Petrol Pinchers: The Winner - First Look

In real life, reducing spending on fuel is a lot like the quip about the weather: Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything. Witness Honda's car branch cranking out hybrid economy cars along with a new line of trucks and SUVs, which are still selling by the way, so much for a revolution brought on by $3-plus gas.

But here, on the bright side, we have a fleet, multiple choices, of two-wheelers that return 60 mpg and up, half again better than any hybrid econobox at 10 percent of the purchase price, or less.

As far as our econo-shootout's winner, no envelope needed. The Kawasaki. Reasons? First, the Ninja is a bargain at the list price. Kawasaki has been making this model for years, and all the tooling is paid for. Two, it's right in the middle of the mpg chart. Three, it's a real, full-time motorcycle. Wins admiring glances from those who know bikes, fast enough for any freeway, light enough for city combat and, heck, the clincher here is that the Kawasaki racked up three times as many miles during the test period as any of the others, because the panel rode it even when they didn't have to.

And now, as Dr. Laura puts it, go do the right thing.

Ride to work.