The American Automobile Association (AAA) has long been known as North America's largest driving and travel association.  Last week, they released their top picks for commuters. 

This is especially important in Atlanta, since we have more commuters driving longer distances than almost every other city in the nation.  In their press release, AAA notes that "The average motorist spends about 41 minutes a day traveling about 22.5 miles round-trip to/from work in personal vehicles, according to the National Household Travel Survey."  According to Forbes, more than 12% of Atlanta's commuters spend over an hour getting to work each morning, and 59% of Atlantans take between 20 minutes and an hour for their daily commute!

A comfortable, fuel efficient, safe and reliable commuter car may seem a little dull to automotive enthusiasts, but for many families this is a necessity! I'm pretty happy to see that the Jim Ellis family of dealerships offers 7 of the 15 vehicles highlighted in the AAA report:

• Volkswagen Jetta TDI - "Everything that you ever hated about diesels has been exorcised in this latest version of the Volkswagen diesel engine." Says the AAA analyst
• Hyundai Elantra - "The new Blue edition is good for 35 miles per gallon."
• Chevrolet Malibu - "Stylish inside and out, the Malibu also is a competent performer on the road." 
• Mazda MAZDA3 - AAA says "? there is no arguing with its crisp handling and above average power for the compact field."
  

AAA also understands that some of us prefer a car with a little more form with all of that function.  Among those suggestions, they include:

• Chevrolet Corvette - "The Corvette is anything but [boring], and when driven appropriately, it can even return near-compact car fuel economy of around 26 mpg on the highway."
• Buick Enclave - "It makes for a smart choice for those seeking a large family vehicle on the weekends."
• Volkswagen GTI - "Sporty, fun to drive and able to return mid- to upper-20 mile per gallon fuel economy results with the 200-hp turbocharged engine, the GTI is full of surprises."