Syndicate

To promote the fuel efficiency of its F-150 EcoBoost pickup, Ford's latest social media contest will pay dividends to both the winner and the residents of the winning city.

It may not be available in the northernmost of the 50 states, but the 2011 Chevrolet Volt is no stranger to Alaska. Last winter, a team of engineers from Chevrolet spent many weeks in the frigid north to see how well its range-extended plug-in hybrid would fare with the extreme cold and heavy...

It's widely accepted in the auto industry that all manufacturers game the test cycles used to establish emissions and gas-mileage ratings. Ask auto engineers about the topic, and they tend to get a faraway look and go silent. But the test cycles established in 1978 and used ever since are far from...

Ford has teamed up with SunPower on a program called "Drive Green For Life." It offers buyers of the Ford Focus Electric a discount on a rooftop solar system that provides up to 1,000 miles worth of charging per month.

The Mazda 2.0-liter Sky-D clean-diesel engine, when it makes its debut in a year or two, will almost certainly be the cleanest of the lot.

Volkswagen's TDI diesel engines have long attracted fans and repeat buyers. But now a second investigation this year into the reliability of its TDI engines may cast a shadow over its newest fuel-efficient clean-diesel vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week launched...

Driving is often a pain, particularly in dense, congested urban cores. Start and stop, brake suddenly, stay carefully in your lane, drive defensively, then park in tight spaces. What if the car could do all that for you? Last week, BMW showed off its new BMW i3 Concept, which points the way toward...

It's taken a very long time to get here, but the 2012 Ford Edge fitted with the Ecoboost 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine may be worth the wait. The website FordInsideNews reports that the Ecoboosted Edge will receive EPA gas-mileage ratings of 21 mpg city and 30 mpg highway, for a combined rating...

As Chevrolet very often point outs in marketing its 2011 Volt extended-range electric car, more than 70 percent of U.S. vehicles cover less than 40 miles a day. That means that if you recharge a Volt every night, and cover less than that distance daily, your car might never, ever need to switch on...

Ask Americans about fuel-efficient cars, and many will name the iconic Toyota Prius hybrid, with gas mileage rated by the EPA at a combined 50 miles per gallon. So you'd expect the EPA to rank the Prius as the best midsize car on its list of Most and Least Fuel Efficient Cars, right? It's not...

Last week, Toyota said it expects to sell 16,000 or more 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrid models in the U.S. next year, once the car is launched (in June or before). For all intents and purposes, it's a standard Toyota Prius hybrid with a larger battery pack that uses lithium-ion cells. The car can be...

An automotive trade association has resumed fear-based radio ads critical of the Obama administration's proposed fuel economy standards for 2017 - 2025.

If you've ever visited a museum or a manufacturing plant, you've probably heard a tour guide say something like this: "And if you laid all these bottles end-to-end, they'd stretch clear across the state of Kansas!" Through time and repetition, certain comparisons have become standardized, so that...

The all-new 2012 Scion iQ minicar starts at around $16k and earns an EPA-rated 36 mpg city, 37 highway, for a Combined figure of 37 mpg.

Unless you’ve been sleeping for the past year you’ll know that Toyota is bringing back the iconic RAV4 EV for the 2012 model year and contrary to past reports, will be available for private purchase. You probably also know that the 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV will be powered by a drivetrain...

If you thought the 40 mpg highway fuel economy rating of the 2011 Ford Fiesta SFE model was impressive, just wait until the reveal of the three-cylinder version, which is reportedly destined to land in the U.S. The car will come powered by a turbocharged 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine that should...

Ask most people to name a classic cop car and they’ll probably mention the iconic Ford Crown Victoria or perhaps the 1974 Dodge Monaco turned Bluesmobile in the classic film The Blues Brothers. We’ve even seen more unlikely cars like the Dodge Challenger and Lamborghini Gallardo take on...

If you’re a regular visitor to this site, you’ll know that we’ve said before that making a good electric car is hard, even for large automakers like Ford, Nissan, Toyota and Chevrolet. As for turning a production gasoline or diesel car into an electric one? It’s a whole...

Last December we told you that the His Holiness The Pope was keen on swapping his large gas-guzzling Mercedes SUV ‘popemobile’ for a suitable electric car. Now Vatican officials have confirmed the details of Pope Benedict XVI’s latest ride: a custom-made M-Class plug-in hybrid...

After several months of using a 2011 Chevy Volt and a 2011 Nissan Leaf as our sole family transport, we have a better understanding of both cars than we did in March, when I first wrote about how they compared. First to arrive at our West Sacramento home was a beautiful crystal red 2011 Volt. We...