My brother bought a Hyundai in 2007 and tried telling me that they were right on the cusp of doing some really great things—improved gas mileage, sleeker look, etc… I wasn’t sure I believed him. “You mean Honda?” I asked. But he didn’t mean Honda. He meant Hyundai. And now his prophecy is coming true in so many ways, not the least of which is the automaker’s fuel efficiency, which has recently been recognized as the best in the business.

The companies many would expect to see atop the most recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of the most fuel-efficient car makers would be Honda and Toyota, who rank second and fourth, respectively, but at an average miles per gallon of 30.1 among all 2009 their models, Hyundai takes the crown.

Several automobiles are responsible for this high number, including the Elantra, which gets 25mpg in the city and 33 on the highway, and the Sonata, which goes for 22/32mpg. Both of those are top in their class for 2009. A Kansas City used Hyundai Accent saw a 3-8% rise in fuel efficiency this past year, giving the automatic transmissions 26/35mpg and the manuals 27/33mpg. Both are extremely respectable compared to other vehicles that size.

In Kansas City, Hyundai Elantra news is in high demand considering it’s one of the more versatile cars Hyundai has to offer, and the pretty cars get great mileage too. There’s literally no way to ignore the fact that every Hyundai car has been specifically tailored to get the absolute most out of every drop of gasoline. In a day and age when everyone’s looking to cut expenses here and there, pennies at the pump really do matter. For Kansas City new car shoppers, it seems pretty obvious where the best values lie in terms of fuel economy.

By 2016, the United States government expects to have a 35.5mpg standard for every vehicle manufactured for use in America, so Hyundai, Honda, Toyota and everyone else are going to have to make the necessary changes to get there in the next six years. But the fact that Hyundai is already inching closer to that elusive 35.5 number than any other automaker speaks volumes for how much higher above that number they can get in time. My brother wasn’t kidding when he said Hyundai knew what they were doing and were making a huge push for the future. I just didn’t realize the future would creep up on us so quickly.