Mix pious intentions with dreary mechanical bits and then stir in some driving misery, and the result is a “green car.” Green not in the color of its paint, but in the environmental virtue of its engineering and marketing. Green as in economical with fuel but stingy on exciting, great with emissions but lousy to pilot. Green cars are hybrids, diesels, and electric vehicles stripped to the point of generating a rotted ox cart appear luxurious. Except that was then—you know, like, 3 years ago—and this is the green auto now.The 1st- and second-generation greens sacrificed enjoyment on the altar of efficiency. But we’re into the third generation, and the technologies that have defined the greenies are becoming leveraged to make better-driving cars—and even exciting ones. Some of the very best automobiles in the globe proper now are bright green.
So with optimism beating in C/D‘s stainless-steel heart, here are 10 current production automobiles (arranged alphabetically) that mix all sorts of politically appropriate goodness with solid driving excitement. But wait, there’s much more: We’ve also incorporated 2 a lot more automobiles from the 1980s that have been ahead of their time. None of these green automobiles suck.
Audi A3 TDI Diesel
The sweet-driving A3—it beat both BMW and Benz in its 1st comparison test—begat the superb S3 performance sedan. All A3s are based on the identical MQB architecture as the equally good 6th-gen VW Golf. The TDI engine is the exact same 150-hp turbocharged 2.-liter 4-cylinder diesel used in so several other VW Group items. Plus, the A3 sedan appears adorable. No, we haven’t driven it as of this posting, but there’s no way this car sucks. (It’ll be accessible here as a 5-door hatch next year, as well.) A3 TDI Assessment | Investigation ››
BMW i3
Since BMW introduced its “Neue Klasse” back in 1962, the organization has zealously tried to—and largely succeeded—sustain a constant character across its lineup. A 3-series drove a lot like a 5er that was a lot like the stately 7. But the new i3 throws all that out and starts over without any assumptions about what a BMW is or must be. The i3 has skinny tires on massive diameter wheels, uses a structure produced up of carbon fiber and aluminum, and the interior appears as if it have been ripped out of a glass property perched more than the Pacific at Large Sur. No, it is not M3 rapidly, and the twin kidneys slapped on the front are just ironic, but this vehicle is innovative and interesting in the techniques all automobiles must be. All that and it still feels like a BMW at its core. i3 Evaluation | Research ››
BMW i8
The i8 plays supercar brother to the vehicle above, applying all the philosophical and engineering daring of the city vehicle to the job of engineering a brilliant 2-seater. (Yes, it has 2 further seats they are there only to mock the owner or host his modest dog.) It is a plug-in hybrid that looks like next year’s Frankfurt auto show idea auto and feels in contrast to something else on the road. And has there ever been one more automobile carrying a 3-cylinder engine—just like the Mitsubishi Mirage!—that runs from to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and via the quarter-mile in 12.4 at 113 mph? i8 Overview | Analysis ››
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Preserve this in thoughts: The C7 Corvette is a 460-hp beast powered by a 6.2-liter LT1 V-7 It is capable of topping 180 mph. It carries EPA mileage ratings of 17 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway when equipped with the 6-speed manual transmission. But thanks to tricks such as cylinder deactivation, it’s capable of sipping fuel even much more parsimoniously than that. Early this year, writing for our sister publication Common Mechanics, this author took a Corvette on an economy run up California’s Central Coast and accomplished an astonishing 37.3 mpg with the A/C off and holding a steady 55 mph with cruise manage. For a automobile with this considerably efficiency, it is unprecedented. On a graph of vehicles rating green potential on 1 axis and blood-red speed on the other, the Corvette is a solitary outlier. CORVETTE STINGRAY Review | Investigation ››
Chevrolet Spark EV
For an all-electric conversion, the Spark EV is among the really ideal in its segment. (Much more accurate, it is the extremely very best, having won a 6-way EV comparison test.) It handles and rides much better than some of its peers that had been engineered solely as electric cars. But what does not suck most about the Spark EV is this: If you reside in Oregon or California (and have solid credit), you can lease one for only $ 199 a month with $ 949 down. The lease covers 36 months and 36,000 miles, and it is 1 of the most thoughts-bogglingly strong offers ever provided by a vehicle manufacturer. SPARK EV Evaluation | Study ››
Ford Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid
