Featured (was)

Gasoline may be averaging around $2.50 a gallon right now, but gas mileage remains an important factor in choosing a new car. Now the EPA has released 2010 fuel efficiency figures for all new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. Hybrids from Ford, Honda, Lexus, Mazda, Mercury, Nissan, and Toyota...

By voting 80 to 17 to approve a compromise bill allocating $33.5 billion to fund energy and water projects, the U.S. Senate yesterday also redefined what qualifies as an "automobile". Once President Barack Obama signs the measure, a vehicle with only three wheels can--for the purpose of allocating...

Well, now it's official. The 2010 Toyota Prius offers the best gas mileage of any new car sold in the U.S. for the upcoming 2010 model year, with a blended EPA rating of 50 miles per gallon. The 2010 Prius had actually been rated at 50 mpg back in March, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...

While we think that the clean diesel 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI will do well in the States, VW has just rolled out an uber-economical BlueMotion model for European markets that gets 62 miles per gallon of diesel fuel. BlueMotion is VW's designation for the most fuel efficient model in each of its...

Car sales may have plunged to their lowest per-capita level in decades, but for the green-minded among us, there's some good news: Fuel economy is now more important to car buyers than are cupholders. That's one piece of data gleaned from a lengthy survey of car buyers by the big accounting firm...

Mini has been on a roll this year, with a new Coupe concept to celebrate its 50th birthday and the much-publicized U.S. release of 200 Mini E electric conversions. Now, 40 Britons will be able to drive the electric Mini E as well, 20 of them members of the public chosen from more than 500...

We've known for a while that BMW would launch its first hybrid this year, and now we know when: The 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6 will reach dealers this December. We'll be driving the hybrid X6 in a couple of weeks, but meanwhile, here's our advance preview of BMW's hybrid-electric sport-activity...

Between car loans, trade-ins, and special promotional incentives, most people rarely write a large check for their new car purchase. But what you can get for $10,000? What's the absolutely simplest, least expensive car on the U.S. market today? Actually, there are two: the 2009 Hyundai Accent and...

As global demand remains high for the 50-MPG 2010 Toyota Prius, stocks of the car at U.S. dealers are down to a one-week supply, which is all but sold out. A normal supply is considered to equal 60 days' worth of sales. Sales of the 2010 Prius spiked in late July and August, due to a combination of...

While Nissan goes full-bore into electric cars, including projected sales of 20,000 of its 2012 Nissan Leaf, the company's Infiniti luxury marque has neither electric cars nor hybrids in its 2010 lineup. But that will change next year, when it launches the redesigned 2011 Infiniti M luxury sedan...

The five finalists for the 2010 Green Car of the Year Award include three hybrid models--two Japanese hatchbacks and one U.S. sedan--and a pair of German clean-diesel cars. The nominations were announced today by Green Car Journal, which has presented the award at the Los Angeles Auto Show for five...

We knew all along that the Cash-For-Clunkers program induced July and August car buyers to go for vehicles they might not otherwise have chosen, specifically smaller cars with higher gas mileage. Especially hybrid-electric vehicles from Toyota, Honda, Ford, and others. But now comes the hybrid...

While the 2010 Honda Insight is the company's big hybrid news for this year, it's far from the only new hybrid headed to us from Honda. As we've noted before, Honda will launch two more hybrids in 2010 as 2011 models. Now, Honda has released photos of its "CR-Z Concept 2009" show car, to be...

Two weeks ago, Toyota confirmed that it would offer more than one body style for its Prius hybrid-electric vehicle. Now, in Japan, the company has introduced a Toyota version of the car we know here as the 2010 Lexus HS250h. That car, the first "dedicated hybrid" from Lexus, was launched in Japan...

The 2012 Nissan Leaf hatchback, the first all-electric car from a major manufacturer to be offered in the U.S. since GM's late lamented EV1 two-seater a decade ago, won't go on sale nationally for more than two years. Nonetheless, Nissan is hoping to accumulate 20,000 U.S. advance orders for the...

Late last year, a small Chinese company achieved a milestone: It offered the world's first mass-produced plug-in hybrid vehicle for sale.  BYD Automotive, of Shenzhen, started selling its 2009 BYD F3DM (for "dual mode") compact sedan in December. So how's it been doing? Not too well. BYD said it...

As reported earlier this afternoon on our sister site TheCarConnection.com, Toyota may will recall up to 3.8 million cars and pickup trucks to ensure that the floor mats on the driver's side are not interfering with the accelerator and brake pedals. It would will be the company's largest recall...

Toyota may will recall all models of the 2004-2009 Toyota Prius to ensure that the driver' side floor mat cannot interfere with the accelerator and brake pedals, possibly causing the accelerator to stick. This afternoon, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued an "urgent" warning...

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...

Your car already runs on (some) ethanol, although you may not know it. Much of the gas sold in the U.S. is now actually a blend: 90 percent gasoline, 10 percent ethanol. It's known as E10, for the percentage of the total derived from the corn-based biofuel. Since 1978, new cars have been able to...