Fuel Efficiency

Will your next car be smaller than your current one? If you answered yes, then you're in good company, as a recent JD Power survey shows that 27 percent of new car buyers have downsized in the last year. The 2012 U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) study, showed that only 13...

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...

Normally, a manufacturer announcing that it will drop a four cylinder model in favor of a six-cylinder variant would lead to wailing and gnashing of teeth, to those of a green disposition. With the 2013 Toyota Sienna minivan however, it's no big deal losing the unpopular 2.7-liter four-cylinder, as...

You only need to take a look at the current MINI range--with its hatchbacks, convertibles, coupes, roadsters, crossovers and more--to see that it's quite a challenge designing a range of cars based on a small, 1959 minicar. It's sure to make the job of updating the MINI quite a challenge--and one...

Buick and Opel have long been linked, starting 45 years ago when Buick dealers sold Opels imported from GM's German brand. There will be no more Opel-brand cars sold in the States, but a number of current and future Buicks were developed by Opel and are sold in Europe as Opel models. So we got to...

How much do you spend on gasoline each year? If you happen to live in the average U.S. household, the total is more than $2,850 every year--roughly $240 a month, or $60 each week. So when the Consumer Federation of America surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults in May on their attitudes toward fuel efficiency...

When you see that magic 40-miles-per-gallon number in a car ad, does it make you pay attention? Most likely it does. (Among other things, it's usually in much larger type than the other two EPA ratings.) But how seriously should you take any publicized gas-mileage ratings? Most people seem to know...

It may only be small, but Chevrolet is packing its 2013 Spark with plenty of equipment in an effort to target urban millennial buyers. Already sold in 100 countries worldwide, U.S. customers will be able to buy the Spark later this year. GM has tailored several of the car's specifications to the...

Last week, we looked at the pros and cons of buying and running a hybrid vehicle. We concluded that, provided you didn't mind paying a little more on the purchase price, that their smooth driving characteristics and great gas mileage makes them hard to beat for green-minded buyers. Now it's the...

On Friday we revealed that Chrysler is introducing a new badging system for its upcoming range of diesel engines, known as EcoDiesel. Now, the company has filed another trademark with the patent office, known as "HFE High Fuel Efficiency". Just as the EcoDiesel tag will be used on the marque's...

The Lexus RX luxury crossover line is the mainstay of Toyota's luxury line in the U.S., representing fully 42 percent of the brand's total 2011 sales. And the hybrid Lexus RX 450h model finds many buyers among progressive, affluent suburban families. There's just one problem: Its real-world gas...

If your workplace is anything like ours, it seems that while you're at work, most of the rest of the United States has taken the entire week off to celebrate Independence Day. For our own celebration, and with a friendly nod to our defeated British colleagues, we thought it would be appropriate to...

You might not have seen any adverts for it yet, but the 2013 Ford Escape is already flying out of dealer lots. That's not bad when the auto market is currently undergoing a summer slump, but the first all-new Escape in over a decade really seems to be grabbing the attention of buyers. The Escape's...

Here at GreenCarReports, we often remind you what you can do to improve the gas mileage of your car with articles devoted to tire maintenance, good driving practice and following service schedules. According to Consumer Reports however, there are just as many things that are rumored to improve your...

Consumers want more from their cars these days. More space. More performance. More equipment. More fuel consumption. What was that last one again? Actually, we mean less fuel consumption. Because while we want more of everything else, rising prices mean that even large cars are expected to guzzle...

The numbers came in this morning, and gas prices took a sharp drop, with the national average now at just $3.50 per gallon. And they're expected to stay relatively flat through the summer, barring any surprises and geopolitical actions. That $3.50 average is s a drop of 7 cents in the last week...

If your daily driving resembles a New York City cabbie's--lots of stop and go--you should get a hybrid for best fuel efficiency. But if it's closer to that of a traveling farm salesman--steady speeds on Interstate highways and wide-open state roads for hours--you'll likely be better off with a...

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...

For as long as we care to remember, U.S. roads have hummed to the tune of the V-6 and V-8. Low-stressed and powerful, we’ve used V-engines in everything from pickup trucks and hotrods to family sedans and crossover SUVS. Times, however, are changing. According to JD Power Associates (via...

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...