Five cars enter, one car leaves. Well, actually all five cars get to leave, but only one with the title.
(Credit: CNET)Every year, for the past four years, Green Car Journal picks its Green Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show. Well, the LA Show will be here before you know it, so it's time to start thinking about this year's contestants, which have been narrowed down to five finalists.
The finalists include the Audi A3 TDI, the Honda Insight, the Mercury Milan Hybrid, the Toyota Prius, and the Volkswagen Golf TDI. That's two VW turbodiesels and a trio of hybrids; or four small hatchbacks and a small sedan. No matter how you look at it, there's not too much variation this year. However, three of the vehicles have taken our Editors' Choice award at different times this year and two of them have already done battle in a CNET Prizefight, so it will be interesting to see which is chosen as the overall winner.
A panel of jurors (which includes notables such as Jay Leno, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Carroll Shelby, Matt Petersen of Global Green USA and the Sierra Club's Carl Pope) will have to pick one of these vehicles to be crowned the fifth annual Green Car of the Year--which, by the way, is a very different thing from Greenest Car of the Year. There's apparently a bit more that goes into the choosing than just raw fuel economy and emissions numbers.
Last year, it was the Volkswagen Jetta TDI that walked rolled off with the 2009 crown by winning over the judges with its real-world performance and relatively low price. The year before that, it was the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid which was a really big hybrid that didn't return really big mpgs, but still managed to improve fuel economy by a massive 25-percent over the conventional model. Looking way back to the 2007 and 2006 winners, we can see that the Toyota Camry Hybrid and the Mercury Mariner Hybrid have also seen time in the winners' circle.
Editor's note: Polling is closed, the judges have voted, and the results are in. The 2010 Green Car of the Year award has gone to...
Even the world's sexiest Prius is still just a Prius.
(Credit: Tommi Kaira)Apparently, the 2010 Toyota Prius was feeling a bit frumpy and has decided to shake things up with a new look. So, the humble hybrid has gone under the knife of Japanese vehicle modifiers Tommi Kaira. The result is a new, sexy look and not much else.
Post-op, the Prius' front bumper has been replaced by a more aggressive unit with an integrated lip spoiler and larger intakes. Updated side skirts and rear bumper round out the Prius' new look. Peeking from beneath the bumper is a dual-muffler, quad-tipped exhaust that probably sounds good, but most likely doesn't do any favors for the Prius' horsepower or fuel efficiency. Requisite larger wheels and tires and a lowered suspension round out the tuning package.
I'm sure those quad-exhaust tips are really helping the Prius' 1.8-liter gasoline engine breathe.
(Credit: Tommi Kaira)You'll notice that we haven't mentioned any engine mods. That's because there aren't any. (Can you really call it "tuning" if you don't tune the engine?) The Tommi Kaira Prius makes its stock 134 horsepower and stock 50 mpg fuel economy rating. That is, if the aero upgrades haven't hurt Toyota's wind-tunnel-tested drag coefficient.
As long as changes are being made, I wonder if Tommi Kaira can do something about the Prius' dated DVD-based navigation system.
(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CNET)
After a week of driving the 2010 Toyota Prius, we got into it one morning to find the gas gauge only showing one little digital bar. But a quick check of the range showed we could go another 45 miles, which is what the Prius is all about. At a consistent 50 mpg in real-world driving, this car sips gas. Toyota made a few improvements to the cabin tech, as well, but we were left wanting more, as other companies have raised the bar quite high.
It's always funny when middle-class suburbanites rap. Always. And that's what makes Casual Mafia's video, In My Prius, work. Well, that and all the lyrics about the positive attributes of the Toyota Prius. Favorite line: "mad room for my knees."
(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CNET)
How much do Vin Diesel and Jason Statham actually resemble the characters they play? You can tell a lot by what a person drives, and our research shows that while one may indeed be the transporter, the other isn't quite so furious. We also looked for tidbits on what other Hollywood stars drive, and came up with the goods on Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, and Seth Green, among others.
Toyota updates the Prius for the 2010 model year, with more power and better fuel efficiency.
(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET)The most important thing to remember about the much-anticipated 2010 Prius model update is that Toyota is, at its heart, a conservative company. Add to that Toyota's desire not to spoil the continued success of the previous Prius model, and you get a new car that isn't radically changed from its predecessor.
The Prius still uses Toyota's Synergy hybrid system, a full hybrid system that propels the car under electric power at low speeds. It's still shaped like a speed bump, with a hatchback and a quick drop-off at the back. And the cabin tech still uses a DVD-based navigation system, and lacks a USB port or iPod integration for the audio system.
However, Toyota did give it a slightly bigger engine, a 1.8-liter four cylinder, increasing the power, and at the same time increasing the fuel economy. Some reshaping around the grille and hood brings in Toyota's new design language, while the roof peak has been moved back a bit to increase rear head room and create better aerodynamics. The cabin now includes a floating console and a shift lever with a more traditional layout than the previous one. And Toyota gives the Prius some new tech tricks, such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and automatic parking.
We got our hands on the new Prius during a preview event, and found that it drives very similarly to the previous generation. The net horsepower from the new power train comes out to 134, over the older model's 110, which you can feel during hill climbs and acceleration at speed. Toyota claims a 0 to 60 mph time of 9.8 seconds for the new model. It's hardly a drastic change in power over the old car, but it is usable.
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A solar-paneled Prius done by Solar Electric Vehicles.
(Credit: SEV)Toyota is developing a solar-powered Prius, the Nikkei newspaper has reported yet again.
It was interesting when we heard about this in July.
But it seems to us that someone over at Toyota has now been fake-leaking/hinting news about a solar-powered Prius in one form or another for at least the last year.
