What cars have the highest gas mileage for the lowest prices?

Hyundai, all the way. Plus you get a 10 year 100000 mile warranty for free!

Too bad about your feelings against Electric Cars. With a short commute and all the the highest EPA ratings going to electric vehicles it would seem ideal for your needs. Perhaps you have other issues. Here is the EPA lists of the most efficient vehicles. All the Electrics are over 100 MPGe (except for the Tesla model S) while the hybrids are around 50 to 60 MPG. There are no petrol only cars on this list. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/best-worst.shtml

There are 3 (or 4) types of "lowest prices" to consider and you don't specify which you are most concerned with.

Already mentioned the EV will have the "lowest price" for FUEL.

The EV will likely have the lowest overall cost for maintenance.

A hybrid vehicle may have the highest cost for maintenance over time with a petrol vehicle being slightly less.

Due to its efficiency and low MAINTENANCE costs the purchase price of an EV may pay for itself and become the cheapest car to operate overall but its upfront costs are higher than the cheapest petrol vehicles (however the 4th consideration is if you wanted to count the true cost of oil including the externalities there is no way a petrol vehicle is "cheap." )

The PURCHASE PRICE of a petrol vehicle will be cheapest "out of pocket" mostly due to market penetration and economies of scale. Of these you will be looking for an "economy" vehicle. The considerations that make a vehicle fuel efficient are the drive train, aerodynamic design, light weight, and rolling resistance. A lightweight vehicle will also tend to be one more economical to build.

This article judged the Elantra the best but they seemed biased toward domestic vehicles: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/autos/2011-06... What would be considered "economical" in the USA would be laughable in Europe, Japan, or the UK where petrol is closer to $9.00 a gallon. Apparently the KBB for 2012 agrees: http://autos.yahoo.com/news/10-cheapest-cars-for-2...

Most lists like this concentrate on the price of the vehicle rather than its fuel efficiency. Here is another list of 15 vehicles around $16000 but the mileage averages around 30 mpg. High efficiency vehicles can be found on the EPA lists.

If you were looking for a used vehicle the Volkswagen Jetta diesel is frequently mentioned with mileage frequently reported in excess of 60 mpg.

If you have the discipline you can augment your fuel mileage with hypermiling techniques: http://ecomodder.com/forum/EM-hypermiling-driving-...

toyota yaris, sedan/hatchback, those things are very economical it should be illegal!