Antony Ingram, Contributing Writer
Articles
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It's only a few more months before Ford's first plug-in hybrid car hits the market, in the shape of the 2013 Ford C-Max Energi.
The C-Max Energi is just part of a five-pronged attack on the hybrid...
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2013 Audi Q7 TDI SUV Gets All-New, More Powerful DieselDiesel engines make a lot of sense in SUVs, mitigating the gas-guzzling effects of big, heavy bodies, poor aerodynamics and large engines. The Audi Q7 TDI is a good example of this, and Audi has made further improvements for the 2013 model year car, touting 12 percent better efficiency. Audi is...
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2013 Lexus GS 450h: MPG, MPH And... BPM? (Video)Hybrids are great. Economical, clean, soothing, relaxing, quiet, thrilling... Okay, perhaps not the last one, as thrills are conspicuously absent from many hybrids on the market today. However, some carmakers are changing that image with powerful and luxurious models--and Lexus is one of those...
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2013 Toyota Sienna To Drop Four-Cylinder ModelNormally, a manufacturer announcing that it will drop a four cylinder model in favor of a six-cylinder variant would lead to wailing and gnashing of teeth, to those of a green disposition. With the 2013 Toyota Sienna minivan however, it's no big deal losing the unpopular 2.7-liter four-cylinder, as...
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2012 Mitsubishi i Electric Car Owners Speak Up: Pros And ConsThere might not be many on U.S. roads--less than a thousand in total--but Mitsubishi's 'i' electric car is one of the few all-electric cars on sale at the moment, and has a small, dedicated band of owners only too happy to sing its praises. Someone has to, that's for sure, as reviews for the little...
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Next-Gen, 3-Cyl MINI Hatchback To Debut At 2013 Frankfurt Show?You only need to take a look at the current MINI range--with its hatchbacks, convertibles, coupes, roadsters, crossovers and more--to see that it's quite a challenge designing a range of cars based on a small, 1959 minicar. It's sure to make the job of updating the MINI quite a challenge--and one...
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It's not for no reason that electric cars are more expensive to buy than their fossil-fueled counterparts.
If you wanted to point the finger of blame squarely at one thing, you'd likely be pointing...
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Ethanol In Your Gasoline Tank: The Pros And ConsWith flex-fuel cars that can run on E85 ethanol still a minority of the vehicles on sale, you might think ethanol isn't as important as some other future fuels. But up to 10 percent of every gallon of gasoline you buy today is ethanol, and that proportion may rise to as much as 15 percent if gas...
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Midwest And Mountain Group To Work Toward Natural-Gas CarsThere may only be a handful of natural gas vehicles on sale, but representatives from Colorado and Oklahoma want that to change. A meeting between politicians from each state and representatives from the automakers in Detroit will meet on Monday to discuss ways in which demand for natural gas...
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Gas Stations, Quick Charging Stations: A Match Made In Heaven?Hawaii is already a pretty good place to drive an electric car, and not just so you can enjoy the beautiful scenery in electric-powered silence. Islands are ideal places to own electric cars, where distances are shorter and gas prices are higher. And Oahu is set to become even better, as...
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2013 Lexus ES 300h Pricing And Details AnnouncedLexus has announced pricing details for its all-new ES 300h hybrid luxury sedan. Joining the non-hybrid ES 350, the ES 300h will have a MSRP of $38,850, plus a delivery, processing and handling fee of $895. With a 2.5-liter, Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder engine, the ES 300h develops a combined 200...
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2013 Nissan Versa Hatchback Previewed By New Nissan NoteNissan announced today the next generation of its global subcompact, the Note, due to go on sale in Japan this September and Europe in 2013. Nissan North America has now followed that news by announcing that the next Versa hatchback will use the same platform, and echo many of the Note's styling...
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While Europe has received diesel BMWs in four and six-cylinder guise for decades, U.S. buyers have only been allowed a small selection--which shrunk further when BMW discontinued the 2011 335d.
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E15 Ethanol Gasoline Arrives...At One Station In KansasIf ever there was a suitable place to sell stronger blends of ethanol in gasoline, it's the midwest. With vast supplies of common crops like corn, the midwestern states are ideal for ethanol production and sales. And kicking off that trend is one lone gas station in Kansas, the first to sell E15...
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Urgent: Save This Old, Ground-Breaking Hybrid Car!It's another Monday morning, and there's nothing like a positive start to the week. Unfortunately, this is nothing like a positive start to the week. In fact, when we started reading a thread on U.K. car enthusiast forum Retro Rides, it made us rather angry. If you read our piece last year on a...
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Chevy Volt? Old News! CleanAir Electric Car Did It 20 Years AgoWhat car can be charged up via a plug, then offers an all-electric range of around 40 miles, before a range-extending generator kicks in to supply power and top up the batteries? If you answered "Chevrolet Volt", then you'd be correct--but the Volt certainly isn't the first car to tout these...
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2012 Tesla Model S: Is Aluminum Its Secret Weapon?Colin Chapman is remembered for many things in the automotive world, but if there's one thing auto journalists have to thank him for, it's an endless stream of column inches dedicated to the weight of cars. All the calls for lighter vehicles aren't based solely on theory, but a back-catalog of...
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Mitsubishi's First Hybrid Is...An Infiniti? Yes, In JapanThe easiest way to make a car is to get someone else to make it for you. That's the ethos Mitsubishi is subscribing to anyway, as it announces the Dignity, a luxury hybrid sedan for its home Japanese market. Rather than designing a luxury hybrid sedan from scratch, the Dignity is actually based on...
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While electric-only automaker Tesla pushes ahead with its Model S sedan, the upcoming Model X crossover and others on the horizon, other electric automakers are taking a more cautious approach with...
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2013 Chevrolet Spark: Small Car, Big Spec For U.S. BuyersIt may only be small, but Chevrolet is packing its 2013 Spark with plenty of equipment in an effort to target urban millennial buyers. Already sold in 100 countries worldwide, U.S. customers will be able to buy the Spark later this year. GM has tailored several of the car's specifications to the...
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New Battery Coolant Helps Electric Cars Handle Heat BetterBattery cooling is an area of contension in electric cars. Some, like Nissan, avoid using a coolant fluid with the batteries on the Leaf, as it reduces costs. Others, like Tesla, use cooling and thermal management to ensure the pack stays in its optimum operating range--beneficial for performance...
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Five Small Cars That Should Get Better Gas MileageSometimes, the search for greener cars might lead you down the path to smaller cars. After all, with less weight to carry, smaller engines and usually fewer power-sapping accessories, small cars should be the gas-mileage champs. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. We've rounded up five small...
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If You Don't Really Love Your New Chevy Sonic Or Cruze, Just Give It BackWe've all, at some stage, bought something we've ended up regretting. Whether an item of clothing you never really wear or a piece of technology that ended up being useless, it's frustrating to know you could have spent the money somewhere else. Buyers of new 2012 and 2013 model year Chevrolets...
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Diesel Cars: Should You Buy One? The Pros And ConsLast week, we looked at the pros and cons of buying and running a hybrid vehicle. We concluded that, provided you didn't mind paying a little more on the purchase price, that their smooth driving characteristics and great gas mileage makes them hard to beat for green-minded buyers. Now it's the...
Antony Ingram