Fuel Efficiency

Most magazines and countries have their own 'Car of the Year' awards, but the accolade of 'World Car of the Year' is undoubtedly the most presigious. This year, Volkswagen's diminutive up! minicar has won the title, as judged by 66 top automotive journalists from around the world, and beating 33...

The New York Auto Show, now open to the public, occupies two floors of the Javits Convention Center, and organizers this year were strict about relegating trucks to the basement. Chrysler was allowed only a single truck or crossover in its entire main-floor display. So it chose the 2013 Ram 1500...

At the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, Honda unveiled the Earth Dreams Technology range, a set of new engines, transmissions and hybrid drivetrains which it claimed would help it lead the automotive industry in fuel efficiency for every segment within three years. Now the Japanese automaker has expanded...

The 2013 Nissan Altima appears as if it will raise the bar for midsize sedan style and fuel efficiency.

Like it or not, the humble gasoline engine still has a lot to give to the automobile world. Yes, they use fossil fuels that could be better used elsewhere, but while pure electric vehicles and even hybrids remain relatively expensive, improving the efficiency of regular internal combustion engines...

Ford has announced pricing for the stop-start system on the 2013 Ford Fusion. Usually a system fitted to hybrid vehicles, the Fusion is the first non-hybrid midsize sedan available with stop-start technology, which cuts the engine at a standstill to save gas. Ford claims the system improves...

Steady-speed highway cruising doesn't actually take that much energy compared to accelerating up to, say, 70 mph in the first place. The really hard part is getting consistently high gas mileage in all driving conditions--which is why the 50-mpg Toyota Prius hybrid is still a remarkable vehicle...

If you want to cover all of the potential new car sales bases, having a compact crossover vehicle is essential. Mazda sank serious development money into its CX-5, as did Ford with its new Escape. Radical changes were necessary for those makers to compete against the new Honda CR-V, and even MINI...

It still hasn't really registered in public awareness, but as we've said before, U.S. gasoline consumption has been falling since 2006. Now, it turns out that U.S. energy imports have been falling as well--from 60 percent in 2005 to just 45 percent last year. That can be attributed to two factors...

Chevy's Sonic marked a huge step up in quality and performance from its Aveo predecessor, but until now customers wanting the automatic transmission have been denied the turbocharged engine, and turbo fans have only had a manual option. That's set to change, as Chevrolet is now offering its...

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...

Mazda has launched a microsite dedicated to its new CX-5 crossover.

Volvo will move from six-cylinder engines to fours over the next few years, in an effort to boost fuel economy.

Fleet managers are very, very rational people. Unlike many retail car buyers, they analyze vehicles without a shred of emotion, basing their decisions on lifetime ownership costs for vehicles that meet their needs. More and more, though, those fleet buyers are being asked to help reduce their...

If we told you someone had driven across the U.S. on only two gallons of gas, you'd probably be quite impressed. Cliff Ricketts did just this. After around 2,582 miles and with a support team, he used only 2.15 gallons of gasoline. That doesn't tell the whole story though, because Cliff used other...

Ford has been dropping hints since December about the Ford Transit van that will replace its ancient E-Series van, still referred to by many as the Econoline. Now the company has released a bit more information. The Ford Transit full-size van that will be introduced next year will use a 3.5-liter...

So you're in the market for a new car. Fantastic. You've done the research--looking at list prices, EPA fuel ratings, and all manner of other factors--and you know you want something fuel-efficient and easy on the environment. But what will that car really cost over, say, five years of ownership?...

Several years ago, the U.S. auto industry worried that Chinese carmakers would use inexpensive cars to gain a foothold here, just as Japanese and Korean makers had done. That hasn't happened, for many reasons--one being that making cars good enough to sell here is remarkably hard. More recently...

You may have noticed we feature the late Mazda RX-8 rather less often than the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car. Considering the final iteration of the four-seat, four-door sports car delivered just 23 mpg highway from its 1.3-liter Renesis rotary engine, it really wasn’t a green...

Before we were handed the keys to the 2012 Lexus RX 450h AWD, we were advised that although the luxury SUV would be a comfortable companion, freeway driving isn't the best test for a hybrid vehicle. Or is it? After all, we already know that hybrids work best in city driving, but low tailpipe...