first drive

No One Ever Said Dethroning A Prius Would Be Easy It's generally not polite to start a story about a new Ford by referencing a very popular Toyota, but we're going to make an exception this time. With fuel prices continuing to creep upwards, sales of advanced-powertrain vehicles are booming (in ...

Tesla-Hearted Toyota Offers Real Sport And Utility The 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV is the most advanced Alpha prototype electric vehicle we've ever driven. Or maybe it's a poster child for the 21st Century automotive industry where all sorts of new things are being tried, like when old-school automakers ...

Sampling Chevy's New Overseas-Only Diesel-Powered Wonder Wagon Since it came on the scene in 2009, General Motors' first truly global modern-day product, the Chevrolet Cruze, has become the company's best seller. Over 1.5 million deliveries – admittedly 46 percent to rental fleets, 12 ...

Diesel Versus Electrons Debate Continues When it comes to the hybrid market, we assume – as most of you probably do as well – that the United States is at the top of the list to get whatever hybrid models an automaker builds. That vision is apparently altering for the Germans, ...

Reminding Us That EVs Are Becoming Less Of A Compromise The 2013 Honda Fit EV, the Japanese automaker's highly anticipated answer to the Nissan Leaf, is quick, agile and actually quite fun to drive. Its cabin is roomy, outward visibility good and its styling is anything but odd. The platform is ...

A Genuinely Good Idea That's Compromised By Design Fisker is a company driven by design. I can't tell you how often I heard that line from the company's namesake, its PR people and engineers during my brief trip to Los Angeles to drive the production version of the 2012 Fisker Karma. And it's ...

Baby Of The Family Will Play A Big Role Toyota's new 2012 Prius C doesn't look like a math problem, but that's what it is. Hidden behind its attractive hatchback body and Toyota Synergy Drive hybrid powertrain, the Prius C is just a bunch of numbers. Numbers like the car's miles per gallon ...

Lexus' Best Compromise Yet Ever since the Prius unexpectedly became the Xerox of hybrids and a greenie icon, Toyota has been trying to figure out how to apply the technology to its other models. Its results have been decidedly mixed, nowhere more so than with its luxury lineup. But with the 2013 ...

VW Finally Rediscovers Its (Very) Small Car Roots Big old Volkswagen is back to thinking small, and it's finally doing it right. After two frankly awful attempts at supplying the rest of the world with cheap tin boxes called Fox and Lupo, company bosses have done some soul searching and this is ...

Meeting The Next-Generation Chevrolet Mid-Size It's been a very long time since the midsize market went easy on American automakers, and recent years have conspired to make an uphill sales slog even steeper with a rash of new and redesigned models. Kia and Hyundai have taken up arms by offering ...