I admit to a love hate relationship with cars.
I complain about 'em clogging our roads and exhausting our lungs yet I'm fascinated by emerging clean car technologies, and I drive.
Like most Americans, I love my freedom.
So naturally, this week I'm heading out to the 2011 L.A. Auto Show to check out emerging automotive beauties and participate in the Green Cars/LA Auto Show Ride & Drive for journalists, where more than 25 vehicles will be on hand to drive back-to-back.
According to insiders, virtually every automaker exhibiting at the Show has a solution for cars to run cleaner and use less fuel.
For example, cars using batteries has grown by more than 25% since the last Show, and autos that achieve 40-plus miles per gallon using traditional gasoline or clean diesel have doubled.
The clean technologies to look for include: advanced four-cylinder vehicles such as the new Chevrolet Spark; clean diesel fuel vehicles such as the Volkswagen Passat TDI; and hybrids and EVs, including the all-new concept vehicles like BMW's all-electric, iBMW i3. A pretty cool looking future-mobile, if you ask me. I'll see about getting a photo to show you.
And the five GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR Finalists include:
- 2012 Ford Focus Electric
- 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas
- 2012 Mitsubish I
- 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI
- 2012 Toyota Prius V
While the current trend is toward all-electric vehicles, as these finalists attest, clean diesel, natural gas, hybrids (and I'll add highly fuel efficient cars like the Honda Fit and Fiat 500 C which I test drove, photo above) are all representative of what makes a car cleaner.
If you'd like to read reviews of a few of my favorite cleaner cars, check out the Fiat 500 C and Honda CRZ.
The 2011 L.A. Auto Show is open to the public November 18, 2011 - Nov. 27th. For more information about the 2011 L.A. Auto Show click here.
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