Featured (was)

  • Volkswagen Golf Blue e-Motion

    On Friday last week, Volkswagen officially marked the start of its U.S. electric car test program by shipping an all-electric Golf to its Electronic Research Laboratory in Belmont, California. Called the eGolf in the U.S. the all-electric hatchback is essentially the same as the Volkswagen Golf blue-e-motion prototype we drove back in July last year. Despite Volkswagen’s extensive electric car test programs spanning the past few decades, only 500 eGolfs will be produced at the current time, with just 20 cars being sent to the U.S. for testing. Based on the current Golf VI, the...

  • 2012 Jaguar XF 2.2 Diesel
    Jaguar XF 2.2 Diesel: Forbidden Fruit First Drive

    There are - believe it or not - advantages to living in England. Okay, so the weather is as depressing as the stereotypes suggest, and the average price of gas is currently around $8.17 per gallon, but we do occasionally get cars denied to those on U.S. shores. One of those is the Jaguar XF...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf SL
    Drive Report: Electric-Car Neophyte Uses 2011 Nissan Leaf For A Week

    The reviews of the Nissan Leaf electric car have already been posted, and one GreenCarReports writer even owns a Leaf, but this isn't going to be your standard review with driving impressions. It's no secret that I'm not exactly a green-car kind of guy. When the opportunity arose this winter to...

  • 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport. Photo by Joe Nuxoll.
    Is Tesla 'Bricking' Story Just An Angry Owner's Warranty Claim?

    And now perhaps it all becomes clear. The Tesla battery 'bricking' post that was today's electric-car news story and generated reams of coverage may simply be an attempt by an unhappy owner to get Tesla Motors to replace the battery in his Roadster. At least, that would appear to be the logical...

  • Tesla Roadster 2.5
    Tesla Battery 'Bricking': The Real Story Behind The Scare

    Late last night, a sensational blog post circulated through Silicon Valley. It claimed that several $100,000-plus Tesla Roadsters were now useless as the result of a "devastating design problem," with their battery packs "bricked" from being left too long without plugging in. Early this morning, we...

  • 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport. Photo by Joe Nuxoll.
    Bricking A Tesla Roadster Battery: Today's Electric Car Meme

    Heard of "bricking" yet? No? You will shortly. It's the phenomenon in which the lithium-ion battery pack of an electric car that's left unplugged for a long period goes completely, utterly dead--to the point where it cannot be recharged, and becomes a large, expensive "brick." [FURTHER UPDATE: Is...

  • 2012 Fisker Karma during road test, Los Angeles, Feb 2012

    After four years, an economic crisis, an industry meltdown, and plug-in cars becoming politically problematic, the 2012 Fisker Karma is on the streets at last. And it's a real car. We've driven it, shot video behind the wheel, and now we've formally reviewed it. We're still sorting out what we think about the Karma, an extended-range electric luxury sport sedan that starts at $106,000. Sexy, sexy, sexy It's undoubtedly the sexiest, most noticeable car we've driven in years--more so even than the electric Rolls-Royce Phantom we tested. But it's also a car about the size of a BMW 7-Series sedan...

  • Electric car drivers in Helsinki. Image: electrictraffic.fi
    Helsinki Electric Car Owners Test Cold-Weather Capabilities

    We've all heard stories about woefully low range from electric cars in icy climates, but just how suited are EVs to very cold conditions? That's what a bunch of Finnish electric car owners decided to find out, led by Finland's Electric Traffic program. Nine electric vehicles participated in a...

  • 2012 Fisker Karma EcoChic, New York City, Jan 2012
    Irate Investor Sues Fisker: A Little Lesson In Venture Capital

    This is the week when driving impressions of the 2012 Fisker Karma have started to appear, as Fisker invites in waves of automotive journalists for a half-day of driving in and around Los Angeles. (We'll have our report early next week, but we had a brief drive a few weeks ago, and another with...

  • 2012 Chevrolt Volt Gas Station Advert
    GE Employees Get Chevy Volt Electric Cars, All-Gas Use OKed Sometimes

    Sixteen months ago, General Electric announced it would place the "largest order in history" for electric cars, to be used by its employees who are issued company cars. Now, those cars are starting to arrive and be placed with employees. And where changes are made, personnel policies are sure to...

  • Tesla Model X
    Video: Tesla Model X Prototype In Motion

    First deliveries for Tesla’s all-electric Model X crossover are still a couple of years away, but the Silicon Valley-based automaker was already hard at work selling it to potential buyers at last week’s party-style premiere, held at the automaker’s design studios in Hawthorne...

  • 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid, road test, Spring 2011
    2012 Honda Civic Hybrid: Hammer It, How High Is Gas Mileage?

    Honda has managed to raise the gas mileage ratings on all of its new 2012 Civic models, including the 2012 Civic Hybrid, which is rated at a combined 44 mpg. In a road test over several days last May, we managed to get a real-world 45.3 mpg over a route that was about two-thirds highway, one-thirds...

