Mazda tops EPA fuel-efficiency rankings for fifth year in a row

2016 Mazda 3Pick-ups and SUVs are rapidly taking over the American automotive landscape, but there's at least one measure in which it benefits an automaker to sell fewer of those vehicles. In the Environmental Protection Agency's latest "Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends" report, Mazda was named as the...

Best deals on hybrid, electric, fuel-efficient cars for January 2018

2017 Chevrolet Bolt EVIs one of your New Year's resolutions to go green? We're here to help with this month's deals on electric, plug-in hybrid, hybrid, and other efficient vehicles. Against last month, the cars offering the best incentives haven't changed—but the incentives themselves have. Click ahead to find out where you can save the most as you kick off...

Gas prices primed to rise in 2018, highest in four years: report

Gas + Electricity sign: how long until we see this for highway rest stops?   [mockup: John Briggs]As Americans collectively sigh at their credit-card bills from the holiday season, GasBuddy has some bad news that won't help ease the financial pain. The fuel price-tracking website predicts the cost of a gallon of fuel will rise by $0.19 per gallon in 2018, on average, to the highest level gas prices have been since 2014. That might not seem...

Automaker push to delay, modify, or kill CAFE is nothing new

On-Road Fuel Economy of Vehicles in the United States: 1923-2015 (Sivak and Schoettle)As automakers yet again lobby Washington to roll back planned fuel-economy targets for 2025, they've employed some familiar tactics to drive the point home to lawmakers. It cannot be done. It will cost too much. It will destroy the industry and kill jobs. Consumers do not want this. The science is not clear. The market will solve it. If you were...

China is serious on fuel economy: 500-plus models to go out of production

2016 BYD Tang plug-in hybrid SUV, made in ChinaChina has taken a major step toward cleaning up the new cars sold in the country beginning January 1. As numerous countries debate plans to end sales of fossil-fuel vehicles completely at points in the future, China has now forced the end of production for some 553 models, starting Monday. The vehicles, from a wide range of automakers, can no...

New 2018 Jeep Wrangler boosts fuel economy, from bad to less bad

2018 Jeep WranglerAhead of the next-generation 2018 Jeep Wrangler's debut, the EPA released fuel-economy estimates for the V-6 powered model of the archetypal SUV. They're higher, as are the ratings for pretty much every new model, courtesy of steadily rising corporate average fuel-economy rules for model years 2012 through 2025. The biggest help for the Wrangler...

Saving gas by lifting the pedal: engine braking vs coasting (video)

Will you use less fuel during engine braking or simply by coasting?The way a driver operates a car can produce very different fuel-economy numbers, and when driving downhill, two notable techniques come into play. The first is leaving the car in gear and using so-called engine braking to provide at least some deceleration. But many believe putting a car in neutral uses less fuel, followed by use of the brakes to...