2011
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What makes the perfect city car? Compact dimensions are a good place to start, so you can sneak into small parking spaces on a crowded street and squeeze through gaps that would leave other traffic impatiently waiting. Nippy acceleration is useful too, so you aren't left lagging at the lights. Throw in a tight turning circle, smooth ride, and low running costs, and you're just about there. If you add an electric drivetrain to that list, then you've basically described Smart's 2011 Electric Drive city car. We've driven the diminutive EV before, but smart invited us to test it on the streets of...
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Five Reasons Small Diesels Won't Dominate the U.S. Car Market
There's nothing like a rant from an old friend to focus the mind. We recently read a profanity-laced note from a high school pal excoriating all the major automakers for not selling small, high-mileage diesel cars and trucks in the U.S. We referred him to an article about why we can't buy small...
John Voelcker -
Volvo Tests Inductive Charging (Just In Time For The C30 Electric)
EV automakers face an uphill road. Not only do they have to make great looking cars that offer all the amenities of their gas-engined equivalents, but they've also got to assuage public concerns about the EV charging infrastructure -- an infrastructure that lies largely outside their control. Now...
Richard Read -
Chevy Prepares for Volt Production Increase, 60,000 by 2012
It’s only four months since General Motors announced that it was upping production of its 2011 Volt to meet the strong consumer demand for its first full-scale production plug-in vehicle, but now the automaker has said it will be undertaking a series of upgrades to its Detroit-Hamtramck...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Nissan Juke: Why Nissan Is Doing Right By Their Customers With $400 Check
Truth in advertising might seem like fiction to some, but the there is such a thing as being accountable for misleading advertising. The automotive industry has a lot of facts to keep straight when it comes to this, especially when some cars can have 100s of option combinations. Unfortunately for...
Jonathan McGrew -
Buying or Leasing An Electric Car: Why Residual Value Matters
You’ve read up on the latest electric cars, gone for test drives and are ready to make a purchase. However, there’s one more thing you should consider before singing the contract: how much will your car be worth in a few years’ time? The answer depends on who you ask and could...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Every self-respecting spy need the latest gadgets to keep them safe, suave and sexy. But while James Bond would be nothing without the technological prowess of Q, his favorite brand of automobiles looks to be turning its attention towards its own electric wizardry in the form of the all-electric Aston Martin Cygnet EV. According to a report by British-based CAR Magazine, the luxury sports car automaker best known for its iconic sports coupes so familiar to fans of the James Bond movies is now well and truly into the development of an all-electric city car, the Aston Martin e-Cygnet. Based on...
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Hybrid Hot Rods: Lexus CT 200h 'Ring Racer, Mugen Honda CR-Z Hardly Dull
Hybrid cars, often defined in the public eye by the distinctive shape of the Toyota Prius, are frequently derided as dull and no fun to drive. While the Tesla Roadster smashed the stereotype of plug-in electric cars as slow and dorky, hybrids haven't been as lucky. So here are a couple of hybrid...
John Voelcker -
Dollar-A-Gallon Gasoline? Yep, Briefly, One Day In LA (Video)
Even if some of us suspect that cheap gasoline may never come back for good ... well, we can dream, right? In the face of national gas prices averaging $4 a gallon, and fillups that can cost three figures, several hundred lucky drivers in Los Angeles hit the jackpot yesterday morning: They paid...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Fun For THINK Prices? The EV Mazda Miata Conversion
If we said you could own an electric car that offered four-fifths the fun of a 2012 Tesla Roadster 2.5 for less than a fifth the price, you might think we'd been illicitly inhaling gasoline fumes on the side. What you might not know is how close we are to the truth, and one that comes in the shape...
Antony Ingram -
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster: Pure Poetry In Motion In Pre-Debut Reveal
If you never saw or heard of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG then you have missed out on a piece of automotive design that reminds us that not all cars have to be practical or void of exterior beauty. Oh and the 563 hp under the hood doesn’t hurt the package either. However, for the true sports car...
