2011

Audi has taken the wraps off a sophisticated plug-in hybrid prototype that combines a number of leading green car technologies all in a single platform. Utilizing the shell of the luxurious A5 Coupe, Audi’s new A5 e-tron quattro prototype not only features a conventional power-split hybrid...

If you were in Ohio last September 11th at the Northeast Ohio Camaro Club’s Annual Fall Classic, then you probably saw the debut of the 2011 “American Pride” Camaro to the public. From the date of its reveal and the name you have probably already guessed that the “American...

In the electric car realm there are many players, a lot of them small. So if we asked you if you had heard of a Wheego, you wouldn’t be alone if your answer was no. That is the fun of auto shows and in the Rocky Mountain region, the 2011 Denver Auto Show is living up to the reputation of...

The 2011 Nissan Leaf has a waiting list. So does the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, and as for the Tesla Roadster, well, it's probably too expensive. So what do you do if you want to drive around in a plug-in vehicle right now? You could always build one, but that seems like too much hard work. Instead, you...

Electric cars are much on the minds of green buyers these days, despite limited supplies of the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt. But there's also a second tier of suppliers, beyond the major carmakers, that also offers or plans to offer buyers their own plug-in electric vehicles. One such...

Not all electric cars are the same. Buyers can now choose between "pure" battery electric vehicles and a car with a combination power train termed either a range-extended electric vehicle, which uses a gasoline engine to generate electricity to run the car, or a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) that adds...

Mercedes-Benz just took the wraps off its facelifted C-Class range, which enters the market as a 2012 model and comes with a host of modifications to make it more fuel efficient. Namely, the introduction of a 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the first four the C-Class has been available...

For those who live in Colorado the environment is a pretty serious thing. We have all see the brown cloud that sometimes comes to visit downtown Denver due to the bowl effect of the foothills. We also know as consumers we can make a change in our lifestyles to help reduce emissions that cause that...

As our loyal followers here at AllSmallCars.com know, we are just bananas for small cars of all sorts of shapes, performance, price range and country of origin. Over the years we have reported on cars from China, India, Japan, Korea, Europe and, of course, the U.S. So when there is a chance for...

When you think of rock crawling, trail pounding, off-road adventure what comes to mind? For a lot of Americans the answer would be a simple four-letter word—Jeep. AllSmallCars.com is going to digress from the usual small car news to delve into the small and very capable Jeep vehicles like an...

On August 31, 2010, Nissan opened the ordering process for its 2011 Leaf, and over the follow months has gradually extended the initial markets on the West Coast and Tennessee to include a wider geography. The ordering process for the 2011 Nissan Leaf is unlike that for almost any previous new car...

The U.S. rollout of the 2011 Nissan Leaf has been a bit of a disaster with some would-be Leaf owners still waiting to find out when their local dealer will stock the all-electric car nearly a year after pre-reservations started. So how much would you pay to jump the queue completely and get an...

Have you been to the pump lately? I had to go fill up today and was greeted by $3.50 gasoline prices. That is easily up a dollar from where they were in the Rocky Mountain region last year at this same time. Of course, as I watched the dollars click by I started to think maybe I should get a more...

The 2011 Geneva Motor Show has come and gone and was a real treat for electric car fans. Not only could you get close to cars like the 2011 Nissan Leaf and smart fortwo electric drive, but some were even available to test. One of the cars attracting a lot of attention was the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...

With gas prices top of mind for many drivers, the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco model seems perfectly timed. The model with a six-speed manual gearbox is EPA-rated at 28 mpg city, 42 mpg highway, for a combined 33 mpg. On our recent road test over a long weekend, we beat that slightly, getting 34.2 mpg...

Would you pay more than two grand a month to drive an electric Volvo? Apparently, the automaker thinks that there are at least a few people or businesses that will. Volvo Cars Special Vehicles president Lennart Stegland said that Volvo plans to offer the C30 Electric for lease—at a price of...

General Motors has been keen to point out that its 2011 Chevrolet Volt is a truly environmentally responsible and highly recyclable vehicle. As it turns out even we didn’t quite understand Chevrolet when it told us that most of its plug-in hybrid could be recycled at the end of a car’s...

A little under two weeks ago Japan was hit by one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded. Measuring in at 9.0 on the richter scale and causing a devastating tsunami which killed tens of thousands and lay waste to hundreds of miles of coastline, Japan is still in an advance state of emergency. Yet...

You don't start the engine in a 2011 Chevrolet Volt. Instead, you "power up" the car by pressing a button with the universal computer power symbol on it. Once the Volt has gone through its bootup routine, complete with tones and chimes, the button glows blue and you're ready to roll on electric...

Oh, those wacky Germans and their car-sharing schemes. BMW said yesterday that it would launch a pilot car-sharing program, first in Munich and then in Berlin, starting next month. The cooperative venture with Sixt AG will be called DriveNow. BMW says DriveNow will be the "first-ever car-sharing...