Share this article with your friends.
Mix pious intentions with dreary mechanical bits and then stir in some driving misery, and the result is a “green car.” Green not in the color of its paint, but in the environmental virtue of its engineering and marketing. Green as in economical with fuel but stingy on fun, great with emissions but lousy to pilot. Green cars are hybrids, diesels, and electric cars stripped to the point of making a rotted ox cart seem luxurious. Except that was then—you know, like, three years ago—and this is the green car now.
The first- and second-generation greens sacrificed enjoyment on the altar of efficiency. But we’re into the third generation, and the technologies that have defined the greenies are being leveraged to produce better-driving cars—and even exciting ones. Some of the best cars in the world right now are bright green.
So with optimism beating in C/D‘s stainless-steel heart, here are 10 current production cars (arranged alphabetically) that mix all sorts of politically correct goodness with solid driving excitement. But wait, there’s more: We’ve also included two more cars from the 1980s that were ahead of their time. None of these green cars suck.
Audi A3 TDI Diesel
The sweet-driving A3—it beat both BMW and Benz in its first comparison test—begat the excellent S3 performance sedan. All A3s are based on the same MQB architecture as the equally good seventh-gen VW Golf. The TDI engine is the same 150-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel used in so many other VW Group products. Plus, the A3 sedan looks adorable. No, we haven’t driven it as of this posting, but there’s no way this car sucks.
BMW i3
Since BMW introduced its “Neue Klasse” back in 1962, the company has zealously tried to—and largely succeeded—sustain a consistent character across its lineup. A 3-series drove much like a 5er that was a lot like the stately 7. But the new i3 throws all that out and starts over without any assumptions about what a BMW is or should be. The i3 has skinny tires on large diameter wheels, uses a structure made up of carbon fiber and aluminum, and the interior looks as if it were ripped out of a glass house perched over the Pacific at Big Sur. No, it’s not M3 fast, and the twin kidneys slapped on the front are just ironic, but this car is innovative and interesting in the ways all cars should be.
BMW i8
The i8 plays supercar brother to the car above, applying all the philosophical and engineering daring of the city car to the task of engineering a brilliant two-seater. (Yes, it has two additional seats; they are there only to mock the owner or host his small dog.) It’s a plug-in hybrid that looks like next year’s Frankfurt auto show concept car and feels unlike anything else on the road. And has there ever been another car carrying a three-cylinder engine—just like the Mitsubishi Mirage!—that runs from 0 to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 12.4 at 113 mph?
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Keep this in mind: The C7 Corvette is a 460-hp beast powered by a 6.2-liter LT1 V-8. It’s capable of topping 180 mph. It carries EPA mileage ratings of 17 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway when equipped with the seven-speed manual transmission. But thanks to tricks such as cylinder deactivation, it’s capable of sipping fuel even more parsimoniously than that. Early this year, writing for our sister publication Popular Mechanics, this author took a Corvette on an economy run up California’s Central Coast and achieved an astonishing 37.3 mpg with the A/C off and holding a steady 55 mph with cruise control. For a car with this much performance, it’s unprecedented. On a graph of cars rating green ability on one axis and blood-red speed on the other, the Corvette is a solitary outlier.
Chevrolet Spark EV
For an all-electric conversion, the Spark EV is among the very best in its segment. (More accurate, it is the very best, having won a six-way EV comparison test.) It handles and rides better than some of its peers that were engineered solely as electric vehicles. But what doesn’t suck most about the Spark EV is this: If you live in Oregon or California (and have solid credit), you can lease one for only $199 a month with $949 down. The lease covers 36 months and 36,000 miles, and it’s one of the most mind-bogglingly solid deals ever offered by a car manufacturer.
Ford Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid
Chevrolet’s Volt is a fine plug-in hybrid, but it wears its green cred on its sleeve. It’s just too obviously trying to be virtuous. On the other hand is Ford’s Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, which, for most commuters, can perform the same all-electric chores as the Volt most of the time but doesn’t shout about it. Plus, even though it deserves a larger trunk, the Ford is roomier inside than the Chevy. And that doesn’t suck.
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Keep this in mind: The C7 Corvette is a 460-hp beast powered by a 6.2-liter LT1 V-8. It’s capable of topping 180 mph. It carries EPA mileage ratings of 17 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway when equipped with the seven-speed manual transmission. But thanks to tricks such as cylinder deactivation, it’s capable of sipping fuel even more parsimoniously than that. Early this year, writing for our sister publication Popular Mechanics, this author took a Corvette on an economy run up California’s Central Coast and achieved an astonishing 37.3 mpg with the A/C off and holding a steady 55 mph with cruise control. For a car with this much performance, it’s unprecedented. On a graph of cars rating green ability on one axis and blood-red speed on the other, the Corvette is a solitary outlier.
Chevrolet Spark EV
For an all-electric conversion, the Spark EV is among the very best in its segment. (More accurate, it is the very best, having won a six-way EV comparison test.) It handles and rides better than some of its peers that were engineered solely as electric vehicles. But what doesn’t suck most about the Spark EV is this: If you live in Oregon or California (and have solid credit), you can lease one for only $199 a month with $949 down. The lease covers 36 months and 36,000 miles, and it’s one of the most mind-bogglingly solid deals ever offered by a car manufacturer.
