First Drive Reviews

The 2014 Mazda 3 is the one of the more eagerly-awaited compact cars hereabouts, and now we've had a chance to spend 90 minutes behind the wheel. During a recent test drive that brought together Best Car To Buy 2014 finalists, every High Gear Media editor got a chance to drive a variety of vehicles...

There is a line of thinking, naturally not shared by many of our readers, that engine noise is an integral part of the experience of driving a car. Lack of it in electric cars is one of myriad reasons the average gearhead is still skeptical of EVs. You may think then that swapping the familiar...

The 2014 BMW i3 electric car is one of the most radical new vehicles on the planet. And the innovation comes in many different facets of the car. There's its shape, which is tall and somewhat van-like--unusual for a BMW. Its styling introduces a new design language for BMW's 'i' series of plug-in...

Does the all-new 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid really get 50 miles per gallon? And does it drive as well as a regular four-cylinder Honda Accord? To cut right to the spoiler: yes and yes. For some shoppers who already know and like the Accord, that might honestly be enough—once they run the...

Aspire, Sprint, Swift, and Esteem: They’re among the most ironically inappropriate car names. But in its new EV guise, the Chevy Spark has the perfect name, on many levels. This car certainly has more than a spark of personality; it's all-electric (forget about those spark plugs); and...

It's easy enough to find a hybrid these days, with plenty of automakers offering cars that blend gasoline engines and electric propulsion to one degree or another. More difficult is finding a hybrid vehicle suitable for more active families, those with greater need for space and practicality. Where...

We'll start with the bad news: No, Audi definitely won't be producing any more examples of its R8 e-tron electric supercar. And even if it did, it'd be well beyond the reach of mere mortals--rumor has it that each of the ten e-trons currently in existence have set Audi back around $1.3 million. All...

It’s not every day Chevrolet executives talk about launching at car that competes directly with … a Volkswagen. The new 2014 Chevy Cruze Diesel, however, aims directly at the only affordable compact four-door sedan with a diesel engine sold in the U.S. until now: the Volkswagen Jetta...

You might think that Europe, with its congested cities and relatively short distances between cities, would be the perfect environment for electric cars. Whether or not that's the case, the choice of electric cars there isn't nearly as wide as it is in the U.S. But with the Renault Zoe you see...

When we first drove the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid in the fall of 2010, it was a pre-production car and--frankly--it wasn't very smooth. The 2011 Sonata Hybrid production car was better, but far from the standards of the best hybrids. Now the Korean carmaker has taken another crack at the car, with...

It was a Mercedes-Benz icon before it became a performance flagship. Now it's a messenger for the future: the gullwing's going electric. The SLS AMG Electric Drive electric car is closing in on series production, converting the octane-addicted supercar to fit a greener vision of the future. We've...

Selling luxury vehicles is a delicate balancing act. Concentrate on your most wealthy clientele and the market is lucrative, but limited. But go too far the other way, catering for the mass market, and you risk damaging your reputation. This is the barrier Mercedes-Benz has had to cross in...

Much fanfare has been made about Ford's 1.0-liter, 3-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost engine. Offering the performance of a 1.6-liter with the economy of a much smaller unit, many would have you believe it represents the future of internal combustion. If not transported to the future, our first drive...

Despite the seemingly endless combinations of drivetrains, body styles, and features, there are still a few cars in the U.S. market that are unique in their makeup--and we're not talking about the Tesla Model S here. The 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible is the only convertible available in the...

The 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid gives VW something it hasn’t had before: a way to appeal to hybrid buyers who won’t consider its TDI diesels—no matter how fuel-efficient they may be. The result is a relatively sporty, conventional looking compact sedan that’s fun to drive...

Over the past several years, 40 miles per gallon has become a sort of high water mark for compact cars, with a long list of special efficiency-focused models aiming to meet or exceed that number. Yet for those vehicles, we're talking highway mileage. The 2013 Toyota Avalon Hybrid, on the other...

Memo to carmakers: Midtown Manhattan on a weekday can be a challenging, frustrating place to hold a test drive. Two days ago, we drove the new 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid at a Ford media event, one of a handful across the country to show off its redesigned mid-size sedan. The 2013 Fusion will be...

It's been a long time coming, but the 2012 Coda Sedan is now on sale at a handful of dealers in California. Six months after the very first Coda compact electric cars were delivered to buyers, the company is gearing up a major publicity push to sell the electric sedan--which we've now driven. Our...

Last week, Honda released the specs and photos for its 2014 Accord Hybrid and Plug-In Hybrid. Now, we can talk about what it's like on the road. The short answer? Like the Ford C-Max Hybrid, it offers new and strong competition for a model of the well-established Toyota Prius--in this case, the...

The verdict is in: At last, the fabled Toyota Prius hybrid has a viable competitor. If you're in the market for a five-door hybrid hatchback with very high fuel economy--an EPA rating of 47 mpg combined--you should drive a C-Max Hybrid before you trot down to your local Toyota dealer and sign the...