I feel a little better after Edmunds.com released a study today showing that consumers who want to save money on gas are better off buying a sub-compact or compact car than a hybrid vehicle. In fact only one hybrid, the Honda Civic Hybrid, makes it into the top ten cheapest vehicles if gas prices broke $5 a gallon.

I was looking at hybrids before we settled on the 2005 Honda Odyssey, which not only offers among the best mileage in its class but is highly practical for carpooling (another important way to save on fuel).

Edmunds numbers are based on its True Cost to Own analysis, that looks at the actual cost to own the vehicle over a five-year period, including the average depreciation, financing, taxes, fees, insurance premiums, fuel costs, maintenance and repairs.

Edmunds.com says Chevy Aveo is the cheapest car to own.

Assuming gas prices of $4.06/gallon, the study found the  Toyota Prius costs 50 cents/mile to own (ranking 33rd among all vehicles) — compared to 42 cents a mile for the Chevrolet Aveo.

Here’s Edmunds’ list of the ten least expensive cars to own:

Chevy Aveo

Hyundai Accent

Honda Fit

Toyota Yaris

Honda Civic

Nissan Versa

Mazda MAZDA3

Kia Rio

Scion Xb

Toyota Corolla

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 12:05 pm and is filed under autos, deals and discounts, gas prices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.