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  • 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV, Newport Beach, California, July 2012

    The new 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV is quick, relatively fun to drive, and the only all-electric crossover utility vehicle on the market today. It has a good, intuitive touchscreen display and instrument cluster that shows both the maximum possible range and a constantly updated range based on both the climate-control settings and its most recent usage and driving style. Now we can show you on video what it's like from behind the wheel. Just view the video above--it's a bit more than 3 minutes--to see what it's like inside the new electric RAV4. For more details, you can read our complete RAV4 EV...

  • 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV, Newport Beach, California, July 2012
    2012 Toyota RAV4 EV: First Drive Of Tesla-Powered Crossover

    If the ideal electric car has a real-world range of 100 miles or more and the practical utility that American families buy crossovers for, the future may be arriving this year. The 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV has every bit of space that the gasoline versions do. Its Tesla-engineered battery pack and...

  • 2012 Nissan Leaf electric car - net pricing shown on Nissan website
    July Plug-In Electric Car Sales: Volt Steady, Leaf Lethargic (Again)

    Last month, sales of the Chevrolet Volt stayed strong while the Nissan Leaf languished. This month, it's more of the same. In July, Chevrolet sold 1,849 Volts, bringing its total for the first seven months of the year to 10,666--and its total U.S. sales since launch to 18,663 (including 7,671 in...

  • Tesla Store  -  Portland OR
    Tesla Dodges Traditional Dealerships—And Questions Remain

    Tesla Motors [NSDW: TSLA], by nearly all accounts, is an automaker that’s doing things differently. It’s based in Silicon Valley, not Detroit. And it’s transitioning from making a very modest number of Tesla Roadster models to, it plans, tens of thousands of all-electric Model S...

  • 2013 Acura ILX Hybrid, New York City, July 2012
    2013 Acura ILX Hybrid: Weekend Test Of Acura's First Hybrid

    Honda has been building hybrid cars since 1999, but it's taken until now for the company to offer a hybrid model in the company's upmarket Acura brand. We spent three days with, and covered 300 miles in, a new 2013 Acura ILX Hybrid four-door sedan. And we have to say, while we like the ILX as a...

  • 2012 Nissan Versa 1.6 SL, New York City, July 2012
    2012 Nissan Versa 1.6 SL Sedan: Weekend Drive Report

    When auto writers drive test cars, they're usually loaned out from carmakers' regional fleets. So when we asked for an 2012 Nissan Versa sedan to test over a four-day weekend, following our brief test drive of the all-new Versa in May, the car we got seemed rather familiar. It was, in fact, the...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S Signature

    Let's make one thing clear right up front: I think the 2012 Tesla Model S is the coolest freaking car in the history of Western Civilization. I put down my $5,000 deposit more than two years ago. I've chugged the Tesla Kool-Aid, extra-large size. But after a 7-minute spin in a dark green Model S last week at the Tesla "Get Amped" test-drive tour stop in Mahwah, New Jersey, I have to conclude--sadly--that the car is not (yet) perfect. Yes, the acceleration was mind-boggling, the ride and handling were sublime, the in-dash technology is whiz-bang. But, in my humble (perhaps idiosyncratic)...

  • Tesla Store  -  Portland OR
    Apple Store Model Is Working For Tesla

    Across Tesla’s ten new-design, retail-oriented stores (out of 14 total stores), there will have been over a million visitors so far in 2012.

  • 2012 Tesla Model S, brief test drive, New York City, July 2012
    2012 Tesla Model S: First Drive Video

    With Tesla Motors opening new Tesla Stores at a rapid pace, the 2012 Tesla Model S all-electric sport sedan has now been seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Thus far, however, very few of them, however, have gotten behind the wheel. Tesla's working to change that, with a traveling nationwide...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S, brief test drive, New York City, July 2012
    2012 Tesla Model S: First Drive Of All-Electric Sport Sedan

    After an hour in a 2012 Tesla Model S all-electric sport sedan, one thing became clear: It's a viable car. The Model S gives Tesla Motors a shot at turning into a real car company. That's a provisional judgment; as many journalists have noted, 10-minute drives or an hour driving and riding in...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011
    2012 Tesla Model S: Will Winter Weather Ruin Its Range?

    The first two 2012 Tesla Model S all-electric sport sedans to roll off the Tesla production line last month were shipped to Chicago, where they're presumably now tooling around in the Midwest's record-setting summer heat. But how will the cars' impressive EPA range of 268 miles hold up six months...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S body-in-white
    2012 Tesla Model S: Is Aluminum Its Secret Weapon?

    Colin Chapman is remembered for many things in the automotive world, but if there's one thing auto journalists have to thank him for, it's an endless stream of column inches dedicated to the weight of cars. All the calls for lighter vehicles aren't based solely on theory, but a back-catalog of...

