NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Even with the average price of gasoline crossing the $2 a gallon mark again, don't expect U.S. car buyers to rush to fuel-efficient vehicles.

Oil prices hit a new record level early Monday, and the latest AAA survey found the average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline crossing the $2 threshold again.

But some leading auto research firms confirm what sales during past gasoline spikes have confirmed -- it takes a lot to get car buyers and car owners to change their habits.

"They're saying that gas prices are a problem, they're a consideration, but they're not going to affect the way people live," said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research, which has done a monthly survey on car buyers' attitudes about fuel efficiency.

CNW's October survey shows only slightly more people saying they will buy a more efficient vehicle eventually, but that is still a minority of those polled.

If gasoline reaches $2.25 a gallon, only 10 percent said they would consider a change and only 1 percent said they would make an immediate purchase of a more fuel-efficient vehicle. It would take gasoline prices hitting a sustained $2.75 a gallon to get 19 percent of those surveyed thinking about a more fuel-efficient vehicle; another 7 percent would buy one immediately.

All those numbers are slightly higher than what the survey found in May, when gasoline prices hit an all-time high of $2.054 a gallon in the AAA nationwide survey.

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At $3.25 a gallon, the survey found that about 35 percent thought about buying a more fuel-efficient car or light truck, and 18 percent considered making an immediate purchase of a more fuel-efficient vehicle. It would take gas at $3.75 a gallon to motivate about 40 percent to consider a new car and another 40 percent to make an immediate purchase.

But while the survey documents relatively few changes in behavior compared to year-ago attitudes, fuel economy is becoming a slightly more important factor in vehicle buyers' minds, Spinella said. He noted that even though fuel efficiency still ranks only 23 in the list of vehicle characteristics tested by CNW -- tied with the number of cup holders in a vehicle -- it scores higher than the mid-30s it used to held.

"About 38 percent said that fuel economy is somewhat or very important -- that is up 15 percentage points from a year ago," said Spinella. "It's passed 'higher horsepower' for the first time. That's significant. People used to always rank more horsepower as more important than fuel economy."

Kelley Blue Book also found that only fuel efficiency ranked last out of seven vehicle characteristics considered by car buyers, behind No. 5 (looks and styling), and No. 6 (ability to retain value).

Kelley's September survey also found only a minority of those in its own survey ready to "strongly consider" a more fuel-efficient vehicle in the face of higher gas prices.

The car-buying service's most recent survey found only 15 percent saying gas prices made them change their mind on vehicle purchases, with another 22 percent saying they were considering different vehicles due to gasoline prices.

That's down from the levels seen in May, when nearly half of those surveyed fell into one of those two categories.

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Charlie Vogelheim, executive editor of Kelley Blue Book and Spinella said those making the changes are more likely to move into a more fuel-efficient vehicle within the same vehicle class that they were considering, such as a six-cylinder rather than an eight-cylinder engine on the SUV they wanted. They both said consumers prefer remaining in the same class, rather than moving into a different class of vehicle.

Vogelheim said that those who are being squeezed the hardest by gas prices were probably not looking at the large sport/utility vehicles, even without the gasoline spike. Their major concern seems to be sticker price.

"Those operating on a budget probably don't have the oversize vehicle to begin with," he said.