Jonathan McGrew -
Luxury Hybrid Maker Fisker Automotive Raises Extra $100 Million
Fisker Automotive, which manufactures luxury plug-in electric hybrid cars, has raised an extra $100 million in its third round of funding to help fund production of its luxury sedan and a second, cheaper electric car that is geared toward more mainstream hybrid electric car buyers. The 2011 Fisker...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Have you ever been on those roads in North Dakota where you pass a sign that says “No gas for next 80 miles"? Or perhaps you’ve traveled through the frozen wastelands of Northern Canada or Alaska and learned that the gas station you just passed was the last one for more than 100 miles. You’d be certifiably crazy to not stop and fill up ... right? Well, crazy might be just one way to describe the latest antics of the U.K’s favorite motoring entertainment program Top Gear, Its hosts, James May and Jeremy Clarkson, were spied yesterday in the rural city of Lincoln...
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The Ultimate Guide: Toyota Prius Battery Life, Cost, and Warranty
Like many articles, this one started with a reader question. Casey Krakowiecki wrote: I'm interested in buying a new Toyota Prius hybrid. I hope you can answer a couple of questions that will help me. (1) Are the rechargable batteries guaranteed for 8 years? If they fail at 7 years and 11 months...
John Voelcker -
U.S. Carmakers To Japan: Don't Need Your Stinkin' Fast-Charge
So you bought a 2011 Nissan Leaf, and paid for the optional $700 quick-charge connector. Now you're able to get an 80-percent battery recharge in just 30 minutes, albeit from very few places right now. Promising, right? Not so fast, sonny. It appears that U.S. makers of electric cars are likely to...
George Parrott -
2012 Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid: What do You Want to Know?
Earlier this year were were granted exclusive access to Volvo’s Gothenburg headquarters where we were given a sneak peak of its 2012 V60 Plug-in Hybrid a full week before its official unveiling at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. Although we were given a chance to look at the V60 PHEV’s...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Guide: How To Get Good Gas Mileage AND Third Row Seats?
"We have not yet fully accepted the fact that we need a new car. Some call it denial. But we do need one." That's how our friend Gordon Platt began a note asking our advice on what cars he should consider as he sets out to replace the family's aging 2003 Toyota Sienna minivan. "What are your...
John Voelcker -
BREAKING: BBC Top Gear Caught Filming Latest Electric Car ‘Stunt’
Uh-Ho. Despite being embroiled in a sordid libel court-case with californian electric car maker Tesla Motors for false representation of its $109,000 sexy all-electric sportscar. the BBC’s Top Gear program has just been spied in Lincoln, England - filming its latest electric car escapade. The...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Two days ago, the NHTSA said that it would require annual gas-mileage improvements of somewhere between 2 and 7 percent each year between 2017 and 2025. Corporate average fuel economy requirements have already been set through 2016, an action facilitated by the Obama Administration soon after taking office. In 2016, across the entire vehicle fleet weighted by sales, new-vehicle gas mileage will have to average 34.1 miles per gallon. 47 to 62 mpg? Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a notice in the Federal Register on its rulemaking for the period after that, for...
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5 Reasons Why You’ll Want the 2011 Nissan Leaf Software Update
Recalls, whether mandated by law or entered into voluntarily by an automaker are part of modern day car buying. Often car owners ignore the advice of the automaker for non-safety related recalls and updates such as the recent 2011 Nissan Leaf software update to rectify a software fault which could...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Sun Shines on GM’s New Solar Panels at Chevy Volt Factory
You hardly need us to tell you that there’s been an ongoing race to become the king of plug-in vehicles between Nissan and General Motors ever since the two firms launched their 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt. But with both cars battling it out on the forecourt both firms can worry...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Concepts To Make Electric Cars Cool: VW Bulli, Nissan Esflow
The 2011 Geneva Motor Show in March brought a number of new models out of the closet. But for the green car fan, two concepts were the gems of the show: the return of the legendary Volkswagen Microbus, and an electric sports car from Nissan that just might be affordable. Bulli for the Microbus The...
George Parrott -
Forget The Prius, Renault Cannes Chauffeur Celebrities Too
For most Hollywood A-List celebrities the choice of how to arrive at premieres and film festivals has been almost as big a decision as what to wear. Now Hollywood A-list celebrities have one less thing to worry about courtesy of French automaker Renault, which is providing ten of its all-electric...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
First Drive Report: Delta Motorsport E-4 Electric Coupe
On Monday we showed you the first pictures of the Delta E-4 Electric Coupe, an all-electric sports car designed and built by Delta Motorsport. Now it’s time to bring you our very own first person report from behind the wheel at the iconic Silverstone racetrack, home to the British Grand Prix...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield