Fuel Economy

Among the green cars making their debuts at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show this week is the 2012 Mazda CX-5. While it made its world debut back at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, we weren’t entirely sure what its specifications for the U.S. market would be. Now we do. Weighing in at under 3500...

While much of the auto industry is focused on the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show, a handful of folks are looking in the opposite direction, toward Washington, D.C. There, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation are expected to announce new fuel economy regulations that...

We all know the way in which we drive can change our car’s fuel economy, but one of the biggest keys to getting great gas mileage is often overlooked: your car’s tires. According to Mark Chung, director of corporate strategy at Yokohama Tire Corporation, most consumers don’t know...

Chevy has announced sales of the one millionth Cruze on the day that marks the automaker's 100th birthday.

If you’re in the market for a new car, the chances are you’ll want a car which gets the very best gas mileage possible. Normally, this means looking at the EPA ratings of each car -- but a recent study has confirmed that the color your car is painted can also help save you money and...

Sometime next month, the EPA and NHTSA will release final draft rules that increase corporate average fuel economy standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025. Most--although not all--carmakers have signed off on the standards, but opposition has hardly died down. The latest group to take up the fight against...

It's autumn, so what better way to highlight the changing leaves than a tomato-soup red Chevy Sonic subcompact? Three weeks ago, we drove our first new Sonic: a high-end 2012 Sonic LTZ sedan with the 1.4-liter turbocharged engine. We liked the little turbo, and found the sedan roomy and comfortable...

Once upon a time, car-buyers looked for new cars based on the size of the trunk, the appointment of the interior and how comfortable the seats were. Gas mileage, while an influencing factor, was way down the list. That’s changed, according to a Ford-sponsored study into the car-buying...

Earlier this month, we attended an event at the Stowe circuit at Silverstone Race Course dedicated to greener driving. Setup to reward green driving styles and drivers who got high gas mileage throughout the day, the driver named official 2011 Green Grand Prix champion had never even driven a green...

Five months ago, we drove the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid--which gave us slightly more than 45 mpg using "Econ" mode. That's the best gas mileage of any Honda Civic in recent memory. So we were eager to test the new-for-2012 Civic HF model, which forgoes the electric motor and lithium-ion battery pack...

What can you say about driving a Mercedes-Benz S-Class? It's luxurious, smooth, powerful, packed with features, impressive on the road, and very, very large. Now you can add another adjective: green. While the S 400 Hybrid has been in the mix for two years, Mercedes-Benz is launching a clean-diesel...

"Bracket creep" is the phenomenon where each successive generation of a car gets slightly bigger. It's what allowed the Honda Civic to evolve from the 1973 model, which today we'd call a minicar, to the compact it is today. The 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, deemed a subcompact by GM, is a prime example of...

Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix, normally rings to the sound of heavily tuned race-cars and squealing tires in almost continual gluttonous praise of gasoline, but yesterday it hosted a different type of motor sport event: the RAC Green Grand Prix. Sponsored by roadside assistance...

It’s October, and for thousands of motorists in colder states that means only one thing: winter is on the way. But as the trees start to turn to golden reds, the winds start to blow and fall quickly turns to winter, here are five things you should do to help your car keep its gas mileage high...

Over a short test that mimicked commuter duty, our 2012 Hyundai Accent SE hatchback returned 33.4 mpg.

As long as the internal combustion engine has existed, engineers have been trying to find better ways of igniting the highly combustable mixture of air and gasoline that powers cars. Everything from higher voltage coils through to electronically-timed ignition and making spark plug tips from metals...

When automakers start designing a new car, it’s customary to have a specific demographic of customer in mind. This not only helps to design a car which best suits the needs of a particular subset of buyers, but it also gives the advertising teams something to aim for when coming up with crazy...

It’s no secret that the state of California is home to some of the most congested roads in the country -- but it is also home to some of the greenest drivers according to a recent study by academics of the Transport Research Institute at the University of Michigan. Reported by The Los Angeles...

It was the proposal that brought every automaker selling in the North America market out in a cold sweat. Now, Reuters brings news that the NHTSA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are delaying the 54.5 MPG, 2025 average fleet fuel economy figure proposal until November. The reason given...

You’re probably already familiar with the effect that a hybrid drivetrain has on fuel economy, but now one of the key concepts of a hybrid drivetrain -- the ability for the engine to turn off and on automatically at stoplights -- is being introduced in conventional gasoline-engined cars...