It feels weird typing this, but the new Chrysler minivan that debuted today was not a Town & Country, or even a Caravan for that matter. Nope, Chrysler is naming their new family hauler Pacifica, just like the not-particularly-successful Pacifica that once fought the crossover battle for Chrysler way back when it was married to Daimler. Despite that surprising twist, the actual product looks about how we’d expect it to. Chrysler’s 200 sedan lends its look to the front end and the side and rear are fresh enough to get years down the road before demanding a facelift. The big news besides the name was the Plug-in Hybrid model that will travel 30 miles on a charge and return 80 MPGe even after firing up the 3.6 liter V6. You lose the ability to stow the middle row of seats (a Chrysler minivan trademark), but that seems a small price to pay for saving the planet. Pricing wasn’t announced but the new minivans should be at soccer games near you this fall.
Our main criticism of Honda these days is that they don’t seem to be willing to push any design or powertrain boundaries. It’s the same old transmissions and engines going into more-or-less the same old designs. That criticism was only partially addressed when Honda rolled out the Accord Coupe Concept which features some new powertrains in a coupe that looks very much like what you’ve been able to buy at any Honda dealer the past few years. We know that when the production Accord launches later this summer it will look like what you see here minus the fancy wheels and shiny bits. Read more…
Toyota took great pains to remind us that it was the pioneer in the industry and proved its commitment to that segment by unveiling the production version of the Prius c. Toyota claims the ‘c’ stands for ‘city.’ The intent of the Prius c is to offer the most efficient and lowest priced member of the Prius family. With a starting price of under $19,000 the Prius c is actually less expensive than the original Prius that debuted more than 10 years ago. The ‘c’ promises an impressive 53 mpg in city driving and 46 mpg on the highway. We found this to be an attractive addition to the Prius lineup and hope that it may have more enticing driving dynamics than the sterile standard Prius. Unfortunately, acceleration doesn’t sound promising with the 1.5L four combining with the electric motor for a total of 99 hp. We were not so impressed with our first look at the interior plastics, but we should withold final judgment until we are able to drive one of these cars. Read more…
It’s not often that we anticipate testing a vehicle as much as we did with Chevrolet’s Volt. That’s because it’s not often that a vehicle comes along packing a powertrain as revolutionary as GM’s Voltec system. And it was because of this advanced propulsion system and its lightning paced development that we were preparing ourselves to overlook a few rough spots in the days before the vehicle’s delivery. We figured that if mighty Toyota still hadn’t sanded off all the sharp edges on its hybrid powertrain after three generations of Prius development the Volt and its more advanced, but still first gen, technology could be a bit of a half-baked science experiment in the real-world hands of our editors. The truth, it turns out, is that GM has managed to surprise our jaded staff with the level of refinement we enjoyed in our production-spec Volt. It’s so astonishing that it’s difficult to put into words, but we’re confident that after digesting both our written and video reviews you’ll understand our level of admiration for what the General’s best and brightest have accomplished with the world’s first extended-range electric vehicle. Read more…
Executive Editor Brandon Dye takes the 2011 Chevrolet Volt out for a spin. He also gives a little tutorial on how to charge up your range-extended electric vehicle. Read more…
