2016 Green Car Awards Go To Honda, Volvo, And Chevrolet

Green Car Journal announced its 2016 Green Car of the Year awards at the Washington auto show last week. This year, the categories included the Connected Green Car of the Year, Green SUV of the Year, and Luxury Green Car of the Year.  Before we get to the winners, here’s a little about the criteria that go into the selections.

The awards don’t focus solely on how green a car is. A panel of judges weighs factors other than just efficiency. Along with safety, performance, and value, they also consider how available each model is to the general public. The Chevy Spark EV, for example, is considered to be a darn good car by many but can only be purchased in California, Oregon and Maryland. Its limited distribution knocks it out of contention. The awards also seek new models that push the boundaries of automotive engineering and innovation, according to Boston.com.

2016 Luxury Green Car of the Year

This award went to the Volvo’s 7 passenger plug-in hybrid, the XC90 T8. It’s innovative powertrain features a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder engine that is both supercharged and turbocharged. Coupled to an electric motor, it develops a total of 400 horsepower for exhilarating performance on demand but eco-friendly driving at other times. It delivers an EPA estimated 53 MPGe and can travel up to 17 miles solely on electric power.

The driver can select different drive modes to accentuate either performance or fuel economy as needed. Other finalists in the category included the BMW X5 xDrive40e, Lexus RX 450h, Mercedes-Benz C350e, and Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid.

2016 Green SUV of the Year

Honda grabbed this award with its all new HR-V — a compact crossover (one of the hottest segments in the new car market right now). It has a 141 horsepower 1.8-liter Ultra Low Emissions engine. It is a new addition to the Honda lineup this year and the third Honda model honored by Green Car Journal in the last five years. Prior Honda winners include the 2012 Civic Natural Gas and the 2014 Accord.

The HR-V has many of the attributes of a larger SUV in a more efficient package. It was selected despite strong competition from the BMW X1 xDrive 28i, Hyundai Tucson, Mazda CX-3, and Toyota RAV4 Hybrid.

2016 Connected Green Car of the Year

The new Chevy Malibu Hybrid won this award because of its excellent fuel efficiency and and also its focus on the latest in vehicle technology. Its powertrain borrows much of the technology developed for the Chevy Volt. It features fuel economuy of 47 mpg, which is an astounding number for a midsize car.  Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are built in to its central touchsereen to make staying connected while on the go easier than ever.

The Malibu Hybrid also has such advanced safety features as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, forward collision alert, and a Teen Driver system. It won out over the Audi A3 e-tron, BMW 330e, Toyota Prius, and Volvo XC90 T8.

 

 

Not too big, not too small. Just right …

2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Coming To New York

Next week the world’s biggest automakers will descend on the Big Apple for the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS). Among the many anticipated new debuts will be the 2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, which the Japanese automaker teased with the above photo.

Besides the photo though, Toyota isn’t dropping any hints about the RAV4 Hybrid, and this will be the first time the brand offers a hybrid version of the popular compact crossover. The only hybrid “utility” vehicle with a Toyota badge at the moment is the seven-passenger, $50,000 Highlander Hybrid, and while our review found that it delivered great fuel economy for a big SUV, it’s priced way beyond what most people can afford.

Toyota did build the RAV4 EV briefly in a partnership with Tesla, though it was only available in California as a compliance car (albeit one with a small but devoted following). However, the Lexus 300h shares the same chassis as the RAV4, and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for the 2.5 liter engine and Synergy Hybrid system to make the jump into a cheaper Toyota. That could boost the RAV4 to up to 35 MPG, though there’s also a chance an all-new hybrid drivetrain could find its way under the hood.

We’ll find out a week from today!

2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4X4: Gas Mileage Test With V-6

It's winter in the Northeast, and last week's Polar Vortex luckily came along just as our weekend test car was a 2014 Jeep Cherokee.

This is the all-new compact crossover that replaces the old truck-like Jeep Liberty, going head-to-head with popular compact crossover utilities like the Chevy Equinox, Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, and Toyota RAV4.

After the Dodge Dart launched for 2013, it's the second new vehicle from Fiat Chrysler to use front-wheel-drive underpinnings adapted from Italian Fiat and Alfa Romeo models.

2014 Jeep Cherokee FWD 4-door Sport Dashboard

Adding all-wheel drive

The 2014 Cherokee, however, has a brand-new all-wheel-drive system that is designed to be as fuel-efficient as possible while still providing all the durability and off-road prowess that Jeep is known for.

