Fuel Efficiency

Yesterday, auto dealers met with their members of Congress to try to delay new rules that would stiffen the gas-mileage requirements for cars sold in model years 2017 to 2025. The National Auto Dealers Association made the rounds to pitch a proposal that would amend spending legislation for the...

For many people, the purchase of a fuel efficient car is usually made to save money on driving, as the cost of being a car owner rises further and further. That being the case, why buy an expensive car in the first place, potentially taking years longer to pay off the fuel savings? The good news is...

Reading eBay auction listings, it's important to look at the disclaimers. Such as ... This is a non-running experimental vehicle being sold AS-IS / WHERE-IS. and Proof of the "Documented 173 [Miles Per Gallon!]" has yet to be found. and The exact origins of this vehicle are unknown. OK, so now that...

There are many ways of making a vehicle more fuel efficient. Improvements in engine technology, materials, rolling resistance and aerodynamics can all contribute towards making a car easier on gas than its predecessor. How about making it quieter? You may think making a car quieter at speed might...

It's not always true that the smallest cars get the best gas mileage. In many cases, compact cars get mileage equal to or better mileage than their shorter, stubbier subcompact brethren. The new 2012 Chevrolet Sonic subcompact has managed to crack the magic 40-mpg highway mark, though. Estimates...

While Toyota is still struggling to get itself entirely back to normal after the devastating March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami, the company has a number of new green cars coming along this autumn. It is pulling forward the launch for the redesigned 2012 version of its best-selling Camry...

The 2011 Mazda2 is already one of the most fun small cars on the market, sharing its platform with Ford's Fiesta. It's pretty economical too, but with Mazda's next generation of gasoline engine, it'll become very efficient indeed. The 1.3-liter Skyactiv-G unit soon to be found in the Mazda2 gets 30...

Volvo isn’t the largest automaker in the world -- but it is one of the safest thanks to a long-standing passion about passenger and pedestrian safety dating back to when the company was founed nearly 85 years ago. But recently Volvo has developed a new passion to put alongside its aim to have...

It's one thing Honda not sending its new Brio minicar over to the United States, so economy car fans are unable to sample its 52 mpg delights. That would all be okay if we found out it was a terrible car, but unfortunately for us, the first reviews coming from overseas are singing its praises. One...

Cylinder deactivation has been used with great success on V-6 and V-8 engines for years, but now Volkswagen is bringing the technology to their four-cylinder, 1.4-liter TSI engine.

The 2011 Smart ForTwo minicar: Cramped, noisy, slow and unsafe, right? If you answered yes to all those then the new team running Smart USA for Daimler AG is banking on a new educational advertising campaign drawing you in. Smart USA thinks the slide in popularity of the model is down to what the...

We're beginning to sound like a broken record: One of the ways carmakers will meet new, tougher gas-mileage requirements will be to use smaller, more efficient engines in their vehicles. Those may be 1.0-liter three-cylinder engines in subcompacts, but they may also be more powerful V-6 engines...

For some time automakers have been under increasing pressure from the government to make their cars as green as fuel efficient as possible in order to improve air quality, reduce pollution and diminish our dependence on fossil fuels. But makers of medium and heavy duty vehicles -- like semis, buses...

To increase gas mileage, carmakers can use smaller engines that produce the same power from less fuel. But they can also work to recapture part of the 70 percent of fuel's energy content that internal combustion engines waste in producing heat, noise, and momentum that has to be halted via braking...

Starting with the 2013 model year, you will see a new and more informative gas-mileage sticker on the window of new cars for sale. There are several changes, both graphic and informational, that are meant to provide consumers with more information so they can make more informed choices among...

We've learned to take official EPA gas-mileage ratings with a pinch of salt in the past. They're useful for comparing model to model, but not always representative of the figures real people out in the real world will achieve. That's not to say that the EPA's fuel efficiency numbers can't be...

One of the best ways to save a lot of fuel is to improve the efficiency of the lowest-mileage vehicles on the roads. Those include semis, which often get no more than 2 or 3 miles per gallon of diesel fuel. Their huge diesel engines must put out massive torque to tow one, two, or even three...

Mention Mercedes-Benz, and most Americans envision luxurious full-size or mid-size sedans, or perhaps the successful ML crossover sport utility vehicle. They probably won't imagine a compact five-door hatchback with a three-pointed star on the nose, but that car--or a coupe or crossover derived...

The reviews of the 2012 Toyota Camry mid-size sedan are in now, and the consensus is that it's a competitively priced mild refresh with unadventurous styling. Which may be exactly what Camry buyers are looking for. But on one metric--gas mileage--the 2012 Camry line shines. The 2012 Toyota Camry...

The good folks over at Consumer Reports are the ultimate rationalists when it comes to testing and buying cars. They don't use media-fleet cars, but buy their test vehicles anonymously. Their rigorous assessments make hard-nosed fleet buyers look like flighty schoolgirls in comparison. In the...