The Toyota Prius isn't the kind of car you'd expect Top Gear's Stig to drive.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
The Prius takes to the air.
(Credit: Top Gear)In an amusing little photo gallery over at the Top Gear site, the Stig, the famed tame racing driver, gets the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius off the ground. The feature promises a lot at the beginning (just like we are doing here), but proceeds with a fairly standard test between the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, mostly comparing them on fuel economy and drivability through London and at the Millbrook test track.
But they eventually come to the good stuff, describing what happens when Stiggy starts doing laps in the Prius and the Insight. Top Gear even reaches a verdict about which is the best car, although it's based entirely on fuel economy, unlike our more encompassing Prizefight between these two hybrids. Which explains why we reached a different conclusion.
But enough spoilers, check out Stigs might fly.
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.
Infiniti's first hybrid will be the 2012 M35.
(Credit: Infiniti)Nissan/Infiniti has so far only dabbled in hybrids, choosing to buy technology from Toyota for the Nissan Altima Hybrid. The company is really attempting to leap past that technology by going straight to electric vehicles, with the Nissan Leaf. But the upcoming Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid must have lit a fire under someone at Infiniti, because the company just announced the Infiniti M35 Hybrid.
The M35 Hybrid will use a mild hybrid system.
(Credit: Infiniti)With a V-6 engine mated to what sounds like a mild hybrid system, the car will be aimed more at performance than maximum fuel economy. Infiniti describes the hybrid system, which was built in-house, as combining twin clutches and an electric motor on the propeller shaft coming out of the engine. This arrangement allows the electric motor to provide extra boost to the rear wheels and, according to Infiniti, drive the car under only electric power under certain circumstances.
Honda says the same of its mild hybrid system, but we've never actually noticed pure electric drive power in any Honda hybrid. Infiniti is using the same laminated lithium ion batteries in the Infiniti Hybrid as will be used in the Nissan Leaf.
The Infiniti M35 Hybrid will come out in 2011 as a 2012 model.
Check out our full review of the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid.
(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)
Spoiler alert: We gave the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid our Editors' Choice award. Although to be fair, after seeing its doppelganger, the 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid, win the award previously, you had to have known the less expensive Fusion was something of a shoo-in.
However, our experience with the Fusion Hybrid wasn't an exact repeat of our time with the Milan. For starters, our tester was not equipped with the hard drive-based navigation system, which let us get a taste of the Sync flavor without the cheat sheet touch screen.
How did the screenless Sync experience stack up? Check the full review of the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid to find out.
EF 100mm f2.8 L IS USM
(Credit: Canon)With Canon's announcement of the new Hybrid IS EF 100mm f2.8 L Macro IS USM lens, Canon has made two firsts: it's the first EF lens to offer Canon's new Hybrid IS technology, and also the first EOS macro lens to offer Image Stabilization. The new Hybrid IS system features up to four stops of correction of camera shake. Low friction ceramic balls support the lens elements to allow for smoother movements when correcting for camera during macro shooting, which requires very subtle corrections.
Besides being the first new Hybrid IS lens it is also the first EOS macro lens to offer Image Stabilization at all. Allowing for many great close-up shots to be taken without a tripod, superb for nature photographers where carrying a tripod is not always easy or convenient.
The new L series professional-grade lens features dust and weather seals, as all L series lenses do. It has a nine-blade, circular aperture for a pleasing bokeh, or background blur in photos taken with a wide aperture. There are ultralow dispersion (UD) lens elements to correct color and minimize chromatic aberrations. Super Spectra coating for improved contrast and reducing glare and lens flare. A high-speed USM autofocus motor for fast, silent AF. Specific to it's macro design is a three position focus limiter switch to tailor the focus range to shooting conditions.
There are several accessories supported by the 100mm Macro IS, such as the Tripod Mount D, Macro Lite adapter 67, Lens Hood ET-73, and the EF12 II and the EF25 II extension tubes.
The EF 100mm f2.8 L Macro IS USM lens with be available in September 2009 for about $1,050.
Toyota is NOT going to be happy about this...
(Credit: Chevrolet/GM)For the last few weeks, we've been seeing a mysterious teaser ad all over the web. The ad simply displayed the number 230 (the "0" represented by a smiling electrical outlet) and a date. Well today's the day and the secret is revealed. The number 230 is significant because the Chevrolet Volt plug-in series hybrid has received an EPA estimated 230 city miles per gallon.
If that number sounds a little high to you, remember that for about the first 40 miles of driving on a full charge, the Volt uses no fuel. And once the batteries are low on juice, the gasoline generator kicks in to sustain the charge, not to motivate the vehicle--as is the case in parallel and two-mode hybrid.
The EPA has had to completely rethink its fuel economy standard for extended-range EVs like the Volt. For the Volt, that drafted number is based on combined electric only driving and charge sustaining mode with the gasoline generator running, although how much driving of each mode is still under wraps. The new draft works in GM's favor as the automaker now has bragging rights the the first ever triple digit fuel economy rating.
In addition to new fuel economy numbers, the new EPA stickers may also feature electric efficiency ratings. The Volt will consume 25 kW/hours per 100 miles.
Update: The EPA has subsequently stated that it hasn't actually tested the Volt to confirm or refute GM's claims.
The hybrid comparison of the year is the all-new Honda Insight versus the updated Toyota Prius. Having reviewed both of these cars at CNET Car Tech, our staff, Antuan Goodwin, Brian Cooley, and Wayne Cunningham, evaluates them against each other. Of course we look at fuel economy and driving performance, but we also put a CNET spin on the comparison, looking at each car's cabin tech and interface, as you will also have to live with the electronics if you purchase one of these cars.
Read the article for a blow-by-blow account of each round, and watch the video for Brian Cooley's presentation of the fight.
(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.
(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CNET)
We were expecting a lot from the Mercury Milan Hybrid. After having briefly driven the Ford Fusion Hybrid, we had an idea iof what to expect from the power train, and we've also seen Ford's killer combination of Sync and Sirius Travel Link in a few cars over the last year. But we didn't realize what a car tech dream the Mercury Milan Hybrid would be.
The first clue it gives comes from the high-tech instrument panel, with a variety of virtual gauges that you can configure. Then there's the phone and MP3 player connectivity offered by Sync, along with its incredible voice command system. Sirius Travel Link mixes traffic, fuel prices, and weather into the navigation system. And finally, the driving experience, with its excellent fuel economy and seamless transition between electric and gas.
The Mercury Milan Hybrid is a remarkable car, and we've rated it appropriately.
(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CNET)
If you believe virtue is its own reward, the Camry Hybrid may be the car for you. Rather than being an ostentatious hybrid icon like the Prius, the Camry Hybrid masquerades as a standard Camry sedan, beyond a few subtle badges. But in traffic it does the hybrid dance, shutting off its gas engine when it isn't needed and seamlessly transitioning between gas and electric power. Its big disadvantage is older cabin tech, which lacks modern conveniences such as iPod integration and traffic reporting in the navigation system.
