The Prius C? I could own one. And to think that I once disparaged the average Prius owner as a dork, or worse! Not entirely without reason, mind you. The original Prius was undeniably dorky in appearance, a kind of bizarre science project lacking in automotive virility or style. It was the kind of car you’d drive only if you didn’t like cars, and dorks don’t like cars. I’d have never owned a Prius back then. But now I would. Well, I might. What changed? The Prius itself, for one thing. The family has grown to four members: the original liftback Prius; the Prius V, a pleasant wagon version; the plug-in Prius; and now, the brand-new miniaturized version, the C. I’ve changed, too, having become something of an armchair expert on these cars after test-driving all iterations, plus close relatives in disguise. Like many others who initially disparaged the Prius, I’ve come, albeit grudgingly, to admire its efficiency, packaging, reliability, and, of course, fuel economy—real-world fuel economy, that is, not the vaporous fantasies of PR departments. Plus, the newer models just look better; there’s more design esthetic there.
Honda Civic Hybrid Plaintiffs SHOULD Win
By Chris Haak
By now you’ve surely heard the story of Heather Peters, a disappointed Honda Civic Hybrid owner who took Honda to small-claims court in California and won a $9,800 judgment against the company. In California’s small-claims court, neither side may use a lawyer. Ms. Peters sued Honda because her Civic Hybrid didn’t get anywhere near the numbers posted on her car’s window label (which, for pre-2008 Civic Hybrids, was a whopping 49 MPG city/51 MPG highway/50 MPG combined. She won her case, but Honda has vowed to appeal, if for no other reason than to stem a tide of copycats who also want a pound of flesh from Honda.
2012 Detroit Auto Show: Acura NSX Concept
By Chris Haak
In a very candid assessment of his brand’s 2011 performance, Acura’s general manager Jeff Conrad told assembled journalists in Detroit that the best thing about 2012 was “that it was not 2011.” While he claimed that his brand lost its momentum until the end of the year due to the Japanese earthquake/tsunami and Thailand flooding, the fact is, Acura hasn’t seemed to have much going for it for the past half decade.
Review: 2011 Toyota Prius IV
By Roger Boylan
Press the Prius’s ignition button and the info screen on the dashboard reads “Welcome to PRIUS,” as if flinging open the gates to a mythical kingdom–which in some ways it is. The Toyota Prius has acquired an almost mythical status, worshipped as a lifestyle statement by preening greenies and scorned for the same reason by the diehard SUV- and pickup-driving class. I fall into neither category. Although I have owned, and enjoyed, gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups, I was impressed by my previous exposure to the Prius (the Plug-In version), and I have no greater affection than any other citizen of the West for the Saudi oil sheikhs who hold us hostage to their whims.
Review: 2011 Lexus CT200h
By Roger Boylan
The Lexus CT200h is a luxury economy car. At first I didn’t know what to make of it. In the old days, this would have been a contradiction in terms. If you had the dough, you bought a luxury car with a purring V8 and plush leather sofa in front, and if you were poor,like most of us, you pedaled your econobox to and from the workhouse. In the first instance, you were resigned to having a gas guzzler on your hands, because that was the price of luxury; in the latter case, “economy” meant a raucous interior and bouncy ride, but at least you were getting good mileage. And that was that, for a long time. True, there were attempts over the years to winch faux “luxury” onto an economy platform: ”Cimarron by Cadillac” and the Chrysler-Maserati TC come to mind, although I wish they wouldn’t.
Then, in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, the market expanded and SUVs became crossovers and pickups acquired leather interiors and suddenly just about every form of automotive cross-fertilization was fermenting in the lab, from the Suzuki X90 to the Porsche Cayenne. But the CT200h trumps all thosebecause it’s not only a luxury economy car, it’s a luxury hybrid economy car, and a cheap—or should I say “inexpensive?”—Lexus, to boot, with a starting sticker price a hair under $30K (and going up to just under $40K, with all the bells and whistles). OK, that’srelatively inexpensive, but it’s still miles less thanother Lexi.
Review: 2011 Volkswagen Touareg V6 TSI Hybrid
By Kevin Miller
In today’s US marketplace, there are two different types of products available from Volkswagen. On one hand is the US-only, de-contented Jetta and NMS/Passat, engineered to exclude rich features and increase sales volumes. On the other hand are vehicles like the new Touareg. Following in the footsteps of the first-generation Touareg and the Phaeton sedan, the new Touareg Hybrid is incredibly high-tech and feature-rich; that fact is reflected on the window sticker.
