If you're looking for older cars with good mpg, a couple good options are the Suzuki Swift platform (aka Geo Metro, aka Chevy Sprint, aka Pontiac Firefly), and the Saturn S-Series cars. These cars were made in the 90s and early 2000s. So at this point, they're going to be 20-30 years old. Which means they're going to be run down. But if you're OK with driving a beater...
If you'd rather have a "nice" car, I'd go with Hersbird's advice regarding the Prius.
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