Don’t be fooled. Gasoline prices won’t be bumping around $2 a gallon for long. Driving a car with good fuel economy still makes sense. Higher mpg means lower operating costs for the household budget and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Happily, car shoppers today have a myriad of options among fuel frugal 2009 cars. You can find something getting 30 mpg or better on the highway at nearly every dealer lot. In some cases, you’ll have to settle for a trim line with a smaller engine and manual transmission to hit the 30 mpg mark.

Here are 30 with 30 mpg:

Audi TT

Gorgeous lines, 200-horsepower and a crisp six-speed manual transmission make the Audi TT a swell sports car. The fuel economy of the base 2-liter model makes it an earth-friendly sports car.
EPA estimated mpg: 22 city/30 highway

Green Car Journal editors have chosen the five finalists for the 2009 Green Car of the Year award. They include two “clean” diesels — the BMW 335d and Volkswagen Jetta TDI — the Ford Fusion Hybrid, the Saturn Vue 2-Mode Hybrid, and the Euro-bred smart fortwo. The winner will be announced Nov. 20 at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

According to the Journal’s experts, the five models are important milestones for their manufacturers. The VW and BMW clean diesels signal the advent of highly efficient, advanced diesel sedans that meet emissions requirements in all 50 states. Ford’s Fusion Hybrid is the American automaker’s first hybrid sedan. Saturn’s Vue 2-Mode represents the first time GM has used its two-mode hybrid system in a V-6 front-drive platform. The smart fortwo is fuel efficient micro car from Europe that just made it to the U.S. in recent months.

Video: See the five finalists

“This is an exciting year for ‘green’ cars because of the many innovative and advanced models now emerging,” Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal, said in a statement. “In fact, this year’s selection of nominees was more challenging than in years past because of the auto industry’s greater emphasis on greener vehicles and the number of potential vehicles to consider. For the first time, we’ve also seen a pair of clean diesels and a small gasoline model giving hybrids serious competition.”

Fuel efficient diesels have long been popular in Europe, but the engines have only recently been re-engineered to meet tough U.S. standards. The BMW 335d gets 33 miles per gallon and features a complex three-piece emissions system. VW uses a system developed in cooperation with Audi and Mercedes-Benz that temporarily captures particulate emissions before burning them off in a later part of the engine cycle.

The 2009 Green Car of the Year will be selected by a jury that includes Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club; Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of Ocean Futures Society; automotive expert and Tonight Show host Jay Leno; and automotive icon Carroll Shelby.