Among the handful of electric cars either in production for coming out this year, Honda can now boast the best fuel economy. The EPA rating for its Fit EV shows the car earning 118 MPG equivalent, beating the next runner-up Mitsubishi i-Miev's 112 MPGe and the Nissan Leaf's 99 MPGe.

The numbers break down to 132 MPGe city, 105 MPGe highway, with the 118 MPGe number being the combined rating.

At the same time, Honda also gets to claim an EPA-rated range of 82 miles on a single charge, better than the Leaf and i-Miev. However, the Tesla Model S, … Read more

It's no secret the Mazda MX-5 Miata has always been one of my favorite cars. It's light and nimble, it's simple, and it's one of the purest driving experiences I've ever had. But the thing that I love the most about the Mazda Miata is that it's sort of an anti-poseur car. You're not going to impress many people from behind the wheel of the unassuming roadster. So, if you see someone driving a Miata of any generation, you can know that they doing it because they truly love this car. Not many … Read more

You're probably familiar with the concept of the hovercraft, an inflatable craft that glides over land and water on a cushion of air. Now add wings, a sweet yellow and black paint scheme, and a $190,000 price tag and you get the Flying Hovercraft from Hammacher Schlemmer.

The Flying Hovercraft can get up to 20 feet off the ground and hit a top speed around 70 mph thanks to an assist from a 130-hp twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled gas engine. It has both a thrust propeller and a lift fan to help it leapfrog over obstacles like floating logs and lake monsters.… Read more

California is not known as a carmaking state, but every carmaker is here. And few have been in Silicon Valley longer than Volkswagen Group with its Electronics Research Lab. There they try to crack the code on loading cars up with social media, connected navigation, portable integration, and more without distracting you to death.

I spent a day with wide-ranging access to the VW lab, in conversation with its director, Peter Oel. I came away with the impression that VW, like the rest of the industry, feels the tech cat is out of the bag and we aren't going back to a day when our cars are digital ghettos. That's also because carmakers know that high-touch technology is a key way they'll clobber their competitors, but they also keep their eye on the rear view as the government makes more and more noises that sound like distraction regulation. … Read more

As so many struggle with the ins and outs of advertising cars on Facebook, one piece of sublime inspiration from Sweden might show there are other media with more promise.

An employee of Fiat near Stockholm, Sweden noticed that Google's fine Street View drivers were making a sweep of the area.

As the Daily Mail reports it, he drove a Fiat 500 and parked it in front of Volkswagen's HQ in Sodertalje, around 30 miles south of Stockholm. He thought it might make for a fun picture when the Street View car came around. He was right.

Sure … Read more

Forget the hoverboard. Forget the self-lacing shoes. The ultimate "Back to the Future" fan prop is a DeLorean, the stainless steel machine that zipped around through time.

When DeLoreans first went on sale in the early 1980s, they cost around $25,000. Buying a used one today will set you back about $50,000 due to their rarity and mechanical fickleness. Now you can pick up a DeLorean for just $5,500, but there is a catch. It's a bike.

The DeLorean Bicycle is a collaboration between DeLorean Motor Company and Marc Moore, a cyclist and former … Read more

It seemed that the progression of automotive engineering would eliminate the rear-wheel-drive car by 2020, but GM believes the architecture still has life enough for a limited production run. Next year the company will make a Chevrolet SS with rear-wheel drive and a V-8. We can only hope a manual transmission might be part of the mix.

In the Chevrolet SS announcement, GM noted there has not been a rear-wheel-drive Chevrolet sedan for 17 years. Has it really been that long?

The new car will be based on the same platform as the Camaro, and it seems likely it would … Read more

Among hybrids and the new generation of electric vehicles, one stalwart of the roads comes with emissions much reduced over an equivalent gas-engined car, and its domestically sourced fuel costs almost half that of gasoline. The natural-gas-powered 2012 Honda Civic makes a good argument for its own environmental responsibility.

The Civic Natural Gas checks off some important boxes on the pro side, but also suffers from some pretty serious cons. The low price of a fill-up is not only because of the cost of natural gas, but also from the fact the car's tanks can only hold 8 gasoline … Read more

If the classic looks of the Fiat 500 could be compared with a Fellini movie, then the Abarth version is a Spaghetti Western. Where the 500 introduced last year was all about economy and design, the Abarth adds that missing ingredient: driving fun.

To build the U.S. version of the Fiat 500 Abarth, Chrysler's performance team installed a Honeywell turbocharger, lowered the gear ratios, and tuned the suspension. Along the way the team ratcheted up the exhaust note to announce the little car's presence.

This work resulted in a car made for the winding road. Despite a … Read more