  • 2011 Suzuki SX4 sedan

    Sometimes, the search for greener cars might lead you down the path to smaller cars. After all, with less weight to carry, smaller engines and usually fewer power-sapping accessories, small cars should be the gas-mileage champs. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. We've rounded up five small cars that fall into the "must do better" category for economy. We're not saying they're bad cars--just that they really ought to sip less gas than they actually do. 2013 Smart ForTwo The unfortunate fortwo crops up in these lists quite frequently, which may seem unfair given its 36 mpg combined and...

  • 2011 Lexus HS 250h
    Five New 2012 Hybrid Cars To Consider Steering Clear Of

    Say "hybrid car," and most people think Toyota Prius. The Japanese maker has sold roughly 3 million Prius models worldwide since 1997, which is more than half of all the hybrids in the world. The 2012 Toyota Prius remains the gold standard among hybrid-electric vehicles, with three of its four...

  • 2012 Vauxhall Ampera
    Like The Plug, Not The Range: Leaf Owner Trades In For Volt (Ampera)

    When the 2011 Nissan Leaf launched at the end of 2010, many environmentally-conscious drivers took the plunge and decided to buy one, hoping to leave gasoline behind for good. For the majority of Leaf owners, Leaf ownership does just that. For some others, however, a lack of reliable public...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S Signature
    2012 Tesla Model S Tests: 1 Hour Or Less Is Not A Review

    Following its launch of the 2012 Tesla Model S, the Silicon Valley startup is now giving test drives to depositors who've put down $5,000--or more--for the all-electric luxury sport sedan. What Tesla hasn't done, as far as we're aware, is to provide Model S cars to automotive media outlets for...

  • 2013 Lexus RX 450h road test, Catskill Mountains, NY, July 2012
    2013 Lexus RX 450h: 750-Mile Gas Mileage Test

    The Lexus RX luxury crossover line is the mainstay of Toyota's luxury line in the U.S., representing fully 42 percent of the brand's total 2011 sales. And the hybrid Lexus RX 450h model finds many buyers among progressive, affluent suburban families. There's just one problem: Its real-world gas...

  • Ford C-Max Hybrid, first revealed at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show
    2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid: 47 MPG City, 44 MPG Highway, $26K Price

    Toyota might be the current undisputed king of hybrid cars, but that fact isn’t about to stop Ford from going after the Japanese automaker’s crown. Its 2013 C-Max Hybrid, Ford says, will get an EPA city rating of 47 mpg, some 3 mpg higher than the official EPA city rating for the 2012...

  • 2012 Chevrolet Sonic hatchback, road test, Catskill Mountains, Oct 2011

    If your workplace is anything like ours, it seems that while you're at work, most of the rest of the United States has taken the entire week off to celebrate Independence Day. For our own celebration, and with a friendly nod to our defeated British colleagues, we thought it would be appropriate to highlight six different vehicles from U.S. carmakers that get more than 30 mpg in EPA combined fuel-economy tests. The list includes two subcompacts, a compact crossover, a compact sedan, a mid-size sedan, and a luxury mid-size sedan. And only three are hybrids. All of them are built in North...

  • 2013 Honda Fit EV drive event, Pasadena, CA, June 2012
    2013 Honda Fit EV: First Drive Of Honda's All-Electric Car

    The 2013 Honda Fit EV is a fun and well-executed little all-electric hatchback. It's quick, handles decently, gets the highest EPA efficiency rating of any vehicle on the market (118 MPGe), and its rated range of 82 miles is longer than that of the somewhat larger Nissan Leaf. Too bad you have very...

  • 2012 Honda Insight EX with Navigation
    2012 Toyota Prius C Vs 2012 Honda Insight: Sub-$20K Hybrids Compared

    If you're in the market for a brand new hybrid but want to save a few pennies on purchase price, you're really limited to two vehicles. One is the 2012 Honda Insight, familiar not just for its Prius-like profile but also having been on sale for several years now. The other is the 2012 Toyota Prius...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius
    2015 Toyota Prius: Details Emerging For Next Hybrid Flagship

    Toyota's fourth-generation Prius hybrid, expected in around 2015, has a tough act to follow. Still among the most economical vehicles on the market, the third-generation Prius has taken the internal combustion engine to new levels of efficiency--and the new Prius will have to beat it. To ensure the...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011
    So How Many 2012 Model S Electric Cars Can Tesla Really Sell?

    The 2012 Tesla Model S has launched, short drive reviews are coming in, and new owners are taking delivery every day. So what's next for Tesla? We know what the company plans to launch for its future vehicles--the 2014 Model X crossover, a Roadster replacement, and down the road, a smaller, less...

  • GigaOm's Katie Fehrenbacher behind the wheel of a 2012 Tesla Model S (video screen capture)
    2012 Tesla Model S All-Electric Sedan: Drive Reviews Roundup

    On Friday, Tesla Motors delivered its first production Model S electric sedans to retail customers, an event the company webcast live. Watch the 26-0minute video above if you want to relive the glorious event. While Green Car Reports wasn't there, we've watched the deluge of coverage and read the...

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