Road Test: 2014 Cadillac ELR
The 2014 Cadillac ELR is the real deal when it comes to luxury and will set you apart from the crowd, even though Cadillac is trying too hard with some features to make it cutting edge.
Top 10 MPG Best-Sellers of 2014 (January-June)
Overall, 2014 has been a good one for the automotive market and generally the alternatives – diesels, plug-in hybrids and pure electric cars – have been outpacing the market. The big question mark is the hybrid market.
First Drive: 2015 Audi A3 2.0-liter TFSI Quattro
The 2015 Audi A3 quattro offers great fuel economy plus excellent handling. It has luxury touches and serves as the entry-level model to the Audi brand.
Top 10 Best-Selling High-MPG Cars of 2014 (January-March)
While overall sales languished a mere 1.3 percent above the first quarter of 2013, high-mileage electric cars, plug-in hybrids, and clean diesels continued a torrid pace similar to what they were experiencing during most of last year. The only laggard in this group was gas-electric hybrids, which dropped almost 16 percent compared to last year, based heavily on declining sales of several Prius models.
Electric Car Charging Etiquette
Mixing cars that need to be plugged in with traditional vehicles has created a whole new interaction. Here are some of the rules.
Engine Downsizing Gains Ground
The global drive to reduce greenhouse gases and increase vehicle fuel efficiency is pushing automakers to reduce the size of their engines – while trying to keep all of attributes consumers expect from their cars. Engineers from GM, Porsche and VW have pushed the limits of technology to produce engines that are more efficient, meet increasingly stringent pollution standard and yet make better horsepower and torque than previous generations.
Smart EV Wins Best Eco Car Award
ACEEE ranks the Top 10 environmental cars and finds smaller is better and small hybrids are best, although it found the smallest electric car sold in America as the best of the best.
My Top 10 Cars & Trucks for 2014
These are the 10 or more cars and trucks I’m looking forward to spending some time with in 2014. I hope they all make, but I probably should also have saved a spot or two on the list for some surprises. In 2013 we had a few of those and I’m expecting more in 2014.
How Long Will It Take to Convert the U.S. Fleet to Electric Cars?
These things do take time. Wishful thinking won’t get us there. Government money can help, but ultimately it can only play a minor role if the goal is the transformation of a fleet. Cars and trucks that are better alternatives to gasoline ones in every way will be the only way to make it happen. That’s the way gasoline won out over electricity and steam 100 years ago. That’s why diesel won out over gasoline in Europe 15 years ago. That’s why the Toyota Prius is the 10th best-selling car of 2013.
My Top 10 High-MPG Cars of 2013
No one should doubt that 2013 was a breakthrough year for advanced technology vehicles, whether running on electricity, gasoline, diesel or some combination of the three. The choices expanded, prices dropped and infrastructure exploded (for plug-ins). This year presents an abundance of riches; as I wrote earlier, we (at least we in California) now have 10 pure electric vehicles to choose from–and 2014 promises and expanded roster of choices. I had the opportunity this year to sample more than half of those available. Add in plug-in hybrids and the list of EV choices almost doubles, while traditional hybrids, clean diesels and high-MPG gasoline vehicles ranks keep growing both in number and popularity.