Environmental Protection Agency
Secondhand Gems: Frugal Fun
If your home garage rests somewhere in the United States, your local fill-em-up joint is probably north of $3.00 per gallon for the basic stuff, never mind premium. Yes, fuel prices overseas are generally much higher, but at least the foreign shores are home to neat oil burners that can nip 60 miles per gallon. Granted they’re quite slow, but as we’ve proven time and again in these digital pages, outright speed isn’t necessarily required for a rip snorting good time. And if fuel prices hit the feared $4.00-per-gallon mark, trading a modest 0-60 time for a pocket full of dead presidents will be a welcome deal for many motorists.
Ask It: 2011 Hyundai Elantra
Today, we received a 2011 Hyundai Elantra Limited in Indigo Blue Pearl. The roomy little guy is powered by a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine making 148 horsepower and 131 pound-feet of torque. It’s equipped with a six-speed automatic transmission. Its EPA rating is an impressive 29/40 miles per gallon (city/highway).
First Look: 2012 Honda Civic
Honda has unveiled the production versions of the new Civic lineup, and it offers more economy, more power, and more options.
First Look: 2011 Porsche Panamera S Hybrid
Today, Porsche released details and some images about the newest and most efficient addition to its hybrid lineup, the 2011 Porsche Panamera S Hybrid.
First Look: 2012 Buick Regal eAssist
Buick is showing its 2012 Regal with its new “light electrification” (read: mild-hybrid) system called eAssist. The Buick Regal eAssist uses a lithium-ion battery pack, electric motor-generator, and regenerative braking to help the car’s directly injected 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine. It is also equipped with a start-stop function to quietly shut down the engine instead of letting it idle, and smoothly restarting when it is time to move again.
Detroit 2011: Toyota Prius C Concept Shows Another Direction For Hybrid Family
Today, besides introducing the newest member of the Prius family, The 2012 Prius V, Toyota showed the smaller Prius C Concept.
Lexus Prices CT200h Below $30K
In our freshly baked issue of Winding Road, we reviewed the Lexus’ newest offering, a sporty little hatchback hybrid called the 2011 CT200h. At the time of publishing, we didn’t have exact pricing for the car. Now we do.
Honda Announces Pricing, New Entry Model For 2011 Insight
The 2011 Honda Insight will be more affordable, with a new entry model, simply called “Insight” (no trim designation) starting at $18,200.
Blog: Regulating Automotive Emissions
As I outlined in last month’s Greenformance column, the EPA is preparing a proposal to further define emissions standards for cars and light trucks through the year 2025. Depending on the scenario chosen, this will regulate vehicles to achieve between 47 miles per gallon (low greenhouse gas reduction) and 62 mpg (high greenhouse gas reduction) by the quarter century mark. This is a substantial change from the 2016 regulations, with its mid-30’s mpg numbers.
Driven: 2011 BMW X5
For those wanting sporty vehicles with utility, BMW offers traditional wagons, a comprehensive range of X-type SUVs, and now the 5-Series GT crossover. So many choices likely meant many demands for BMW’s internal engineering teams. While an assumption on our part, it’s not a stretch to surmise that when time came for the current X5 to get a refresh, only the essentials were taken care of and not much else.
Driven: 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty
When we were invited to drive the 2011 Ford Super Duty pickup, we suspected it would be somewhat impressive. Its little brother, the F-150 has never let us down, and after our recent week with the SVT Raptor, we knew that Ford had some good things on its horizon. What we found with the updated work truck, besides a nice evolution of past Fords, was a notable level of refinement in a vehicle that feels like it can do it all.
Driven: 2010 Subaru Legacy 2.5GT
For a company as small and idiosyncratic as Subaru, launching a wholly new contender for the high stakes midsize market is a really big deal. The automaker is rightly aware that its 2010 Legacy won’t be overtaking the sales numbers of stalwarts Accord or Camry any time soon, but Subaru has high hopes and broad targets for the all-new sedan, nevertheless. The stated goal for the Legacy is to become the, “Driver’s car of the midsize segment.” Consider us intrigued.
Driven: 2010 Chevrolet Equinox
General Motors, among financial turmoil and brand sell-offs, has decided to use its most well known brand to usher in the new generation of GM. The vehicle it chose to do it with, however is a crossover: the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox. Why? Because the company is confident that it will sell. The redesigned, reengineered Equinox, in the mind of the company, is the perfect package of comfort, safety, utility, and, most importantly, value.
Blog: Getting Environmental Policy Right
’ve said that the domestic automakers will emerge from their recent financial difficulties in better shape than in recent memory. My point in that blog was that the so-called bailout of the Detroit Three is the news, but it isn’t the key issue. The Detroit Three will restructure and emerge in decent shape.
I’ve also said we should care about what happens after that point. That’s because if there’s one lesson from the problems of the automakers it should be that apparently simple decisions often have lasting negative consequences. What we are deciding now are the policies for 7-20 years from now regarding fuel usage.
First Look: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueTEC
They may not all be featured attractions at the New York Auto Show, but Mercedes-Benz has been splashing new models out nearly faster than we can keep track of them over the last few days. This morning’s S-Class orgy followed the E63 AMG announcement this weekend, and now the E250 BlueTEC has rolled out onto the Javits Center floor. While the M-B power machines mentioned above are certainly tempting fare, but consider us early proponents of the new diesel. We’ve always been BlueTEC fans, and this one sounds like a doozy.
Driven: 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, Decisions Decisions…
The obvious comparisons surrounding the all-new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro pit the reconstituted pony car against the Mustang and Challenger. Well duh. We submit, however, that the obvious overlooks something right before your eyes; a Camaro versus Camaro face off.
Driven: 2009 Volkswagen Routan
Badge engineering. This is the common practice in the automotive industry of taking a vehicle designed for one brand, and tweaking to work for another. But is this a good thing or a bad thing? We all know examples of the Chevy that is also a Pontiac or a Ford that is also a Mercury with little but trim differences. That cynical approach to marketing has led to a tarnished reputation for badge-engineering, among the pundits at least. The term even sounds pejorative.
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