Hybrids

  • 2007 Toyota Prius Touring Edition

    There's nothing the media love more than a nice juicy auto problem. Imagine that your car's headlamps failed, and replacing them cost you THOUSANDS. OF. DOLLARS  !!! Well, that's the premise of a late June story in AdAge, which discussed a potential problem with the optional xenon high-intensity discharge (HID) headlights fitted to the second-generation Toyota Prius in model years 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received hundreds of complaints from Prius owners about HID lamp failures and, according to the story, opened a preliminary...

  • 2010 Toyota Prius production line, Tsutsumi factory, courtesy of Just-Auto.com
    2010 Toyota Prius Shortages Ahead Due To Global Demand?

    Last summer, with $4/gallon gasoline, you couldn't find a Toyota Prius on dealer lots anywhere. Early this year, in the depths of the economic doldrums, US dealers could hardly give away the high-mileage hybrids. Now, once again, the Tsutsumi factory in Japan is cranking out hybrids as fast as it...

  • 2007 Honda CR-Z Concept
    Honda's Next Two Hybrids Coming Next Year

    While the 2010 Honda Insight has gotten a lot of attention lately, it's far from Honda's only hybrid. Now the company has announced that it will put two more hybrid-electric vehicles on sale in Japan next year: the 2011 Honda CR-Z and the 2011 Honda Fit Hybrid. Honda had previously announced both...

  • 2010 Honda Insight - front three-quarter
    Drive Report: 2010 Honda Insight

    The 2010 Honda Insight was eagerly awaited before its launch, but reviews have been mixed. Some laud it for overachieving on the fuel economy front, while others (most notably the influential Consumer Reports) have slammed it. Our half-hour drive in a new Insight left us with mixed impressions. But...

  • Bliss Trek eco-driving application for Apple iPhone 3G or 3g S
    Driving Green Becomes a Game, Now On Your iPhone

    Even if you're not in a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, you too can grow green leaves on your dash display when you save fuel by driving with a light foot. Except in this case, the leaves appear on your iPhone 3G or 3G S, courtesy of Bliss Trek. It's the first eco-driving app for Apple's cult favorite...

  • 2009 Fisker Karma
    Fisker Stays On Schedule; Plug-In Hybrid Deliveries Start Next May

    When you think of startup companies planning to build luxury sedans with advanced electric powertrains, one name springs instantly to mind: Tesla Motors. Among the executive battles, government loans, and launch hoopla around the electric 2012 Tesla Model S sports sedan, the company gets rafts of...

  • 2010 Toyota Prius

    Reading the reams of coverage pouring out on the 2010 Toyota Prius, we realized we hadn't covered one new feature that corrects an irritating problem with its predecessor, the 2004-2009 Prius hybrid. That was the earlier car's fuel "bladder" gas tank, a flexible membrane that expanded and contracted as the volume of gasoline changed. It was contained inside a metal shell for rigidity and protection from road hazards, so many owners never knew it was there. The new 2010 Prius uses a conventional, rigid tank, albeit one made of lightweight reinforced resin rather than steel. The notion behind...

  • 2010 Lexus HS250h - front side
    2010 Lexus HS250h: Your Reference Guide

    As we've said before, we cover the 2010 Lexus HS250h hybrid sedan more than any other car on this site--except, of course, the new 2010 Toyota Prius. We've now put up our review of the Lexus HS over on GreenCarReports.com, but we wanted to bring together for our AllAboutPrius.com users everything...

  • 2010 Lexus HS250h - front side
    Review: 2010 Lexus HS250h

    When we first drove the 2010 Lexus HS250h, we were puzzled by it. Neither fish nor fowl, it seemed an uneasy marriage of Lexus lines and luxury with a Toyota Prius-like dedicated hybrid shape and powertrain. We've just spent a four-day weekend with a glossy black 2010 HS250h, the Premium model with...

  • 2010 Toyota Prius with 2009 model--can you spot the differences?
    2009 Toyota Prius: Preparing to Say 'Goodbye'

    Let us pay tribute to the car that defined not only defined 'hybrid' but paved Toyota's path toward world domination

  • 2010 Toyota Prius
    June's Most Popular Posts: 2010 Toyota Prius Reference Guide Rocks

    June is about to exit, so once again it's time for the five most popular posts for the month on AllAboutPrius.com. # 1: 30 Days of the 2010 Toyota Prius: Your Reference Guide. Hanging onto its perennial top ranking, this one remains by far our most popular content page. We meant it to offer an easy...

  • 2010 Toyota Prius
    The Truth About Cars Reconsiders: 2010 Toyota Prius Is Fantastic

    Three weeks ago, when Jay Shoemaker from The Truth About Cars reviewed the 2010 Toyota Prius, he didn't hold back. He hated it. Loathed it. Despised it. He didn't like the car, its looks, the driving experience, the interior, or the instruments. We poked some fun at him, and at the cranky...

