Best Car To Buy
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The 2013 Ford C-Max is the first car from any U.S. manufacturer to take aim directly at the legendary Toyota Prius hybrid. Derived from a small "people carrier" of the sort that are common in Europe, it's Ford's first-ever dedicated hybrid--a vehicle sold with no gasoline-only equivalent (at least here). And there are two separate versions: the conventional C-Max Hybrid model, which will represent the bulk of sales, and also a plug-in hybrid C-Max Energi version that can travel up to 15 miles on electric power alone. Ford compares the C-Max Hybrid mostly to the Prius V wagon, but in reality...
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Green Car Reports 2013 Best Car To Buy Nominee: Chevy Spark
The 2013 Chevrolet Spark misses being the shortest car ever sold as a Chevy in the U.S. by just an inch or two. But the five-door hatchback is by far the most modern minicar Chevrolet has ever offered. And it represents a daring foray into very small cars by a brand better known for its Impala...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Reports' Best Car To Buy 2013: Our Six Finalists
From a respectable list of 13 different vehicles, we've narrowed the contenders down to six finalists. They're the cars that will compete for the Green Car Reports 2013 Best Car To Buy Award. We'll announce the winner on December 10, either a single vehicle (like the Nissan Leaf, our 2011 winner)...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Reports To Name Best Car To Buy 2013
Electric cars, hybrids, plug-ins, diesels, CNG- and gasoline-powered vehicles--they can all be green cars, and all are a part of the growing movement to cleaner emissions and better fuel efficiency. Just one of them will be Green Car Reports' Best Car To Buy 2013. On December 10, we'll announce the...
Martin Padgett -
2012 Toyota Prius: GreenCarReports' Best Car To Buy 2012
The late-night arguments are over, the statistical comparisons and product specs are put away, and we've made our choice. The GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy Award for 2012 goes to a pair of cars: the 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon and the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid. The two new 2012 entries...
John Voelcker -
2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI: GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
Hybrids and, more recently, plug-in cars seem to have gotten all the green ink lately, leaving fans of fuel-sipping clean diesels out in the cold. Four makers sell diesel passenger vehicles in the U.S. for 2012: Audi and BMW joined longtime stalwarts Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen a few years back...
John Voelcker -
Ask pretty much any car buyer about green cars or hybrids and, chances are, that person will likely mention the Toyota Prius sooner or later. Until this year, though, the Prius has been a single model: a subcompact four-door sedan from 2000 through 2003, and then two generations of mid-size five-door hatchback after that, one from 2004 through 2009, and the current version starting in 2010. Now, for the first time, the iconic Prius is expanding from a single model into a line of models. And we've named both of the new 2012 Prius models together as a pair to be one of six nominees for the...
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2012 Mitsubishi 'i': Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
Last year, the only volume battery electric car on sale in the U.S. was the Nissan Leaf. But for 2012, there's a new electric vehicle in town: the 2012 Mitsubishi 'i'. The egg-shaped minicar is Mitsubishi's first plug-in offering, but it's actually been around longer than the Leaf, with tens of...
John Voelcker -
2012 Honda Civic Hybrid: Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
Though always overshadowed by the more distinctive Toyota Prius, the hybrid model of the Honda Civic compact sedan has been a longstanding competitor in the field of high-mileage hybrid cars. First launched as a 2003 model, the Honda Civic Hybrid has been entirely redesigned for the 2012 model...
John Voelcker -
2012 Fiat 500: Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
GreenCarReports nominates 2012 Fiat 500 as one of the six contenders for its Best Car To Buy 2012 award, given to the car or cars that provide the best and most practical alternatives for car buyers who want to drive green.
John Voelcker -
Infiniti M35h: Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
It took awhile to arrive, after previews starting in the middle of 2010, but now the 2012 Infiniti M35h is on sale at dealers all over the country. It's Infiniti's first hybrid vehicle, the first car from the Nissan-Infiniti stable to use the company's own internally developed full hybrid system...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Reports To Name '2012 Best Car To Buy' Next Week
'Tis the season for 'car of the year' awards, and we're right there with the rest of the media. Next Monday, we'll announce the winner of our second annual Green Car Reports "Best Car to Buy" Award winner for the 2012 model year. At the same time, our sister sites--MotorAuthority and...
John Voelcker -
Initial deliveries of the 2011 Nissan Leaf battery electric car have been fitful, compared to hundreds of Chevy Volts sold each week. But Nissan's first modern mass-produced battery electric car continues to rack up accomplishments (and the company says it will be at full production by March). Today, it was chosen as European Car of the Year by a jury of 58 motoring journalists representing no fewer than 23 separate countries. The award has never before been won by an electric car. U.S. versus European drivers Here in the States, by contrast, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric...
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Did We Err On The Leaf, Or Is GM Volt Boosterism Bashing It?
Last week at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, we announced that the 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car was the winner of the GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy award. That same week, a flurry of other media outlets almost uniformly gave their "car of year" awards to the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...
John Voelcker -
2011 Nissan Leaf: GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011
It’s been a long time coming. More than 80 years, in fact, since viable electric cars were offered to U.S. car buyers. Now, finally, at long last, it’s happened. The 2011 Nissan Leaf is the first practical, five-seat electric car—a full plug-in, running solely off grid...
John Voelcker -
GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011 Nominee: Nissan Leaf
The 2011 Nissan Leaf looks like a conventional compact hatchback with unconventionally sinuous styling. It seats five, has all the usual safety features, and we particularly like the way the navigation system is integrated into the rest of the car’s information systems. But the significance...
John Voelcker -
GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011 Nominee: Lexus CT 200h
It's the nominee we know the least about, and in some ways the one we're most curious about. The 2011 Lexus CT 200h is a non-traditional car for Lexus, which has never before offered a compact hatchback. And after the underwhelming HS 250h sedan, it's one we didn't have high hopes for. That was...
John Voelcker -
GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011 Nominee: Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
For its first-ever hybrid-electric vehicle, Hyundai has blazed a new path. Not only does the 2011 Sonata Hybrid carry gas-mileage ratings better than its competition, but it neatly splits the difference between the indistinguishable-from-standard styling of the Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion hybrids...
John Voelcker -
As we noted yesterday, we'll be giving one brand-new 2011 model the GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy Award in conjunction with the Los Angeles Auto Show next week. We'll summarize each of our five nominees, one per day, between now and then. We going down the roster by previewing each nominee in strict alphabetical order, so yesterday we started with the 2011 Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car. Today's nominee, the 2011 Honda CR-Z, is Honda's attempt to reincarnate the much-loved 1984-1992 CRX, a sporty two-seater, by fitting it with a mild hybrid powertrain, not to mention two...
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GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011 Nominee: Chevrolet Volt
As we noted yesterday, we'll be giving one brand-new 2011 model the GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy Award in conjunction with the Los Angeles Auto Show next week. We'll summarize each of our five nominees, one per day, between now and then. To avoid any bias, we're doing the list in strict...
John Voelcker -
GreenCarReports to Name "Best Car To Buy 2011"
You're probably wondering by now, "Oh, no, another 'car of the year' award?" Yep. And here's why. We write a lot about future vehicles at Green Car Reports, but we also know that many of our readers seek practical information about which cars both save gasoline and lessen their impact on our...
John Voelcker