Eco-Friendly Car of the Year Nominees 2016
Eco-Friendly Car of the Year Nominee
Clean diesel has gotten a sooty-black eye recently, but there's no evidence this efficient alternative fuel is inherently flawed when executed properly. One of the best examples is the X3 xDrive28d, with its EPA mileage estimate of 27/34/30 mpg city/highway/combined, a full 6 mpg combined better than the most efficient all-wheel-drive gas X3. Just as impressive, the price premium is just $1,500, so you have a chance of making your money back, depending on how diesel is priced in your area. This X3 could go as many as 600 miles on a tankful, with a driving experience better than any hybrid.
Eco-Friendly Car of the Year Nominee
While no one was looking, Mazda — a company known for driving fun more than any other attribute — figured out how to make its gas-powered cars exceptionally efficient, without sacrificing the driving fun. The Mazda3 compact sedan and hatchback exemplify that feat, with an EPA-estimated 30/41/34 mpg city/highway/combined with the automatic transmission and a good-old six-speed that's responsive and unobtrusive. In something of a perfect storm, the new powertrains coalesced with great new styling, upgraded interiors and, long overdue, a modern multimedia system.
When gas prices are low, the higher cost of higher mileage becomes harder for shoppers to justify, and squeezing every last mile per gallon out of every vehicle type becomes a lower priority. But there’s still a core buyer who puts efficiency first, and the higher the numbers, the better. As a result, we return to the basics with this year’s Eco-Friendly Car of the Year: the 2016 Toyota Prius c. The smallest of the Prius models combines extraordinarily high gas mileage with low price. Even among the growing number of non-hybrid cars with high mileage ratings, the wee Prius c still amazes with an EPA-estimated 53/46/50 mpg city/highway/combined — comparable to the outgoing 2015 regular-size Prius. (Having just been redesigned, with even higher mileage, the 2016 isn’t eligible for this award.)
The Prius c is no luxury car, but when viewed alongside other subcompacts, it’s an impressive package even at a starting price of $20,395, including a destination fee. Nowadays the highest mileage often comes from upgraded engines, turbos, optional automatic transmissions and other high technology. In the end, no technology delivers results like Toyota’s hybrid system, and nowhere does it do so like it does in the Priuses.