The Hybrid is at the top of the Touareg trim levels, boasting 380 HP with a starting price north of $60k. All three Touareg versions feature Volkswagen’s 4Motion all-wheel-drive system and 8-speed automatic transmissions. Not available in the US is the European model’s 4XMotion system which includes a low-range transfer case and height-adjustable air suspension; instead, all US-bound Touareg models have a rotary switch to select “ON ROAD” or “OFF ROAD” terrain settings. The Touareg Hybrid also has a button marked “E-Mode” which selects more efficient driving characteristics; it dulls throttle response and shift points for the sake of efficiency and allows the SUV to operate exclusively on electricity at low speeds.
Twin Review: 2011 Lexus RX350/RX450h FWD
By Roger Boylan
Your average SUV once lumbered across the land with all the grace of a sauropod. Think of the Scout, the Excursion, the Grand Wagoneer, and others with more utility than sport, and little in the way of creature comfort. Then, as birds evolved from dinosaurs, but in a far shorter time span dictated by the market rather than Darwin, crossovers evolved from SUVs, and a kinder, gentler beast was born. There’s a lot of variety in this market now, from high-speed machines like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo to more mundane critters like the Ford Edge. Some drivers are looking for something fast but elegant. Others want to cruise along in a hotel suite on wheels. The Lexus RX should satisfy on both counts—and I mean both Lexus RXs, the gasoline-powered RX350 as well as its hybrid sibling, the RX450h. I had the privilege of test-driving each, back to back. As they’re essentially the same vehicle, except for price, the obvious difference under the hood, and a few details on the instrument panel, I’m doing a unitary review of the RX genre.
Review: 2011 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid
By Chris Haak
Writers for Autosavant are given free reign to write about whatever they want to, as long as it’s about cars and the car business, whenever they want to. I almost never give them specific assignments, nor deadlines, unless it’s been a while since a time-sensitive event has occurred. I get many different perspectives on the issues using this approach, and also hopefully have writers opining on topics that they personally find interesting and enjoyable to write about.
Sometimes, however, this Wild West approach to editorial assignments results in interesting, or uncomfortable situations, like when two people write about the same subject. Or when two people drive the same car. (It should be noted that we never schedule the same vehicle twice at Autosavant, but some of our writers are freelancers with individual access to manufacturers’ press fleets). This happened a few years ago with the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, when one of our writers reviewed the same truck that a freelancer did. Since one guy was in the Texas Hill Country and the other on Long Island and they have very different perspectives, I think it worked. Hopefully we’ll be able to say the same about the piece that Charles Krome wrote last month on the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid and what you’re about to read below.
First Drive: 2011 Nissan Leaf SL
By Roger Boylan
GM’s short-lived electric car of the ‘90s, the EV1, was available in limited quantities as a lease-only proposition, so the 2011 Nissan Leaf is the first all-electric car the general public can buy. Its price is reasonable for such cutting-edge technology: around $25K, once Uncle Sam’s tax credit of $7500 is applied. Is it worth it? It certainly has great promise, and it’s a well-conceived little car. I spent a short while behind the wheel of Leaf a couple of days ago–a very short while, unfortunately, the actual drive time having been eaten into by a high-energy sales presentation from Nissan’s own Seinfeld-wannabe; I didn’t catch his name, and I ducked his pitch. I was there merely as an Autosavant, desirous of completing my trifecta of electric-car tests (read about the Toyota PHV Prius here and the Chevrolet Volt here).
The Leaf is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack of the type familiar to me from the Prius Plug-In and Volt. Lithium-ion batteries offer quicker acceleration and a longer range than your common or garden nickel-metal hydride battery, but unfortunately, they’re still at a fairly rudimentary stage of development, with limited range and—in the Leaf—a dead weight of about 500 lbs. We were shown cutouts and diagrams by the comedian. But I was reassured to note that, notwithstanding the futuristic technology, the Leaf is a fairly normal-looking car, a four-door hatchback with that cloyingly cute Pokémon face so typical of small Japanese cars.
Is the Honda CR-Z already DOA?
By Charles Krome
Although it must have seemed like a good idea at the time—to somebody—the Honda CR-Z is already shaping up to be the Pontiac Aztek of the hybrid world: Everything about the car seems to have been designed by committee to meet the needs of a different segment of the marketplace, with the result being that it’s making no one happy.
That includes the folks at Consumer Reports. They recently put the CR-Z into a mini comparo with three other newish/greenish vehicles, including the VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI, MAZDA2 and Ford Fiesta. And Rik Paul, automotive editor for CR, sang a familiar refrain: “The CR-Z tries to be the sporty hybrid and it’s not outstanding in either category. It’s not fun to drive and the fuel economy is not what you’d expect from a hybrid.”
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Ernie: I should add one scarry thing about snapshot is, w...
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