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The Five 2010 Green Car of the Year Finalists

October 12, 2009 in Hybrids, MPG, diesel by kristen | No comments

Green Car Journal has released the names of the five cars that made its short list for 2010 Green Car of the Year. The winner will be announced at the L.A. Auto Show in early December.

Without further ado, here are the nominees:

  • Audi A3 TDI (clean diesel)
  • Honda Insight (hybrid)
  • Mercury Milan Hybrid
  • Toyota Prius (hybrid)
  • Volkswagen Golf TDI (hybrid)

I’ve driven the Honda Insight and VW Jetta TDI (not the new-to-the-U.S. Golf), and reviewed them for Good Green Cars. The Mercury Milan Hybrid is a sister car to the Ford Fusion Hybrid, which I’m testing this week and will write up in a day or two.

What do you think, GoodGreenCars.com readers? Which one would get your vote? Or would you vote for a different car entirely? Leave your nominees in the comments.

Photo by Kristen Hall-Geisler.

L.A. Auto Show Green Car Round-Up

December 3, 2008 in Consumer News, EVs, Hybrids, MPG, diesel by kristen | No comments

The Los Angeles Auto Show just came to a close, and not surprisingly, manufacturers brought a lot of green cars to the event. There were high-mpg gasoline cars, electric cars, clean diesels, and more. (Ferrari and Bentley also brought expensive gas guzzlers, but I’m willing to bet the market for those is pretty small.)

Here, then, is the Good Green Cars round-up of the enviro-friendly autos that were at the L.A. Auto Show.

  • Ford hybrids: Ford brought the all new 2010 Fusion hybrid and 2010 Mercury Milan hybrid to L.A. The cars are nearly identical but for a few styling cues and trim levels, and they share the new lighter hybrid system found in the current Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner SUVs. The cars can go 47 mph on electric power only, according to Ford.
  • Hyundai Blue Drive: This isn’t a new engine technology; rather, it’s Hyundai’s strategy to reach a fleet average of 35 mpg by 2015. It includes the 2010 Sonata hybrid, high-mileage “Blue” versions of the 2009 Accent and Elantra, and a future crossover with a gasoline direct-injection engine.
  • Lexus hybrid SUV: The 2010 Lexus RX 450h gets its first update since its introduction, with more horsepower and better exhaust-heat recovery. It also gets its own distinctive grille. No further word yet on whether Lexus could be Toyota’s all-hybrid brand in the future.
  • Mini EV: The Mini E plug-in electric vehicle made its official debut in L.A. Only a handful will be available anytime soon, and those will be tested by private and corporate customers in California, New York, and New Jersey. The Mini E can go 150 miles on a charge, with a top speed of 95 mph.
  • Volkswagen diesels: VW expands its clean-diesel TDI technology to the latest Touareg SUV, which means it passes California’s stringent emissions laws. The EPA rates it at 25 mpg, and it will be available in all 50 states. This is the same technology that earned the Jetta TDI the “Green Car of the Year” award at the show.

Prius Owners Get a Break on Batteries

September 30, 2008 in Consumer News, Hybrids by kristen | No comments

This post is short, but important for anyone who’s got a Prius that they love: Toyota announced last week that it has dropped the price of replacement batteries for its popular hybrid sedan by 10%.

Replacements for the first-generation Prius, built from 2000-2003, can be replaced for $2,229, while second-generation Priuses built from 2004-2008 can get fresh power for $2,588. This, according to Automotive News, will benefit drivers who’ve passed the 10-year/150,000-mile or 8-year/100,000-mile warranty period.

This is good news for folks who like to hang onto a car and drive it into the ground. When the Prius first became available, the longevity of its battery packs was a source of concern. This has turned out to be less of a problem than anyone anticipated, and as time has gone on, prices of nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries have come down.

Honda’s Insight Returns to Fight Prius

September 4, 2008 in Biz News, Consumer News, Future Cars, Hybrids by kristen | 1 comment

Honda Insight ConceptHonda has been promising to unveil its new hybrid all week, and today, they’ve done it: the company is resurrecting its original hybrid, the Insight, which died a small death only two years ago. The new version will be a five-door, five-passenger hatchback like the Prius, with a similar starting price in the low $20,000s.

The new car looks more like a Civic or hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity and less like the old Insight, with its covered rear wheels and flat Kamm tail. Though the original only sold 17,000 units between 1999 and 2006, it was the first car to break the 70 mpg barrier. Honda expects the new Insight to sell much better, to the tune of 200,000 cars worldwide, half of which will end up in American driveways. The concept will debut at the Paris auto show, October 4-19, 2008, and be available in U.S. showrooms by April 2009.

Honda already has a hybrid version of the Civic, but the Insight will be smaller and lighter. The company also has plans to add a hybrid Fit to the lineup sometime in the future, along with a sporty hybrid based on the CR-Z.

Japanese Hybrids on the March

August 18, 2008 in Consumer News, Future Cars, Hybrids by kristen | No comments

Inifiti Hybrid Prototype

Three of Japan’s largest car manufacturers have all made announcements recently about their future hybrid plans. Here’s a quick recap, in order of each hybrid’s expected release date:

April 2009 — Honda’s Hybrid

Honda’s Prius-fighting five-door hybrid-only model will see showroom floors next April, according to the company’s American executive VP Dick Colliver. He also said the new hybrid, which doesn’t have an official name yet, will be cheaper than the Prius. Honda plans to build 200,000 of the car globally, with about half of them to be sold in the U.S.

Sometime in 2010 — Nissan’s Hybrid

The first car to carry Nissan’s in-house hybrid technology (its previous hybrids used a system leased from Toyota) will be badged as an upscale Inifiti. The new hybrid features a lithium-ion battery and a V6 engine, but Nissan engineers say there are still some kinks to be worked out before the car hits the streets, notably a lag when the gasoline engine kicked in.

By 2020 — Toyota’s Full Line of Hybrids

The manager of Toyota’s advance powertrain program said at a seminar recently that the company plans to have hybrids in each of its product lines at the end of the next decade. He added that the 1 million hybrid Toyotas sold so far have saved 7 million tons of carbon monoxide emissions, and that the company wants to continue to develop cleaner powertrains. Toyota’s also working to develop hydrogen fuel cell technology to complement its domination in the hybrid market.