Fuel economy is a pretty big motivator to buy a vehicle, especially with gas prices as in flux as they have been in 2026. In one study, approximately 79% of respondents said that fuel economy was one of their primary factors when shopping for a car. Thanks to this, automakers and auto bloggers alike are constantly pointing people to the most fuel-efficient vehicles in any given class, and when an automaker puts out something particularly fuel efficient, like the 2026 Kia Niro Hybrid, people generally tend to take notice. 

So, what about the other direction? There are loads of other reasons to buy a car that have little to do with fuel efficiency, and there are automakers that will throw MPG figures into the toilet to deliver what those customers want. One primary example is off-roading vehicles, where fuel economy is nice to have, but you want to make sure you’ve got those off-road features that keep you safe and riding along the hillside. Speed is another factor, with it being pretty well known that gas-only cars that go fast tend to get pretty terrible fuel economy, regardless of which decade they’re from.

Whatever, the reason, there are SUVs that that get great fuel economy, and there are others that don’t seem to really care much about saving you money at the pump. If you’re curious which ones are the worst of the worst in this regard, all you have to do is scroll down. 

The GMC Hummer EV is in such a unique spot that we wanted to include it on this list. It’s an absolutely massive, heavy tank of a vehicle that costs oodles of money, with the lowest trims just barely dipping below $100,000. GMC is selling it for the 2026 model year, so it qualifies for this list. It’s an EV, so it doesn’t have a real fuel economy (since it uses no fuel), but it is measured in MGPe (Miles Per Gallon-equivalent), which is a fancy measurement that converts electric vehicle range to fuel economy so you can directly compare an EV to a gas-only vehicle. 

Per the EPA, the 2026 GMC Hummer EV gets approximately 58 MPGe, which is better than any gas-only SUV that money can buy and still better than all but the most fuel-efficient hybrids. However, the Hummer EV has the distinct classification of being the least efficient EV among all of those available to U.S. shoppers. That includes all classes of vehicle, including trucks, cars, and other SUVs. There are some battery hogs on that list, including the Rivian R1T, which is a truck that gets about 80 MPGe in the real world, and the Ford F-150 Lightning, which averages in the high 60s MPGe in the real world. 

On the flip side, the electric motors on the Hummer EV can propel that 9,600-pound behemoth to 60 MPH in 3.3 seconds, and the Carbon Fiber Edition can do it in 2.8 seconds. 

The Jeep Wrangler is much more well-known for its off-road prowess over its fuel economy, but you can get some models that don’t absolutely destroy you at the pumps. It has three engine options, including a 270-horsepower 2.0-liter turbo four, a 285-horsepower V6, and a 470-horsepower 6.4-liter V8. There are hybrid versions as well, but obviously they don’t perform poorly enough to make it on this list. The lower engine options certainly don’t scream fuel efficiency, but both deliver relatively respectable numbers for a Jeep. That 470-horsepower Hemi V8, on the other hand, fits right in. 

Jeeps equipped with the Hemi are referred to as 392 variants. These delightful little balls of off-road muscle put out 13 MPG in the city, 17 MPG on the highway, and a pretty low 14 MPG combined. That is pitiful fuel economy but not entirely surprising given the engine size. In return for more trips to the pump, you’re rewarded with way more horsepower that can scoot this thing to 60 MPH in a very non-Jeep-like four seconds or so, depending on who you ask. Plus, most reviews agree that the exhaust note is intoxicating, so there’s that too. 

In terms of overall practicality, the V8 doesn’t really do rock crawling and other Jeep stuff any better or worse than the other engine options, but it can do all the stuff that the other trim levels can do, and with the muscle car-adjacent engine, it’s definitely the most unique Jeep Wrangler you can get. 

The Cadillac Escalade has never been known as a car that goes light on fuel. It’s come equipped with a massive V8 engine since its inception and the tradition has continued ever since. Unlike Jeep, which can get okay fuel economy with its base engines, there isn’t a single variant of the Cadillac that can top 20 MPG in any driving environment unless you go for the EV version. The most egregiously fuel inefficient model is the Cadillac Escalade-V, a special version that comes with a bigger, stronger V8 engine than the rest of the lineup. 

The engine is a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that produces 682 total horsepower. It pushes this 6,000-pound behemoth to 60 MPH in about four seconds. The downside is that it gets truly abysmal fuel economy. The EPA estimates that the Escalade-V gets a laughable 11 MPG in the city and 17 MPG on the highway, good for 13 MPG combined. For reference, the base engine still only gets about 16 MPG, so it would probably still be on this list even if the Escalade-V didn’t exist. 

Cadillac doesn’t just hurt you at the gas station, though. The price of the Escalade-V starts at roughly $170,000. That’s a little over $70,000 of the price of the base trim. This is clearly not a vehicle Cadillac is selling like hotcakes since it costs as much as some houses did in 2019. 

We here at SlashGear very much enjoy muscle cars, and the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat is one of the few ways to get that American growl in 2026. These things represent the very top of the Dodge Durango lineup, which includes a preposterous 12 total trim levels and configurations, including other Hellcats. It almost doesn’t matter which Hellcat you buy because they all burn fossil fuels at alarming rates but can also go very fast. The Hellcat family starts at $80,000 and it only goes up from there. 

Dodge equips the Hellcat with a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that puts up a ridiculous 710 horsepower, which makes it one of the strongest engines that Dodge has ever produced. It pushes the Durango to 60 MPH in 3.6 seconds while hitting the quarter mile in 12 seconds, which is even faster than the similarly equipped Cadillac Escalade-V above. In return for that raw power, you get terrible fuel economy. The EPA says that the Durango SRT Hellcat gets 12 MPG in the city, 17 MPG on the highway, and a combined 13 MPG. 

This is not a car you buy if you want to save money, that’s for sure, but reviewers praise this thing for being incredibly fun to drive, with a wonderful exhaust note and plenty of power. Despite all of that, it actually doesn’t do much worse than the base Durango, which outputs a combined 20 MPG.

Supercars and high-end luxury vehicles are definitely not well known for their fuel economy, and Ferrari is no different. The Purosangue is a mix between a supercar and an SUV, giving it the distinction of being the least SUV-like vehicle on this entire list. It looks more like a sedan with a hatchback and if some folks consider it that, we wouldn’t blame them. Even reviewers say that the cargo capacity isn’t very good and since seating is limited to four people, the design is not the only thing that isn’t SUV-like. 

That trend continues to performance as well. There is only one engine option for the Purosangue, which is a 6.5-liter V12 that makes 715 horsepower. That’s a lot of horses, not to mention four more valves than anything else on this list, so you know the fuel economy numbers are going to be absurdly low. The EPA estimates that the monster V12 is good for 11 MPG in the city, 15 MPG on the highway, and a combined 12 MPG. That isn’t a particularly shocking figure considering this thing has as many cylinders as three Honda Accords combined. 

Thanks to those figures, we’re pretty confident that the Ferrari Purosangue is the least fuel-efficient SUV on the market today. However, if you ever wanted an SUV to propel you to 60 MPH in 3.2 seconds while a V12 engine sings to you, this is the one for you.

A list like this isn’t too hard to put together as the determining factor is mostly time. We looked at every SUV available in the U.S. and then cross-referenced them with the EPA’s Fuel Economy website to see who had the lowest numbers. Every version was taken into account as was every engine option, which is why most of the above vehicles are special editions, like the Jeep Wrangler 392 or the Cadillac Escalade-V.