CINCINATTI -

Even with today's low gas prices, consumers are still often playing it safe with more fuel-efficient rides.

Swapalease.com illustrated this assertion by analyzing four of today’s most popular fuel-efficient models against four of the current most popular large trucks/SUVs.

Looking at search consideration data from 2013 versus 2014, when gas prices plunged over the course of the year, the stats from the leasing site showed small cars remained in “healthy demand,” but others weren’t so lucky.

For example, the Toyota Corolla enjoyed a 13.8-percent rise in interest from 2013 to 2014, while the Prius saw searches wane by 3.7 percent.

The site drew the same conclusion for larger trucks and SUVs. The popular Chevrolet Tahoe saw a whopping 52.5-percent increase in interest this past year, but the Ford Expedition took a 35.4-percent hit to its search stats in 2014.

“The fact that we’re seeing an inconsistent pattern into the beginning of 2015 tells us that gas prices aren’t having an across-the-board adverse effect on smaller cars and EV/hybrid vehicle demand,” said Scot Hall, executive vice president of Swapalease.com. "Similarly, it also tells us that truck shoppers may not be flocking to every model just because gas prices are extremely low in many places today."

Interestingly, the Chevrolet Tahoe’s over 50-percent increase was the largest spike on the site last year, but the second-largest increase was the Volt, which saw interest rise by 50.8 percent.

Though fuel prices may not be having much impact on shopper trends, it is beginning to alter the environment in the auction lanes.

Truck values are rising, and the larger segments dominated recent positive price adjustment activity, as half of them increased in value compared to less than a quarter (23 percent) of cars last week, according to Black Book data.