This is a bit of a turn around, isn’t it.

Just a short while ago, automakers were up in arms with the new, more stringent fuel efficiency standards that were going to come into play in 2016. Some thought they were too short on time to develop the technology necessary to meet the new standards, while others even asked to be exempted from the new standards.

However, with newly announced mileage requirements for light trucks and vehicles running through 2018 to 2025, automakers are breathing a sigh of relief as the pressure is relieved slightly with the extension. On top of it all, the new standards will be national which means manufacturers won’t need to abide by different state laws. For instance, California has the strictest emission laws in Amurrica and they have long been a thorn in the side of automakers.

This is an interesting move. Something definitely needs to be done with how much gas our cars use, but time is rapidly running out for a solution, especially considering how much oil is being lost as you read this post from the leak of the States shoreline. Is it better to force automakers into coming up with fuel efficient cars in a short period of time and risking unforeseen problems because they were rushed? Or is it better to give them time to develop good technology while we suck up more and more of the earth’s non-renewable resources?

What do you think?

[Autoblog Green]

Granted there is likely some catch to the effect of it not being able to achieve 3l/100kms while it’s doing 0-100 in 3.2 seconds, but still, it is quite impressive nevertheless.

This plug-in concept will feature a V8 producing 500 horsepower matched to an electric motor that produces 218 horsepower for a combined horsepower rating of 718. The 918 Spyder concept operates like any other parallel hybrid where the gas and electric motor can work in conjunction with each other or indepentendly depending on the driving conditions. The car also features electric drive (E-Drive) which means it can travel up to 25 kilometres on the electric motor alone.

On the environmental end, Porsche claims a CO2 raiting of just 70 grams per kilometer.

Except to see many more supercars attempting to acheive performance yet efficiency as BMW is hoping to pull off a similar trick with its production version of its Vision EfficientDynamics concept and with Ferrari expecting to introduce a hybrid version of its 599 at Geneva very shortly.

Congrats to the 2011 Lotus Elise where the big news is that it is the the best performance car for CO2 emissions.

It’s able to achieve this mostly by its light weight (just under 2,000 ounds) and it’s new small 1.6 litre efficient engine borrowed from Toyota. 134 horsepower is generated from this 4 cylinder and it cuts its emissions by 13% over the 1.8 litre engine, producing only 155 g ofC02 per kilometre.

The new Elise will now sport a toned down front end with design cues borrowed from the awesome Evora.

Now for the bad news. We won’t be getting this new environmentally friendly Elise in Canada due to it being an extremely low volume selling vehicle.

But the 1.8 litre version will still stick around and it can hold its own for efficiency with a 9L/100 kms rating.

Overall they’ve improved…slightly.

While most car companies have been focusing on fuel efficiency and pushing money savings as the main benefit to the public, the reality is they are all being forced to make better vehicles to cut back on Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions as well.

The overall improvement is 2.8% over the 2008-2009 year for the U.S. The study was performed by British Consulting Firm JATO Dynamics.

Any improvement is all well and good, but there needs to be significantly more change in this area.

Can you guess the car company that improved its CO2 the most? Find out which one after the jump.

Ford is the most improved brand. It improved its overall emissions by 6.3%.

In terms of small cars, Smart and Mini took top honours, with Scion placing not too far behind.

The two best overall are the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight with the lowest CO2 emitted out of any vehicle. No surprise there.

[Green Advisor]

By Kevin Harrison

A few days ago, I was on my way to Halifax from Dartmouth via Metro Transit’s superb bus services. It was around lunch time and I expected it to be quite busy. It was. However I was able to get myself a seat near the front of the bus which is typically reserved for the elderly, people who are disabled or have  young children. At one point a woman got on the bus and sat down next to me. This annoyed me because at no point during her time on the bus did she do anything remotely surprising. I had her ‘type’ pinned down as soon as the bus pulled up. She was clearly a crazy woman. Now, normally I don’t tend to judge books by their covers, but there seems to be a law in the universe that anyone that is remotely ‘loony tunes’ will interact with me, no matter what the circumstances.

I knew that this woman would choose to sit next to me rather than take the empty seats across from me. I knew that she would hit me in the face a few times with her bags as she attempted to sit down. I knew that she would ask me to hold her travel mug while she composed herself, then once settled in, act like the mug wasn’t hers. I knew that she would spend the majority of the trip talking to me about her dog “Jack” who may or may not exist. Seriously, the way she spoke about him made me question whether he was all in her head. It was at this point when I had started to pray that an elderly woman would get on the bus so I could give up my seat and get a break from hearing about how she once met a man with the same name as Tom Cruise, but wasn’t Tom Cruise, yet she still asked for his autograph anyway.

