Hatchbacks

Pricing for the 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car, eagerly awaited for many months, has now been set for both Japanese and U.S. markets.

A week before the New York Auto Show begins its media previews, Lexus has released more details on its CT 200h premium compact hybrid, which it says will go on sale in the U.S. in early 2011. Widespread reports (which we joined, unfortunately) had previously quoted a spokesman as saying Lexus had...

Well, when we get it wrong, we really get it wrong. Just yesterday, when we reviewed the new green production cars from the Geneva Motor Show, we said the new 2011 Lexus CT 200h compact hatchback hybrid would be restricted to Europe. Not so. This morning, Lexus dropped a press release saying the...

Much has been written about U.S. car buyers' aversion to hatchbacks, with many citing the relative sales of the Volkswagen Jetta four-door sedan over its five-door Golf counterpart. It appears Lexus has taken that attitude to heart. At next month's Geneva Motor Show, it will launch a new, dedicated...

Well, here's some good news: We have less than a year to wait before the neat little Fiat 500 hatchback goes on sale at selected Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealers. When it arrives, it'll be Chrysler's greenest car by a pretty big margin. EPA fuel efficiency ratings haven't yet been issued for the...

By Tim Healey Toyota's Yaris sometimes gets lost in the small-car shuffle, losing press to the Honda Fit, the Nissan Versa, and Toyota's own (admittedly larger) Corolla. The little subcompact quietly soldiers on with minimal changes for 2010. The biggest news is the addition of standard traction...

We've always been big fans of the Honda Fit subcompact hatchback, with fuel economy ratings of 28 mpg city, 35 mpg highway for the five-speed manual model. In its review of the newest 2010 Honda Fit, our sister site TheCarConnection lauded the Fit for: City-friendly steering and maneuverability...

We're back home from the mind-numbing madness of the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, unpacking, sorting press kits (well, these days they're just USB drives), and trying to work out what we thought of it all. This year, there's no question about the best green car there: It was the 2011 Ford Focus compact...

The current 2010 Chevrolet Aveo sedan and hatchback, the Korean-built subcompacts that are GM's contenders in that growing segment, are no longer competitive against upcoming entries like the 2011 Ford Fiesta, rated at 30 mpg city, 40 mpg highway. But that will change when a brand-new and entirely...

As luxury automakers focus more on how to extend their brand into smaller packages that maintain the prestige and performance of their larger models, Audi has a few advantages. Its new 2011 Audi A1 subcompact hatchback can draw on the full experience of its parent, Volkswagen Group, while selling...

We've covered the 2013 Chevrolet Spark a couple of times before, but now there's a drive report of the European version, courtesy of Motor Trend. We're not entirely sure we agree with their conclusion, though. Granted, the Spark is the smallest Chevy ever. But Motor Trend winds up its road test...

Prices for the eagerly awaited 2011 Ford Fiesta will start at $13,995 for the four-door sedan, but prices for the new subcompact will go as high as $23,000 for top-line model when it goes on sale next summer. The base sedan with a five-speed manual gearbox carries a sticker price of $13,320, plus...

Sometimes the most interesting cars at auto shows are the ones the manufacturers don't talk about. As expected, Mazda unveiled its new 2011 Mazda2 subcompact at the Los Angeles Auto Show yesterday. The company also showed a couple of concept versions, including one called "Mazda 2Evil" that we...

We previewed the upcoming 2011 Mazda2 subcompact a couple of months ago, but now we have more details, along with photos of its updated styling. The five-door hatchback will be officially unveiled in early December, at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The 2011 Mazda Mazda2 will go on sale in the U.S. and...

We seem to be covering the 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI clean diesel hatchback an awful lot here, but a recent blog post raised an issue we hadn't considered: How far can the 2010 Golf TDI go on a single tankful of diesel fuel? The question comes from blogger, host of #carchat on Twitter, and general...

Between car loans, trade-ins, and special promotional incentives, most people rarely write a large check for their new car purchase. But what you can get for $10,000? What's the absolutely simplest, least expensive car on the U.S. market today? Actually, there are two: the 2009 Hyundai Accent and...

The five finalists for the 2010 Green Car of the Year Award include three hybrid models--two Japanese hatchbacks and one U.S. sedan--and a pair of German clean-diesel cars. The nominations were announced today by Green Car Journal, which has presented the award at the Los Angeles Auto Show for five...

While the 2010 Honda Insight is the company's big hybrid news for this year, it's far from the only new hybrid headed to us from Honda. As we've noted before, Honda will launch two more hybrids in 2010 as 2011 models. Now, Honda has released photos of its "CR-Z Concept 2009" show car, to be...

Mazda will launch its global subcompact, the Mazda2 five-door hatchback, in the US market roughly a year from now. Its first appearance in North America will be at December's 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show. Price is likely to be around $16,000. It is based on the same platform as the eagerly awaited...

"Electric vehicles of today are less costly than in 1990s, but if you compare them with the other vehicles out there they are still too expensive." Those were the words of Toyota Executive Vice President, Takeshi Uchiyamada, at the Frankfurt Motor Show which opened to the press today. "Unless there...