2010

We're back on schedule with our favorite end-of-month activity, logging the most popular posts of the last month-or-so on AllAboutPrius.com. Autumn is here (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere), and we've got a fresh crop of favorites. We only held over two of August's most popular posts...

This is our favorite end-of-month activity, looking back over the most popular posts of the last 30-or-so days on GreenCarReports.com. To celebrate the onset of autumn (for us Northern Hemisphere types, anyhow), we're back on schedule too. We repeated three of August's most popular posts, and...

Japanese tuning firm, Tommy Kaira, has released a modified Toyota Prius that actually looks like it would be fun to drive. Unfortunately, it appears that the modifications are mostly visual, so if you were dreaming of a faster gas sipper, dream on. The pimped-out Prius certainly looks meaner, with...

We often say that many Toyota Prius hybrid owners and HUMMER drivers choose their cars for the same reason: They want to make a statement to other people about who they are. Now our pals at Wired have uncovered a fascinating (if small) sociological study that parses how HUMMER owners view their...

A Prime Example of Supply and Demand, But Is It Good Business?

Initial long term plans for Volvo have been scrapped in order to make way for a plug-in hybrid sooner than anticipated.  Volvo initially intended to release a plug-in hybrid based on the companies next generation model lineup of vehicles.  This would have pushed a PHEV back several years.  Now...

The revolving door of Tesla Motors leadership keeps turning. Today, executive vice president of vehicle engineering and manufacturing, Mike Donoughe, is calling it quits, just over a year after he started the job. Formerly employed by Chrysler, Donoughe was charged with overseeing engineering...

In the accelerating quest for greater fuel efficiency, boosting engines--with turbos or superchargers--is one way to pull more power out of a given displacement. Traditionally, superchargers have been driven by chain or belt powered from an engine's crankshaft. Now, a British engineering firm has...

The U.S. Department of Energy yesterday approved a $529 million low-interest loan to Fisker Automotive, which will start building its 2010 Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan later this year. Customer deliveries will start next May. In June, Tesla Motors received a $465 million loan for...

Hyundai Trys To Keep In the MPG Game

The 2010 Hyundai Elantra is the latest iteration of a compact car known for frugality and low price. This year, Hyundai has boosted the mileage, raising the standard five-speed manual model to 26 mpg city / 35 mpg highway from last year's 24 mpg city / 33 mpg highway. The 2.0-liter, four-cylinder...

The Nissan Z Cars May Not Be For Everyone, But How Do They Strike You?

• What is it?: The first-ever hybrid version of the big Mercedes-Benz sedan • The basics: All the S-Class virtues, much better gas mileage • On sale: This fall • Price: $87,950 This weekend, GreenCarReports.com will be one of...

It's well known in the car industry that a diesel engine costs 10 to 20 percent more to build than a gasoline motor of equivalent output. That's because diesels have to be sturdier, and these days all US-bound diesels are fitted with turbochargers to boost their power. Now a European executive has...

The German automaker whose name is synonomous with "sports car" is planning an all-electric vehicle. This is no third party hack of an existing car either. While speaking at the Frankfurt Motor Show on Tuesday, Porsche president and CEO, Michael Macht, announced that the company is working hard...

Which is faster, the 2010 Toyota Prius or its predecessor, the 2004-2009 Prius? On paper, the 2010 should win. Its engine is larger (1.8 liters vs 1.5 liters) and more powerful (134 total horsepower vs 104 hp). It's even got a lower coefficient of drag, the very respectable 0.25. This morning we...

My first impression of the third-gen Prius left me wondering what was cool about the vehicle. There aren't any growing leaves on the instrument panel, there's no sound that plays when you "boot up" the car (ala the Mac start-up sound). Yesterday, though, I had a mini-epiphany at the grocery store...

Last month, I drove the Lexus HS 250h for one week, and this week, I'm test driving the third-gen Toyota Prius. When I sat inside, my first thought was: boy, I wish they had given me the Prius first, then the Lexus. Not that the Prius isn't a great little car. It's just not a luxury car. I had...

The following is a guest post by Richard Bornemann who runs the dedicated website http://fusionhybridhypermiler.blogspot.com/. I’ve always been a car guy. Mostly a high performance car guy, truth be told. Still am. But when Ford came out with the Fusion Hybrid I was intrigued. From early reports...

We're a bit late on what's usually an end-of-month recap of the five most popular posts on AllAboutPrius.com. But, hey, we had a long Labor Day too ... and now we're back in business. So here they are for August. Unusually for us, compared to July's most popular posts, three of our Top Five are...