Sometimes you can nail down the personality of a car before driving it too, which is also irritating. For instance before you get into a Toyota Corolla (it does not matter what year) you know you will be in for a rather boring ride, but at least nothing will go wrong the gas pedal you’ll be able to save some gas. Before you get behind the wheel of a Ferrari 599 you know you’ll be in for one of the most thrilling adrenaline inducing rides of your life, but only if you can get it started first without jumper cables.

I thought I had the Touareg nailed down too. Turns out, I didn’t.

With its massive eye-catching 20 inch wheels, low profile tires, silver exterior trim, and blinding xenon headlamps I had VW’s mid-sized SUV pegged as another wannabe off-roader that only saw city streets and spent more time in mall parking lots than on a gravel road. In fact during my time with the Touareg, one guy referred to it as “a wannabe Cayenne”. It seemed this SUV was but one in a very crowded luxury ute market that only had big wheels to help it stand out in a crowd.

But the fact is, this Touareg is a capable machine that does stand out and a lot has to do with what’s under the hood. The V6 TDI is a new option for 2010. With 225 horses and 425 pound feet of torque, it’s a wonder why VW waited so long to drop it in the Touareg’s engine bay. It’s perfectly suited for this kind of vehicle. Due to all that torque, the optional tow hitch can actually be used to tow pretty much anything, which gives some credibility to the Touareg’s rugged appearance.

Power is readily available at low RPM’s, and is most noticeable when the automatic switches to second gear. The Touareg TDI can run a respectable 8.1 second sprint from 0 to 100. Not bad considering this porker weighs just over 5000 pounds. All that weight doesn’t necessarily translate into bad fuel economy either thanks to that impressive diesel. Rated at 11.9L/100 kms city and 8.0L/100 kms highway, the TDI gets significantly better mileage than its gas engine brother which is rated at a dismal 14.6L/100 kms city and 10.4L/100 kms highway.

VW likes to make sure the words ‘Clean Diesel’ follow the TDI, and a big reason why is to enhance public perception. The TDI emits 5508 kg of carbon dioxide (C02) per year. That’s roughly only 300 kg better than the gas version but a whopping 2000 kg worse than the Jetta TDI. Again, if the TDI went on the Jenny Craig diet, this would like help with better Co2 scores. Still, it’s on par with the BMW X5 diesel and Mercedes-Benz Blutech diesel. Less C02 and particulate matter is always a good thing, no matter how small the improvement, so kudos to VW for the effort.

On pavement around town, the Touareg TDi is quite comfortable, despite those large 20 inch wheels, low profile tires and a sport suspension, which are part of the optional $3,500 sport package. In fact, the handling is quite decent because of it – it’s not just all for show. The suspension isn’t so firm that you need to drive it like you have hemorrhoids, yet is firm enough to take a corner at relative high speeds without that unnerving feeling that you’re going to flip if you don’t slow down. It is very possible to have fun driving this vehicle, but again, fun is relative for a heavy SUV. BMW’s X5 Xdrive35d handles better despite it’s awful name (and having a name worse than Touareg is hard to do). The BMW just feels a tad tighter in the corners and the stability control doesn’t interfere as much.

I was lucky enough to get a snowfall of around 15 centimeters during my time with the Touareg TDI. I initially was a little concerned as low profile tires are usually hopeless in snow, so I drove it cautiously on the main roads. The TDI handled it fine, but admittedly any vehicle would’ve handled it fine considering how I was driving it. So, to really let loose, I found an empty parking lot. It turns out, the Touareg’s all-wheel drive system can handle snowy conditions with ease, despite the tires (that’s not to say that winter tires aren’t necessary as I believe the Touareg would’ve done even better with a good set on).

With no one around, I let out my inner nine-year-old and turned off the traction control. The Touareg felt right at home, slipping and sliding between doing donuts and and some slalom exercises, all the while feeling composed and almost relaxed.
The interior is the place to be if you have a button fetish. There are way too many. On top of that, they are all mostly on the small side so pushing them with a glove hand means you unintentionally hit two buttons at once. Using a dial for the heated seats made it even worse.Eventually you become frustrated and just take your gloves off. A heated steering wheel would be appreciated in this instance. But despite the button overload, the interior presentation is excellent with superb quality materials for fit and finish, with only one exception of the dials which made very cheap clicking sounds. At night, the soft blue backgrounds over red dials really gives it a unique futuristic look. VW really does know how to make a great looking and feeling interior.

