First Drive Reviews
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Yeah, we drove the pink one. The 2013 Chevrolet Spark, the first Chevrolet minicar in many, many years, comes in a remarkable array of pastel colors, including one called Techno Pink. One of two Sparks we tested yesterday came in that very distinctive shade; the other was Salsa (lime green). Other colors include Denim (pale blue), and Lemonade (pale yellow). The little Spark isn't quite as small as the Mitsubishi i electric car we recently drove, but it's 3 feet shorter than the Chevy Cruze compact sedan--and 14 inches shorter than the Chevrolet Sonic five-door hatchback. It competes with a...
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2012 Toyota RAV4 EV: First Drive From Behind The Wheel (Video)
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
John Voelcker -
2013 Honda Fit EV: Video From First Drive Of All-Electric Car
Yesterday, Honda delivered its first Fit EV electric car to private buyers--or, more accurately, private lease customers, since the car isn't available for outright sale. Only 1,100 lucky lessors in a small handful of states will ever get behind the wheel of a 2013 Honda Fit EV, because for Honda...
John Voelcker -
2012 Tesla Model S: Seven Little Things A Buyer Doesn't Like
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...
David Noland -
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 roadshow from now through early August that aims to put 5,000 Model S reservation holders in the driver's seat for a few minutes each. Yesterday, we got our first test drive of the 2012 Tesla Model S. The video above should give you a small taste of what our drive was like. We really had only about...
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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...
John Voelcker -
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...
John Voelcker -
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...
John Voelcker -
2012 Volkswagen Beetle: Quick Drive
It's not all that fuel efficient, but it's more fun to drive than we expected. That's our reaction to a quick drive last month in a blue 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. It's the entirely redesigned follow-on to the former New Beetle model that was perhaps best known for its dash-mounted flower vase--which...
John Voelcker -
2012 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport: Quick Drive
On paper, the 2012 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport sounds like the ideal compact crossover solution for those on a limited budget. It’s small in size, coming in at over a foot shorter than the standard Mitsubishi Outlander, which shaves some 700 pounds off the crossover’s curb weight. Power...
Kurt Ernst -
Unlike other carmakers--including BMW with its ActiveE program--Audi has chosen to use only in-house drivers to test the fleet of electric A3 e-tron prototypes it has brought to the U.S. So we're pleased to be among the few media outlets to drive an Audi A3 e-tron, one of just 17 such cars in North America. Our short 45-minute test drive in the heart of New York City including both urban stop-and-go traffic and some freeway driving at speeds up to (and perhaps beyond) the legal limit on Manhattan's winding and unpredictable FDR Drive along the East River. Almost production ready To sum it up...
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2012 Ford Focus 3-Cylinder: Quick Drive Report
Downsizing: The car industry's buzzword for both consumers shopping for smaller cars than their previous model, and carmakers equipping their models with smaller, more efficient engines. Both are linked to lowering the cost of driving, but the latter is most interesting from an efficiency...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Lexus GS 450h: First Drive
Ever since Lexus launched the RX 400h hybrid SUV in 2005, gasoline-electric hybrids have been an integral part of the Lexus lineup. Cleverly combining performance, luxury and economy, they allow luxury buyers to avoid the compromises that might otherwise be associated with making a luxury vehicle...
Antony Ingram -
2013 Nissan Altima 2.5: First Drive
The all-new 2013 Nissan Altima 2.5 does a surprisingly good job of blending fuel economy, performance, comfort and value in a midsize sedan.
Kurt Ernst -
2013 Lexus ES 300h: First Drive
When Lexus rolled out its HS 250h hybrid sedan a few years ago, there was a lot of head-scratching. The HS 250h was rather cramped inside, had a powertrain that was way too noisy for a Lexus, and was rated at just 35 mpg city, 34 highway—barely better than the Camry Hybrid of the time, which...
Bengt Halvorson -
2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 5 First Drive Report
Earlier on this year, we asked you if the 2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 5 was really green, or not? Now we've had a chance to drive it. Combining a 3.0-liter TwinPower Turbo straight-six engine and full-hybrid drivetrain into a 5-series body, the ActiveHybrid 5 looks just like any other premium 5-series on...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Most Chinese carmakers have backed away from plans to attack the U.S. market, and their hopes of dominating electric cars have slowed. But Chinese maker BYD continues to develop and test the e6 all-electric crossover utility it hopes to sell in the U.S. within a couple of years. Now, we've had the chance to take a brief drive in the latest, updated BYD e6--known internally as the BYD e6-B. Its front styling has a grille-like opening below the blanking panel, and the front bumper and lower body panel are restyled. We didn't get the usual full day's test drive, but were limited to several laps...
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2013 Acura ILX Hybrid: Driven
Though it has wandered through a handful of brand identities and images over the past decade, Acura continues to reinvent itself. This time, the next new thing is a hybrid using Acura's first ever implementation of Honda's familiar hybrid system (on a modified Civic platform) in the 2013 ILX. Entry...
Nelson Ireson -
2012 Ford Focus Electric: First Drive
The 2012 Ford Focus Electric is the company's first-ever production battery-electric vehicle, and that alone makes it noteworthy. But the fact that it's also pleasant to drive--somewhat on the fun side of unremarkable--means that it's the first compact all-electric competitor to the Nissan Leaf...
John Voelcker -
Renault Twizy Electric Minicar First Drive Report: Video
GreenCarReports was invited to the island of Ibiza to test Renault's latest electric effort. The Twizy isn't your average electric vehicle, so this won't be your average review. Instead, we'll aim to answer some of the multitude of questions we were asked via the site and via Twitter. What is it?...
Antony Ingram -
Volkswagen up!: Forbidden Fruit First Drive
We've been following the progress of Volkswagen's up! for quite some time. First, we saw the up! Lite concept. Then the up!, a rear-engined minicar. VW then teased some electric up! taxis, before we finally saw the production version - and several more concepts - at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show...
Antony Ingram -
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...
John Voelcker