Hatchbacks

Sometimes you have to ask, What were they thinking? A recent article on five small cars with the worst gas mileage named four for which gas mileage may not even cross the minds of their buyers. But it did remind us that the 2012 Toyota Matrix has pretty low fuel economy for a compact hatchback. In...

The 2012 Ford Focus Electric is the company's first-ever production battery-electric vehicle, and that alone makes it noteworthy. But the fact that it's also pleasant to drive--somewhat on the fun side of unremarkable--means that it's the first compact all-electric competitor to the Nissan Leaf...

Amidst the unveilings and concept cars of the New York Auto Show, carmakers also make other announcements. From General Motors, we learned today that the 2013 Chevrolet Spark minicar will carry a base price of $12,995 including destination. All Sparks are fitted with a 1.2-liter four-cylinder...

In the world of plug-in cars, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt may get all the attention, but a new arrival will make it very much a three-car race. The 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid is just now arriving at Toyota dealers in California plus a dozen or so other states. While it may look just like a...

Yesterday, Hyundai threw one of the better-attended press events at the Chicago Auto Show, launching two new models to expand its successful Elantra compact lineup. We've already shown you live photos of the 2013 Elantra Coupe and 2013 Elantra GT five-door hatchback, shot as the cars were revealed...

The 2012 Toyota Prius C may be the most surprising entry in the expanding Prius range. It's smaller, less unusually styled, and about $5,000 less expensive than the standard Prius liftback. And it's more fun to drive (relatively) than its larger siblings. It also gets real-world gas mileage of 50...

It was quite small and very, very red. This weekend's test car, a 2012 Toyota Yaris LE three-door liftback, attracted far more attention than we expected. Pedestrians and other drivers turned their heads. Even our New York City garage attendant mumbled, unprompted, "Muy bonita, muy, muy bonita!" as...

Toyota officially launched the 2012 Prius C compact hybrid hatchback at the Detroit Auto Show. The new car adds a fourth member to the expanding family of Prius hybrid vehicles and takes the base price for a Toyota hybrid below $20,000 for the first time. While the car is considerably smaller than...

Less than three weeks hence, the 2012 Toyota Prius C--the first compact hybrid hatchback from Toyota's expanding Prius line--will be officially introduced for the U.S. market at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. It was first unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show early this month, under the model name Aqua...

Ding, dong, the Caliber's dead. That news will probably come neither as a surprise nor much of a shame to many of you, as Dodge's baby hatchback hasn't exactly set the market on fire and has been representative of a time before American carmakers cared about making competitive compacts. Detroit...

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...

It's the smallest car ever sold as a Chevrolet. It's already a huge hit in India (where it's fitted with a tiny 0.9-liter three-cylinder turbodiesel). And now it's coming to the U.S. At this week's Los Angeles Auto Show media days, the 2013 Chevrolet Spark minicar shared the stage with a Chevrolet...

Earlier today, Toyota released the first images of its 2012 Prius C compact hybrid hatchback that will arrive at U.S. dealers next year. The 2012 Toyota Prius C will be the fourth member of the growing Prius family, joining the classic Prius five-door hatchback, the 2012 Prius V wagon, and the 2012...

Toyota is doubling down on its best-known model for gas mileage, the Prius hybrid. It's already added two models to sit beside the 2012 Prius five-door hatchback, and now, the last new addition to the Prius lineup has been revealed. The 2012 Toyota Prius C, the first compact Prius since the...

While it may come from the same company as the Hyundai Elantra, our 2011 Kia Forte hatchback weekend test car is nothing like that curvaceous, fuel-efficient compact. Instead, the Forte is aiming for a kind of European performance niche--closer to a Volkswagen Golf or Jetta than the Toyota Corolla...

The 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth model to be launched in November at the 2011 LA Auto Show will be the fastest, best-handling model yet in the growing Fiat 500 minicar line.

Although the Honda Insight was eagerly awaited before it launched as a 2010 model, the little hybrid hatchback has never come remotely close to its sales goals. But the company isn't giving up, and the new 2012 Honda Insight features revised front styling, a nicer interior, and improved gas mileage...

Subaru is known for its no-nonsense, durable, all-wheel drive Forester and Outback crossover utility vehicles. What U.S. buyers don't seem to know is that the company also makes compact sedans and hatchbacks. For 2012, Subaru has restyled its Impreza compact, increasing interior space while keeping...

"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...

General Motors has just officially, finally confirmed news that this site has previously reported: The 2013 Chevrolet Spark minicar will be launched in the first half of next year An all-electric Spark EV model will be offered in selected regions of the U.S. and other markets New front-end styling...