Cargo room is definitely not lacking as it can easily swallow up 31 cubic feet with the rear seats up, and 71 cubic feet with them down. The only issue is that the seats don’t fold completely flat. Otherwise, you’ll have no trouble fitting cargo back there.

Likewise, you won’t have any problem fitting three average sized adults in the back seats either. There is more than adequate leg and foot room, even with the drivers seat set back all the way. The rear leather bench is just as comfortable as the two bucket seats up front, and the middle seat is actually usable. When no one is sitting in it, it makes a nice arm rest or can turn into a cup holder for two. The cup holders actually fit North American sized drinks, which is both great and embarrassing at the same time.

There are a few issues, however. For a vehicle of this size and of this price, the windshield wipers seem like they came from a salvage yard. They’re absolutely dreadful, including the rear wiper as well.

Secondly, about a day after picking up the Touareg, the computer had decided I was an idiot. It kept telling me I was out of windshield wiper fluid by popping it up on the disaply screen literally every seven seconds or so. Yes, I get it. There’s no washer fluid. There’s no need to repeatedly tell me this, I understood it the first time – English is my first language after all. There should really be a “read” button like Volvo has where you can push it to let the computer know that you understand what it’s telling you and wish to continue on without interruption until you have time to buy windshield wiper fluid.

After passing a slow moving vehicle on the highway, with much gusto thanks to that torque-y engine if I’m honest, the engine light came on. I made sure I checked the gas tank cover and it was sealed properly. This engine should be able to handle passing any vehicle no matter how aggressively without issue considering how new it is.

Then there were the front sensors which seemed to consistently warn me that I was immanently going to hit something when there was clearly nothing there. The first time I thought maybe a cat or something had ran out in front of me and I hadn’t noticed so I slammed on the brakes just in case. But then it kept happening. It happened five more times throughout my time with the Touareg. Again, no cats or any objects, just the Touareg apparently messing about with the driver.

Then there’s the issue of the price. The over $63,000 as tested price is quite the sticker shock – not what you’d expect from “The People’s Car”. You can get the BMW X5 diesel for the same price and it has a better engine and better handling, although admittedly, if it is optioned out like the Touareg, the price climbs steadily from there.

But in a way that doesn’t even matter. This is one of the few SUV’s that can actually be proud to be one and which surprises in a good way. It has excellent rugged looks (despite being an eight year old design), it proves to hold its own in bad conditions, the interior is great, there’s lots of cargo room, it handles exceptionally well and it has a tremendous engine under the hood. If you take away the shaky VW reliability and cut the price down you’d have yourself one hell of an SUV. And that’s something people just might not expect, which makes the Touareg TDI refreshingly non-irritating.

Base Price: $58,300

Price As Tested: $63,380

Pros:

• Excellent engine
• Great looks
• Handles decently for its weight as size
• A bit of piece of mind for the environment

Cons:

• Shaky reliability
• Steep price
• Too many buttons on the dash

Score: 8/10

All photos are property of cardriven.ca and are not to be used or distributed for without permission.

In the performance world, horsepower isn’t everything even though most American manufacturers seem to think so. Slapping 500 brake horse power into a car is useless if it can’t deal with taking a corner when the road gets twisty. In fact, horsepower is only one small piece of the puzzle. Tires, brakes and suspension all play a role in making a truly exquisite performance car. Like many human beings, more weight means more misery and this is true in the performance car world as well.

That’s why in most true performance cars, there is no sat nav, no heated seats and sometimes even no radio. Every little bit counts.

But there is another reason to lose weight.

Lamborghini is being forced to voluntarily losing weight to reduce gas usage, which means reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This is not a new concept, although apparently CEO Steve Winklemann is only figuring this out now.

Says Winklemann “It has come to the point where acceleration equals consumption…”

Uh, acceleration has always meant consumption. That’s why we consistently need to fill our tanks with gas, and why there is now an oil crisis. But no matter, Winklemann now understands that acceleration of any form requires energy and is determined to make those wonderful supercars are friendlier to David Suzuki types.

This is really win-win for Lamborghini. Not only will their cars be even better than they already are, but Lamborghini can now tout themselves as the latest to hop on board the ‘green’ movement. Even if Obama’s new fuel efficiency ratings forced them into it.

In any event, is this now signifying the end of the horsepower wars?

[Autoweek]