On that front, we can only say that the Jeep crawled itself through 4 to 6 inches of snow and up our steep and unplowed driveway without drama or fuss, assisted by the "Snow" setting on the all-wheel drive SelecTerrain control knob.

We'd been eager to test the new Cherokee, having recently spent time in two different versions of the new Ford Escape, as well as a few diesel luxury crossovers.

The version we got, however, was a high-end model fitted not with the base 2.4-liter engine, but the more powerful 271-horsepower 3.2-liter Pentastar V-6.

20 to 25 mpg combined

There are no fewer than eight combinations of engine, drive system, and four-wheel-drive technology listed for the new Cherokee on the EPA site. All are fitted with a new nine-speed automatic transmission.

2014 Jeep Cherokee FWD 4-door Sport Trunk

The various Cherokee models range from a high of 25 mpg combined for the front-wheel-drive model with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine to a low of 20 mpg combined for the Cherokee Trailhawk 4WD with the 3.2-liter V-6.

Our 2014 Cherokee Limited 4x4 was rated at 22 mpg combined (19 mpg city, 27 mpg highway).

And on our test route of about 268 miles, split about two-thirds highway and one-third around-town and suburban stop-and-go, we averaged 23.8 miles per gallon as indicated on the vehicle's in-dash display.

The secondary trip odometer registered 743 miles, and an average fuel economy of 23.3 mpg.

MORE: Fancy A 9-Speed Gearbox For Better Gas Mileage? Chrysler Does

We suspect that the nine-speed automatic transmission really pays off on the highway, when we noted the engine turning at 1500 rpm or below. We felt an occasional low thrumming noise as the engine stayed at low speeds even under heavier load--otherwise known as "lugging."

While we know 20 to 25 mpg may not seem high to many readers, it's 30 to 45 percent better than the fuel-economy numbers recorded by the old Jeep Liberty--and the new Cherokee is a much nicer vehicle.

Better than Subaru AWD?

Overall, we were more impressed than we expected to be at the 2014 Jeep Cherokee. It's comfortable, capable in snow, and remarkably refined.

2014 Jeep Cherokee FWD 4-doorSport Grille

The frontal styling is a matter of taste, of course, but the rest of the vehicle is modern--if not especially Jeep-like to our eyes. Or as one passenger remarked, "It looks kinda Japanese--is that good or bad?"

Other observations from our three-day tenure with the new compact Jeep:

• The interior is superb, with high-quality materials--and it's a huge step up from the (admittedly less pricey) Dodge Dart
• Rear-seat room isn't huge, though four adults will fit with a bit of horse trading
• The 25 to 29 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seat, on the other hand, is ample--though slightly compromised for tall items by a steeply raked rear window
• Unlike the premium European compact crossovers we tested, the Cherokee comes with tall all-weather tires, just what we needed in the snow
• The all-wheel drive is as capable as any Subaru we've tested, probably more so--and in the Northeast, that's high praise
• It takes awhile to adapt to the ventilation controls, which are split between knobs on the lower part of the dash and finer adjustments in the central touchscreen

2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4x4, Catskill Mountains, NY, Jan 2014

From $30K to a $37K sticker

Our 2014 Jeep Cherokee Limited 4x4 carried a base price of $29,995, and included four option packages bundled together as Customer Preferred package 26G.

The $2,155 Technology Group included blind-spot and cross-path detection, parallel and perpendicular parking assist, adaptive cruise control, forward-collision warning, rain-sensitive windshield wipers, and automatic headlight high beams.

The Luxury Group, at $1,595, added premium leather seats, ventilated in the front; a power-operated liftgate; memory for the driver's seat, exterior mirrors, and radio; and high-intensity discharge (HID) headlamps, which were excellent.

The 271-horsepower 3.2-liter V-6 engine was a $1,495 addition, though it did come with twin chrome-tipped exhaust outlets.

MORE: 2013 Ford Escape 2.0-Liter EcoBoost: Gas Mileage Drive Report

And for $795, the Uconnect system added a navigation system, HD radio, SiriusXM satellite traffic and TravelLink data, and one-year subscriptions to both Sirius and Uconnect Access.

Adding in the mandatory destination charge of $995, the total price of our test Cherokee was $37,030.

Source: Green Car Reports