all. Although their market share has gone down from 52% in 2004, to 48% in 2008, overall, their fuel-efficiency has gone up.

The figure of 20.8 mpg is the largest since the year 1993, and the EPA is predicting that the final number is going to be even higher because people have shifted to smaller cars because of high fuel prices. Consumers are trying to protect their wallets by purchasing more fuel-efficient vehicles and new car warranties.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners recently performed a study researching the best and worst places in the U.S. for car insurance.  The study determined that Northeast drivers are paying the highest premiums.

The most expensive state was New Jersey.  The average premiums there were more than $1,300 a year.  Washington D.C., our nations capital, was in second place with average premiums of over $1,185.  New York took third place with premiums on the average being over $1,100.

The study stated that the reason for the elevated costs for insurance in those areas is because of urban driving matters, dense traffic, and high salaries.  In addition, costs for average liability insurance premiums are high in the Northeast.

Midwestern and Northern states were ranked as having the lowest insurance premium costs.  Iowa was the state with the lowest insurance overall, at $530 a year.  Maine took second place at $560 a year, and North Dakota came in third at $570 a year.

This study proves that location is key when it comes to your car insurance costs.  Motorists have to pay high vehicle costs these days with the costs of new car warranties, insurance, and maintenance.

Pontiac is planning to add a four-door version of the Chevrolet Aveo hatchback to the spring lineup, which will be called the G3.  In Canada, Pontiac currently markets a G3 Wave, but in the U.S. they will simply market it as the G3.

According to Jim Hopson, who is a Pontiac spokesman, “The G3 gives us a credible new high-mileage entry-level car at a time when small cars are the fastest-growing segment in the industry.”

But Pontiac is supposedly the exciting high-performance division of General Motors.

Susan Docherty, who is the VP of the Buick, Pontiac, GMC group, claims that fuel-efficiency is a huge factor in the style and performance of Pontiac’s formula.  With the addition of the G3, Pontiac will have four models that get more than 30 mpg of highway driving: the G5, G3 and G6.

Consumers are demanding small, fuel-efficient vehicles with good new car warranties, so it looks like Pontiac has made a smart move.  But what about their performance cars?

Hopson says, “We still have G8 and Solstice rear-drive performance sports cars, as well as the front-drive G5 and Vibe that are sporty and get good mileage, and now we’ll have the G3 that’s sporty and gets very good mileage and is very fuel-efficient at the entry-level car range.”