  • 2010 Lincoln MKS with EcoBoost

    On Tuesday, we covered the news that Ford, Nissan, and Tesla had been granted a total of $8 billion in low-interest loans by the US Department of Energy to retool for advanced automotive technologies. With a few days under our belt, we've considered the story and have a few questions for you to watch and consider. (1) What's the balance between better gasoline engines and hybrid or electric cars? Hybrids and electric cars get more than their share of press, considering that even three or four years hence, global production will just have crossed into six figures. But vastly more efficient...

  • 2010 Lexus HS250h - front side
    First Drive Impressions: 2010 Lexus HS250h

    We've devoted more space on AllAboutPrius.com to the 2010 Lexus HS250h hybrid than to most other cars. That's because it can be considered a half-brother to the 2010 Toyota Prius: A fancier, pricier, more powerful sedan sibling to the practical, plain-Jane Prius. Lexus still hasn't released pricing...

  • 2010 Lexus HS250h - front side
    Drive Report: 2010 Lexus HS250h

    Setting aside our questions about whether the 2010 Lexus HS250h can create a new "luxury hybrid" niche, we spent much of Wednesday driving two of them through the rolling suburban hills of Westchester County, New York. Overall, we think the HS is a bit of a puzzlement, neither fish nor fowl. We're...

  • Twitter feed integrated into AllAboutPrius.com
    Our Latest Feature: Live Tweets About Toyota Prius

    As if life couldn't get any more digital and fragmentary, you may have heard about Twitter: short messages you can broadcast to a list of friends, each one no more than 140 characters long. The service has been in the news lately as one tool used by Iranians protesting election irregularities, but...

  • 2010 Lexus HS 250h
    2010 Lexus HS250h: Right For Our Times Or Not?

    We've just returned from driving the 2010 Lexus HS250h through the manicured suburbs of New York's Westchester County. We'll post our full impressions tomorrow, following up the first drive of the Lexus HS by our colleague Bengt Halvorson. But at the end of the day, we're left just slightly...

  • 2010 Toyota Prius hearse by Leqios
    A Toyota Prius To Die For: The High-Mileage Hybrid Hearse

    Sometimes all we can say is that it's a privilege to write for AllAboutPrius.com. It's just never, ever dull around here. Today, for your delight, we bring you the world's highest-mileage hearse, which also happens to have the lowest carbon footprint of any casket-transport device short of the...

  • Ford Motor Company's EcoBoost V-6 engine, 3.5-liters

    US Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the first three loans to be granted under the government's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. The lucky winners, totaling $8 billion worth of low-interest loans from the US Department of Energy: Ford, Nissan, and Tesla. FORD Amount: $5.9 billion Work Funded: Retooling of manufacturing facilities in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio through 2011, including conversion of two truck plants to assemble automobiles. Vehicles: 13 separate models with electric, hybrid, or improved conventional powertrains, including its...

  • 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid
    California HOV-Lane Stickers For Hybrids: Worth $1,200 To $1,500

    Imagine a special sticker that let you use those high-occupancy vehicle lanes, zipping past stop-and-go rush hour traffic, blissfully alone in your car. If you live in California and were one of 85,000 lucky hybrid owners, you know exactly what I'm talking about. In 2005, California decided to open...

  • 2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid
    2010 Toyota Camry Hybrid: Nipped And Tucked

    Until this spring, the Toyota Camry Hybrid was the only mass-market, four-door full hybrid sedan sold in the US. Then Ford introduced the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, and reporters have been comparing the two ever since. Perhaps to keep up with a newer, younger, hotter rival, the 2010 Toyota Camry...

  • 2010 Toyota Prius
    NY Times Blogger Likes New 2010 Toyota Prius (With Video!)

    Continuing our sporadic series on other writers' reviews of the 2010 Toyota Prius, today we move to the hallowed grey pages of The New York Times. Yesterday, reporter and blogger Micheline Maynard wrote a detailed post on her impressions of the new 2010 Prius compared to her current 2009 model...

  • 2007 Porsche Cayenne Hybrid Concept
    2011 Porsche Cayenne Hybrid At Dealers Late Next Year

    Hell is freezing over pretty frequently these days, it seems. Porsche, once the pinnacle of piston-engined power, will launch its first hybrid late next year. The 2011 Porsche Cayenne Hybrid sport-utility will get gas mileage of at least 26 miles per gallon (less than 9 litres per 100 km)...

  • 2010 Toyota Prius
    2010 Toyota Prius vs. 2010 Honda Insight: Running The Numbers

    If you've been comparing the new 2010 Toyota Prius to the smaller, less expensive 2010 Honda Insight, Toyota would like to have a little chat with you. They think that you think you'll save money buying the cheaper Insight. So, licking the corporate pencil and pulling out the compact calculator...

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