This wonder-car-in-the-making has gone from being a Toyota Prius that uses solar roof panels from Kyocera to power its air conditioning unit, to "a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy" to quote one recent Associated Press article.
You may find it interesting that this rumor always comes floating by on the heels of bad news from Toyota.
In July, it accompanied news of a series of Toyota plant closings/reorganizations in the U.S.
This latest rumor seems to be timed to follow Toyota's December news that it, too, has succumbed to the world auto industry slump, reporting its first annual operating loss in 70 years, and a series of consolidations and changes in its organizational structure.
Of course, there is already an available solar option for some Toyota owners in the U.S.
Solar Electrical Vehicles (SEV) has been offering an after-market Prius solar overhaul since June 2007. It includes a customized solar panel for a Prius roof that can improve the car's efficiency by about 29 percent. SEV also offers kits for the Toyota Highlander, Rav4 EV, and Ford Escape Hybrid.
For those who just like reading about the idea of a solar car, Canadian engineer Marcelo da Luz and his team have been blogging about their attempt to set the world long-distance record for a solar-powered car with the Power of One (Xof1) vehicle.
The Insight Concept represent's Honda's next attempt to dethrone the Toyota Prius.
(Credit: Honda)Honda introduced the first gas-electric hybrid for purchase with the Insight in 1999, then came Toyota's Prius and everyone forgot about Honda's little hybrid that could. We all knew that Honda was working on a larger Prius-fighting, dedicated hybrid vehicle, but Honda has denied that they'd be reviving the Insight moniker for this new vehicle. On Thursday, Honda released the first official information and images of their Prius-killer concept and it's called, you guessed it, the Insight.
The Insight Concept carries over the styling cues of Honda's fuel cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity. It looks to us that Honda has been taking lessons from the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" school of thought, as the five-door, five-passenger hatchback configuration of the Insight is the same as that of the Prius. Squint your eyes and you'll see that the proportions from the a-pillar back are decidedly Prius-like. It's almost as though someone slapped the nose of the FCX Clarity onto Toyota's hybrid and called it a day.
Under the hood, the Insight will be powered by an evolution of Honda's Integrated Motor Assist hybrid technology, which powered the original Insight and the current Civic hybrid sedan. Honda is making almost as much of a big deal about the cost-efficiency of this power train as it is the fuel-efficiency and it's no secret that Honda is planning on winning the hybrid wars by undercutting the price of the incumbent Prius.
Honda will reveal a concept version of its new small hybrid vehicle at the 2008 Paris Motor Show and the production model is planned to go on sale in the U.S. next spring, the all-new purpose-built Insight will come to market at a price significantly below hybrids available today. Following the launch of the new Insight, Honda also plans to introduce another hybrid vehicle based on the CR-Z, first shown at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.
left to right: CR-Z concept, FCX Clarity, Insight concept
(Credit: Honda)
2008 Toyota Prius Touring Edition.
(Credit: Toyota)Americans will soon have another feel-good reason to buy a Prius.
Prius production in the U.S. will begin in late 2010 at a plant currently under construction in Blue Springs, Miss., Toyota announced Thursday.
So, aside from saving on the cost of gas through better gas mileage and raising environmental awareness, buying a Prius will soon be a product made by American workers...or at least assembled by them.
Toyota said the change is in response to consumer demand in North America.
As it's been widely reported, there's been a Prius shortage in the U.S. with some consumers being forced to wait as long as three months and pay as much as $3,000 over sticker price. Even celebrity techies have been told to wait their turn.
Meanwhile, sales of Toyota SUVs have gone down and Toyota is responding to that change as well.
The company is halting production of its Tundra and Sequoia SUVs as of August 8 due to the decrease in consumer demand. Production is scheduled to resume in November and the workers of those plants "will continue to be provided work," Toyota said in a statement.
The Japan-based company also plans to consolidate the production of its Tundra, a full-size pick-up truck produced in both Indiana and Texas, to one plant in San Antonio starting in spring 2009.
"The truck market continues to worsen, so unfortunately we must temporarily suspend production," Jim Wiseman, vice president of external affairs for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, said in a statement.
Wiseman also said that the introduction of the Prius into company plant plans is an example of Toyota's long-term commitment to suppliers, workers, and their communities in North America.
There is no word on whether the plant changes will result in the loss of U.S. jobs.
Toyota does produce the Camry hybrid in the U.S. already and that production shall continue, according to the company.
Toyota also announced in early June that it plans to produce a Prius with solar panels as early as 2009 and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle available for purchase in the U.S. in 2010. Toyota, however, has not yet said where the vehicles will be produced.
(Credit:
Toyota)
We applaud any carmaker that harnesses the power of technology, particularly if it helps fuel economy, makes driving fun, or makes us look cool. That's why we launched the U.K. version of Car Tech.
So our ears perked up when we heard Toyota is upgrading its Prius. Not only will it feature a hybrid electric-gasoline engine and automatic self-parking (see its robot skills in action here), but it will soon get solar panels on the roof to power its air-conditioning system.
That last bit might not sound too exciting, but it has potential. Automotive air-conditioning systems are usually powered by your car's engine, which has to work harder to keep the car moving and its occupants cool. By using a combination of a solar panel and an electric motor, Toyota is able to use the power of the sun against itself, save gas, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
It's a shame that these particular solar panels can't be used to power the entire vehicle, but there is hope: A U.S. company called SEV has already demonstrated a modified, solar-powered Prius that improves fuel economy by about 29 percent. According to SEV, this gives you a daily electric-only range of 20 miles.
We'll have to wait until 2009 to see whether Toyota's implementation makes a real difference, but in the meantime, you can watch our video review of the current Prius here.
(Source: Crave UK)