  • 2013 Lexus RX leaked via official brochure

    The Lexus RX 450h, on sale since 2009, is set to gain a facelift this year and a sporty new trim line, to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The 2013 RX will gain some of the styling cues found on the 2013 Lexus GS range, giving the front end a sharper, more aggressive look. The brochure, first picked up by Minkara and coming to us via Motor Authority, reveals a new trim line is coming to the RX range, too. Just as the Prius-based CT 200h has recently gained a sportier look and feel with F Sport trim, so too does the 2013 RX 450h. Lexus' new "spindle" grille gets chrome trim lines...

  • Tesla CEO Elon Musk, demonstrating the Model X third-row seat and falcon doors
    2014 Tesla Model X All-Electric Gullwing SUV: New Info, Photos

    “We’ve got a rocketship next door, and you know as Governor Moonbeam that I like rocketships,” quipped California Governor Jerry Brown, at the introduction of the upcoming 2014 Tesla Model S, gesturing toward the big SpaceX facility next door to Tesla’s Southern California...

  • 2013 Hyundai Elantra Coupe, Chicago Auto Show, Jan 2012
    2013 Hyundai Elantra Coupe, GT: More High-MPG Compact Models

    Yesterday, Hyundai threw one of the better-attended press events at the Chicago Auto Show, launching two new models to expand its successful Elantra compact lineup. We've already shown you live photos of the 2013 Elantra Coupe and 2013 Elantra GT five-door hatchback, shot as the cars were revealed...

  • 2013 Volkswagen Beetle TDI, Chicago Auto Show, Feb 2012
    2013 Volkswagen Beetle TDI: Live Gallery From Chicago Auto Show

    While Volkswagen didn't host a press conference to launch its new diesel Beetle, the carmaker put the 2013 Beetle TDI on display at the Chicago Auto Show in its first U.S. appearance. It's really the return of a long-lost friend, since VW sold the previous-generation New Beetle with a 1.9-liter...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius C, drive event, La Jolla, CA, Feb 2012
    2012 Toyota Prius C: First Drive Report And Full Details

    The 2012 Toyota Prius C may be the most surprising entry in the expanding Prius range. It's smaller, less unusually styled, and about $5,000 less expensive than the standard Prius liftback. And it's more fun to drive (relatively) than its larger siblings. It also gets real-world gas mileage of 50...

  • 2012 Toyota Yaris LE three-door hatchback, road test, Hudson Valley, NY, Feb 2012
    2012 Toyota Yaris LE Subcompact Hatchback: Drive Report

    It was quite small and very, very red. This weekend's test car, a 2012 Toyota Yaris LE three-door liftback, attracted far more attention than we expected. Pedestrians and other drivers turned their heads. Even our New York City garage attendant mumbled, unprompted, "Muy bonita, muy, muy bonita!" as...

  • 2013 Fiat 500L

    It's now confirmed: Fiat is following in the footsteps of MINI and delving into its past to bring back a famous nameplate for its upcoming Fiat 500 wagon. Due to be launched at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March, the new, larger 500 model will be called the 500L - the "L" standing for "Large". MINI's names from the past bear little relation to the originals: the Clubman was originally a re-designed, square-fronted Mini from the 1970s rather than a wagon, and the Countryman wasn't a crossover, but a wagon, more like the current Clubman... Fiat is clearly treading the same path - while the new...

  • Range_e Plug-in Hybrid Prototype
    Range_e Plug-in Hybrid Prototype: First Drive Report

    At the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, Land Rover unveiled its first ever plug-in hybrid concept vehicle, the Land Rover Range_e Diesel Plug-in Hybrid. Then in October last year -- purely by chance -- we bumped into one of Land Rover’s five engineering test Range_e prototypes in a shopping mall...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius V hybrid wagon, test drive in Catskill Mountains, Jan 2012
    2012 Toyota Prius V: Hybrid Wagon Drive Report

    When you drive a wagon, you usually need the space. And so it was with the 2012 Toyota Prius V, in which we hauled holiday gifts, heavy sagging boxes of old car magazines, furniture, and other life impedimentia over a 10-day, 650-mile test drive that spanned late December and early January. It's a...

  • 2012 Chevrolet Volt
    New 2012 Chevy Volts Will Qualify For $1500 CA State Rebate

    A few weeks ago, we told you that all new 2012 Chevrolet Volts manufactured after February 8 and destined for Californian dealers will feature a redesigned exhaust system that will enable them to qualify as Enhanced Advanced Technology Partial Zero-Emissions Vehicles (e-AT-PZEVs). As a consequence...

  • 2012 Honda Insight EX with Navigation
    2012 Honda Fit Vs 2012 Honda Insight Hybrid: High Gas Mileage Battle

    If you're in the market for a fuel efficient vehicle your choice is better than ever. Virtually every manufacturer now offers a high-mpg vehicle, but Honda could lay claim to being one of the first. Since the Civic arrived back in the 1970s, the Japanese carmaker has made fuel economy a high...

  • 2005 Subaru Outback Rear
    New Mileage Rules Encourage Small Cars To Become Big Trucks For Lower MPG

    Automakers have long known there's a double standard for gas mileage. Cars have to meet higher goals, trucks have less stringent requirements. And the larger the vehicle, the lower the average fuel economy it has to deliver. The proposed fuel economy standards for 2017 through 2025 vehicles...

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