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Between gas prices that danced around $4 per gallon last summer, the credit crunch and a spiraling recession, surely only a handful of Jeep Grand Cherokees (whose fuel economy ranges from 10 to 15 m.p.g., depending on drivetrain choices) were sold last year. Ditto for 16 m.p.g. Ford F-150 pickups and 11 m.p.g. Cadillac Escalades, right?

Well, the F-Series remained the top-selling vehicle in the U.S. for the 28th year, though sales were down dramatically from 2007. And Grand Cherokee and Escalade combined for more than 100,000 sales.

But they are gas misers compared with the aptly named Nissan Armada. At 9 m.p.g. in the city, 13 on the highway, it does worse than a Chevy 1500 cargo van. But that doesn’t matter to the 15,685 people who needed something Sasquatch-sized.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Kia Rio, one of the most fuel-efficient non-hybrids, sold 36,532 units—only about 3,000 more than Escalade. The hip and fuel-efficient Mini Cooper (among the few cars whose sales were up in 2008) sold 54,077 units last year. Not bad until you consider that Chevy sold almost the same number of Suburbans.

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