Chevrolet’s Volt is a fine plug-in hybrid, but it wears its green cred on its sleeve. It is just too obviously attempting to be virtuous. On the other hand is Ford’s Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, which, for most commuters, can carry out the very same all-electric chores as the Volt most of the time but does not shout about it. Plus, even even though it deserves a larger trunk, the Ford is roomier inside than the Chevy. And that doesn’t suck. FUSION ENERGI Assessment | Investigation ››
Honda Accord Hybrid
The Accord rises to our 10Best Cars list every single year with the regularity of the sunrise. Every Accord is built with the impregnable structure of a dimethylhexane molecule, rides far more comfortably than an Eames lounge chair, and drives with the satisfying subtlety of an Eric Clapton chord adjust. And the hybrid is among the very best of the existing breed. Constructed about a 141-hp 2.-liter Atkinson-cycle 4-cylinder paired with a 166-hp electric motor, the result is an easygoing 196 total method horsepower that is delivered by means of, properly, what amounts to no transmission at all. It is a clever and silken drivetrain that amplifies the Accord’s character and tends to make its efficiency exciting. This is a mid-size sedan that starts at about $ 30,000, runs from to 60 in 7.2 seconds and is EPA rated at 50 mpg in the city and 45 on the highway. It does not draw attention to itself due to the fact it appears pretty considerably like any other Accord sedan, but it may possibly properly be the greatest gas-electric hybrid accessible anywhere. ACCORD HYBRID Assessment | Research ››
Porsche 918 Spyder
Operating on electricity alone, the 918 Spyder is EPA-rated at the equivalent of 67 mpg. That indicates this is a automobile its owner could theoretically use to bop back and forth to operate every single day never ever employing any gasoline at all—just like a Nissan Leaf. So spend your $ 847,975 with a clear conscience that you’re undertaking one thing very good for the environment. Then go uncover a freeway on-ramp and let the 608-hp 4.6-liter V-8 celebration down with the 2 electric motors you’ll watch the air about the automobile froth up as it uses all 4 wheels to claw from rest to 60 mph in a staggering 2.2 seconds. Basically put, this is the quickest production car we’ve ever tested. The Ferrari LaFerrari could however match the feat—we have however to test that one—but the McLaren P1 fell a half-second shy. Both of them are hybrids, as well. 918 SPYDER Evaluation | Research ››
Tesla Model S
The city of Santa Monica, California, is not where the all-electric Model S is assembled, but it is exactly where the auto is employed. You see them all over, waiting outside Crossroads College for showbiz progeny, along the curb at Entire Foods, at each and every pilates studio. They’re constantly becoming driven by tiny tiny females in exercise clothes and brand-new sneakers with purple laces. But does any person in Santa Monica realize just how good a auto the Tesla Model S genuinely is? It’s quickly, it delivers usable variety, it appears excellent, and it rides like its air springs were filled with breath exhaled by Jessica Alba. It’s practically as well good for Santa Monica. MODEL S Overview | Study ››
Volkswagen Golf TDI Diesel
Here’s a basic formula: combine the all-new 2015 Golf’s sweet chassis and impeccably completed cockpit with the established torque production of VW’s 2.-liter turbo-diesel 4, and the result is a sweet and creamy frappé of automotive virtue. Select the 6-speed manual transmission and the EPA prices it at 30 mpg in the city and 45 on the highway. Go for the 6-speed dual-clutch automatic and these numbers sit at 31 mpg city and 43 mpg highway. Diesels may possibly not inflame the soul like a higher-revving gas-burner, but they’re now so civilized and effective that it is difficult to care. GOLF TDI Assessment | Investigation ››
BONUS: Great OLD GREENNESS
1979–1985 Mercedes-Benz 300TD By twenty-initial-century requirements, the old W123-series Mercedes wagon feels as if it have been engineered on an anvil. It’s a steel box on 14-inch wheels powered by a 120-hp (or much less) 3.-liter turbo-diesel inline-5. It is not just slow, it is agonizingly slow. But it is bulletproof, efficient, and now supported by a vast neighborhood of biodiesel enthusiasts who have their W123s running on every thing from KFC chicken fat to lawn clippings. And the wagon still turns heads.
1988–1991 Honda CRX HF As you study this, Honda dealers are pushing the last of the ill-fated Insight 4-door hybrids off their lots. But a quarter-century ago, Honda did green appropriate with the ultra-effective, mechanically supersimple, and entertaining-to-drive 2-seat CRX HF. It is a miracle of lightweight pondering combined with a simple 1.5-liter, 8-valve, 62-hp 4-cylinder engine and tall gearing in its 5-speed manual gearbox. Using current 2014 EPA approaches, the 1991 CRX HF is rated at 40 mpg in the city and 47 mpg on the highway. Those are numbers of which Honda ought to be proud. And it is a car Honda must in no way have stopped constructing.
10 Green Cars that Don’t Suck: Eco-Excellence at All Price tag Points
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