GCR Best Car to Buy
-
The new 2013 Ford Fusion is stunning on the street; it may well be the best-looking mid-size sedan on the market. And it comes with no fewer than five different powertrains, all of them as or more fuel efficient as those in the previous Fusion sedan. The first Fusion in 2005 started to re-establish Ford's presence in mid-size sedans, and sales accelerated with the heavily revised 2010 models. Now, for 2013, the Fusion is substantially the same car as the Ford Mondeo sold in Europe--which means it has spirited handling and European road feel. U.S. buyers can choose from three gasoline engines...
-
Green Car Reports 2013 Best Car To Buy: Nominees Video Roundup
Last week, we announced all six nominees for the Green Car Reports 2013 Best Car To Buy award. Now, you can see them all on video, courtesy of last week's Los Angeles Auto Show and our crack video-editing team. As we revealed, our nominees for the Best Green Car To Buy 2013 award are: 2013 Chevy...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Reports 2013 Best Car To Buy Nominee: Ford C-Max
The 2013 Ford C-Max is the first car from any U.S. manufacturer to take aim directly at the legendary Toyota Prius hybrid. Derived from a small "people carrier" of the sort that are common in Europe, it's Ford's first-ever dedicated hybrid--a vehicle sold with no gasoline-only equivalent (at least...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Reports 2013 Best Car To Buy Nominee: Chevy Spark
The 2013 Chevrolet Spark misses being the shortest car ever sold as a Chevy in the U.S. by just an inch or two. But the five-door hatchback is by far the most modern minicar Chevrolet has ever offered. And it represents a daring foray into very small cars by a brand better known for its Impala...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Reports' Best Car To Buy 2013: Our Six Finalists
From a respectable list of 13 different vehicles, we've narrowed the contenders down to six finalists. They're the cars that will compete for the Green Car Reports 2013 Best Car To Buy Award. We'll announce the winner on December 10, either a single vehicle (like the Nissan Leaf, our 2011 winner)...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Reports To Name Best Car To Buy 2013
Electric cars, hybrids, plug-ins, diesels, CNG- and gasoline-powered vehicles--they can all be green cars, and all are a part of the growing movement to cleaner emissions and better fuel efficiency. Just one of them will be Green Car Reports' Best Car To Buy 2013. On December 10, we'll announce the...
Martin Padgett -
The late-night arguments are over, the statistical comparisons and product specs are put away, and we've made our choice. The GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy Award for 2012 goes to a pair of cars: the 2012 Toyota Prius V wagon and the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid. The two new 2012 entries together make up two-thirds of an expanded Prius hybrid range that we feel offers the best way for new-car buyers with a variety of different vehicle needs to drive green. 2012 Prius V wagon Judging from the regular stream of e-mails asking us when someone will make a hybrid minivan or wagon, Toyota...
-
2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI: GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
Hybrids and, more recently, plug-in cars seem to have gotten all the green ink lately, leaving fans of fuel-sipping clean diesels out in the cold. Four makers sell diesel passenger vehicles in the U.S. for 2012: Audi and BMW joined longtime stalwarts Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen a few years back...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Prius V & Plug-In: Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominees
Ask pretty much any car buyer about green cars or hybrids and, chances are, that person will likely mention the Toyota Prius sooner or later. Until this year, though, the Prius has been a single model: a subcompact four-door sedan from 2000 through 2003, and then two generations of mid-size...
John Voelcker -
2012 Mitsubishi 'i': Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
Last year, the only volume battery electric car on sale in the U.S. was the Nissan Leaf. But for 2012, there's a new electric vehicle in town: the 2012 Mitsubishi 'i'. The egg-shaped minicar is Mitsubishi's first plug-in offering, but it's actually been around longer than the Leaf, with tens of...
John Voelcker -
2012 Honda Civic Hybrid: Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
Though always overshadowed by the more distinctive Toyota Prius, the hybrid model of the Honda Civic compact sedan has been a longstanding competitor in the field of high-mileage hybrid cars. First launched as a 2003 model, the Honda Civic Hybrid has been entirely redesigned for the 2012 model...
John Voelcker -
2012 Fiat 500: Green Car Reports Best Car To Buy 2012 Nominee
GreenCarReports nominates 2012 Fiat 500 as one of the six contenders for its Best Car To Buy 2012 award, given to the car or cars that provide the best and most practical alternatives for car buyers who want to drive green.
