3 eco-friendly rides: drive one of these new cars on your getaways this summer and you'll save cash on gas while minimizing your impact on the environment

Shape, Sept, 2008

Subcompact

The 2008 Toyota Yaris Liftback (starting at $11,350; toyota.com for dealers) is perfect for navigating crowded streets. It's an EPA-certified ultralow-emission vehicle, and it gets 29 mpg in town and 36 mpg on the highway--the best in its class. It also was voted one of the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid cars by greener cars.org.

Sedan

The just-released 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI (starting at $20,000; vw.com for dealers) offers excellent gas mileage--38 mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway--so you can motor up to 600 miles between fill-ups. Its redesigned engine meets the most stringent emissions standards and delivers 140 horsepower for more get-up-and-go.

suv

The Ford Escape Hybrid (starting at $26,640; ford.com for dealers) improved its gas mileage by up to 14 percent in this 2008 model: It gets 34 mpg in the city and 30 on the highway. That's 70 percent more efficient than its non-hybrid counterpart. It's also the first vehicle to include seat surfaces made of 100 percent recycled fabric.

--M.S.