Last week, the United States Chamber of Commerce proposed a 25 cent increase in the so-called gas tax. The rise would represent a 135 percent increase over the current 18.4 cent tax, which was set in 1993. Since then, most states have raised their own fuel tax rates, and myriad business leaders and...Read More»
Owning a car can be a pain in the wallet. To prove it, AAA has conducted a study that reveals just how much the average American pays for the privilege of having a car (or truck, or SUV, or minivan) in her driveway. There's good news and bad news to be found in the study. Let's get the bad out of...Read More»
Tired of hearing about the U.S. presidential election? We bear tidings of great joy: 1. It'll all be over next Tuesday (hopefully). 2. Today is Halloween, which means candy, trick-or-treaters, and other spooky distractions from 24 hours' worth of contentious headlines. 3. According to many...Read More»
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has issued its annual World Oil Outlook report, and to absolutely no one's surprise, it's pretty optimistic about the future of fossil fuels. Among OPEC's big predictions: 1. By the year 2040, 94 percent of vehicles that roam the world's...Read More»
Across America, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline now hovers around $2.01 -- and as AAA reports, it's poised to dip even lower. Motorists haven't paid this little for gas since 2009. How much lower will prices go? That depends on a few factors. Those keeping it cheap...Read More»
When the folks at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute first began tracking the average fuel economy of new cars sold in the U.S., it was 20.1 mpg. That was in October 2007. Six years and one month later, researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle are happy to report...Read More»
Typically, fuel prices spike in the spring and the fall, as refineries stop making one seasonal blend of gasoline and start making another. The changeover produces an artificial gas shortage that drives prices up until the floodgates open and a new fuel blend arrives. But according to CNN...Read More»
Auto recalls are a little like trips to the dentist: time-consuming, frustrating, and even though we know they're food for us, we'd rather avoid them. As such, it's a little unusual to find consumers hankering for a recall, but a growing contingent of Jeep owners are doing just that. The problem...Read More»
Hybrid or diesel? For car buyers seeking the highest possible fuel economy, this is one of the most basic questions that must be asked. Both powertrains offer higher mpg ratings and fuel-tank ranges than conventional gasoline engines. Of course, both also offer different driving experiences...Read More»
Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up. We've often dreamed about having a flamethrower on our car--you know, getting all Mad Max when you're ahead of us driving 15 mph slower than the speed limit while you're texting or something--but we never dreamed it was actually possible. To the rescue...Read More»
In case you've been trapped in a cubicle for the past few months, it's summer again, and that means gas prices are making their march back up toward their peak. While fears of $4 per gallon gas aren't prominent - yet - Hyundai is pre-empting the rise with a promise of $1.49 gas for a full year, or...Read More»
No, we won't all be driving golf carts. We won't all have to drive a truncated 2009 Toyota Yaris either. Relax and chill, folks. Let's do a little reality-based projecting on what 2016 might look like. In 2016, the new mileage and emissions rules announced today by the Obama administration require...Read More»
It's long been tradition that big cars have big engines. But fuel-economy standards (in the US) and carbon emissions limits (in Europe) mean that even the big cars of tomorrow will have to use far less gasoline than they do today. One way they'll get there is by radically downsizing the engines...Read More»
An article in Science magazine says that growing corn for ethanol is an inefficient use of farmland. (Of course, if you've been paying attention, this isn't really news.) A better option? Growing trees that can be burned to produce volts for electric vehicles. Sorry, hippie friends. According to...Read More»
We get asked a lot of questions by friends and colleagues looking to buy cars and trucks, as we noted elsewhere this morning. But we also get asked a lot about future cars, especially hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. The standard question is either, "When should we expect...Read More»
TDI, we hardly knew ye. Dispensed before birth, now merely a dream of the clean, high-mileage supercar, how should we mourn the death of the Audi R8 V12 TDI diesel--which Audi now says it won't build after all? First revealed at the 2008 Detroit auto show as the Audi R8 TDI Concept, then updated as...Read More»
Ask most energy analysts how to cut US petroleum usage, and they'll point to Europe, where gasoline costs more than double the price in the States. For decades, European countries have taxed gasoline heavily, and the laws of economics work: Consumption per capita is much lower. Now Ford Motor Co...Read More»
Last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart had a sit-down with Daniel Sperling, co-author of Two Billion Cars. (The other authors: policy consultant Deborah Gordon and governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wrote the foreward.) As with most talk shows, the segment was too short to generate truly...Read More»
Got wood?: Students at North Carolina State University have built a wooden supercar that can hit 240 mph. And you know what it's called? The Splinter (pictured above). Schwing! [Autoexpress] Is there something you want to tell us?: Just days after announcing a merger with Chrysler, Fiat posted a...Read More»
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