John Voelcker -
It took awhile to arrive, after previews starting in the middle of 2010, but now the 2012 Infiniti M35h is on sale at dealers all over the country. It's Infiniti's first hybrid vehicle, the first car from the Nissan-Infiniti stable to use the company's own internally developed full hybrid system, and the fastest full hybrid on the market. Its 0-to-62-mph time of 5.5 seconds only barely squeaks by the now-discontinued BMW ActiveHybrid X6, which logged 5.5 seconds for 0 to 60 mph. But nonetheless, it appears to be the current record holder. Whether the idea of a "performance hybrid" will take...
-
Green Car Reports To Name '2012 Best Car To Buy' Next Week
'Tis the season for 'car of the year' awards, and we're right there with the rest of the media. Next Monday, we'll announce the winner of our second annual Green Car Reports "Best Car to Buy" Award winner for the 2012 model year. At the same time, our sister sites--MotorAuthority and...
John Voelcker -
2011 Nissan Leaf Laurels: Euro Car of the Year, U.S. Cell Plant Underway
Initial deliveries of the 2011 Nissan Leaf battery electric car have been fitful, compared to hundreds of Chevy Volts sold each week. But Nissan's first modern mass-produced battery electric car continues to rack up accomplishments (and the company says it will be at full production by March)...
John Voelcker -
2011 Nissan Leaf Electric Car Named Car of the Year in Europe
The 2011 Nissan Leaf all-electric car has been designated as Europe's 2011 Car of the Year, according to reports in Autocar and other media outlets. While the Leaf won our GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy award, the bulk of similar U.S. awards went instead to the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...
John Voelcker -
Did We Err On The Leaf, Or Is GM Volt Boosterism Bashing It?
Last week at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show, we announced that the 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car was the winner of the GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy award. That same week, a flurry of other media outlets almost uniformly gave their "car of year" awards to the 2011 Chevrolet Volt...
John Voelcker -
2011 Nissan Leaf: GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011
It’s been a long time coming. More than 80 years, in fact, since viable electric cars were offered to U.S. car buyers. Now, finally, at long last, it’s happened. The 2011 Nissan Leaf is the first practical, five-seat electric car—a full plug-in, running solely off grid...
John Voelcker -
The 2011 Nissan Leaf looks like a conventional compact hatchback with unconventionally sinuous styling. It seats five, has all the usual safety features, and we particularly like the way the navigation system is integrated into the rest of the car’s information systems. But the significance of the Leaf is in what it’s missing: a tailpipe, for one, and a gasoline engine for another. As the first mass-produced electric car from a major automaker in many decades, we knew the 2011 Nissan Leaf would be a strong contender to be nominated as the GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy. But...
-
GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011 Nominee: Lexus CT 200h
It's the nominee we know the least about, and in some ways the one we're most curious about. The 2011 Lexus CT 200h is a non-traditional car for Lexus, which has never before offered a compact hatchback. And after the underwhelming HS 250h sedan, it's one we didn't have high hopes for. That was...
John Voelcker -
GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011 Nominee: Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
For its first-ever hybrid-electric vehicle, Hyundai has blazed a new path. Not only does the 2011 Sonata Hybrid carry gas-mileage ratings better than its competition, but it neatly splits the difference between the indistinguishable-from-standard styling of the Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion hybrids...
John Voelcker -
GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011 Nominee: Honda CR-Z
As we noted yesterday, we'll be giving one brand-new 2011 model the GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy Award in conjunction with the Los Angeles Auto Show next week. We'll summarize each of our five nominees, one per day, between now and then. We going down the roster by previewing each nominee...
John Voelcker -
GreenCarReports Best Car To Buy 2011 Nominee: Chevrolet Volt
As we noted yesterday, we'll be giving one brand-new 2011 model the GreenCarReports 2011 Best Car To Buy Award in conjunction with the Los Angeles Auto Show next week. We'll summarize each of our five nominees, one per day, between now and then. To avoid any bias, we're doing the list in strict...
John Voelcker -
GreenCarReports to Name "Best Car To Buy 2011"
You're probably wondering by now, "Oh, no, another 'car of the year' award?" Yep. And here's why. We write a lot about future vehicles at Green Car Reports, but we also know that many of our readers seek practical information about which cars both save gasoline and lessen their impact on our...
John Voelcker