Ford Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid
Chevrolet’s Volt is a fine plug-in hybrid, but it wears its green cred on its sleeve. It’s just too obviously trying to be virtuous. On the other hand is Ford’s Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, which, for most commuters, can perform the same all-electric chores as the Volt most of the time but doesn’t shout about it. Plus, even though it deserves a larger trunk, the Ford is roomier inside than the Chevy. And that doesn’t suck.
Honda Accord Hybrid
The Accord rises to our 10Best Cars list every year with the regularity of the sunrise. Every Accord is built with the impregnable structure of a dimethylhexane molecule, rides more comfortably than an Eames lounge chair, and drives with the satisfying subtlety of an Eric Clapton chord change. And the hybrid is among the very best of the current breed. Built around a 141-hp 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder paired with a 166-hp electric motor, the result is an easygoing 196 total system horsepower that is delivered through, well, what amounts to no transmission at all. It’s a clever and silken drivetrain that amplifies the Accord’s character and makes its efficiency exciting. This is a mid-size sedan that starts at about $30,000, runs from 0 to 60 in 7.2 seconds and is EPA rated at 50 mpg in the city and 45 on the highway. It doesn’t draw attention to itself because it looks pretty much like any other Accord sedan, but it may well be the best gas-electric hybrid available anywhere.
Porsche 918 Spyder
Running on electricity alone, the 918 Spyder is EPA-rated at the equivalent of 67 mpg. That means this is a car its owner could theoretically use to bop back and forth to work every day never using any gasoline at all—just like a Nissan Leaf. So spend your $847,975 with a clear conscience that you’re doing something good for the environment. Then go find a freeway on-ramp and let the 608-hp 4.6-liter V-8 party down with the two electric motors; you’ll watch the air around the car froth up as it uses all four wheels to claw from rest to 60 mph in a staggering 2.2 seconds. Simply put, this is the quickest production car we’ve ever tested. The Ferrari LaFerrari may yet match the feat—we have yet to test that one—but the McLaren P1 fell a half-second shy. Both of them are hybrids, too.
Tesla Model S
The city of Santa Monica, California, isn’t where the all-electric Model S is assembled, but it is where the car is used. You see them all over, waiting outside Crossroads School for showbiz progeny, along the curb at Whole Foods, at every pilates studio. They’re always being driven by tiny little women in workout clothes and brand-new sneakers with purple laces. But does anyone in Santa Monica realize just how good a car the Tesla Model S really is? It’s fast, it offers usable range, it looks great, and it rides like its air springs were filled with breath exhaled by Jessica Alba. It’s almost too good for Santa Monica.
Volkswagen Golf TDI Diesel
Here’s a simple formula: combine the all-new 2015 Golf’s sweet chassis and impeccably finished cockpit with the proven torque production of VW’s 2.0-liter turbo-diesel four, and the result is a sweet and creamy frappé of automotive virtue. Diesels might not inflame the soul like a high-revving gas-burner, but they’re now so civilized and efficient that it’s hard to care.
Site: Car & Driver
The Accord rises to our 10Best Cars list every year with the regularity of the sunrise. Every Accord is built with the impregnable structure of a dimethylhexane molecule, rides more comfortably than an Eames lounge chair, and drives with the satisfying subtlety of an Eric Clapton chord change. And the hybrid is among the very best of the current breed. Built around a 141-hp 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder paired with a 166-hp electric motor, the result is an easygoing 196 total system horsepower that is delivered through, well, what amounts to no transmission at all. It’s a clever and silken drivetrain that amplifies the Accord’s character and makes its efficiency exciting. This is a mid-size sedan that starts at about $30,000, runs from 0 to 60 in 7.2 seconds and is EPA rated at 50 mpg in the city and 45 on the highway. It doesn’t draw attention to itself because it looks pretty much like any other Accord sedan, but it may well be the best gas-electric hybrid available anywhere.
Porsche 918 Spyder
Running on electricity alone, the 918 Spyder is EPA-rated at the equivalent of 67 mpg. That means this is a car its owner could theoretically use to bop back and forth to work every day never using any gasoline at all—just like a Nissan Leaf. So spend your $847,975 with a clear conscience that you’re doing something good for the environment. Then go find a freeway on-ramp and let the 608-hp 4.6-liter V-8 party down with the two electric motors; you’ll watch the air around the car froth up as it uses all four wheels to claw from rest to 60 mph in a staggering 2.2 seconds. Simply put, this is the quickest production car we’ve ever tested. The Ferrari LaFerrari may yet match the feat—we have yet to test that one—but the McLaren P1 fell a half-second shy. Both of them are hybrids, too.
Tesla Model S
The city of Santa Monica, California, isn’t where the all-electric Model S is assembled, but it is where the car is used. You see them all over, waiting outside Crossroads School for showbiz progeny, along the curb at Whole Foods, at every pilates studio. They’re always being driven by tiny little women in workout clothes and brand-new sneakers with purple laces. But does anyone in Santa Monica realize just how good a car the Tesla Model S really is? It’s fast, it offers usable range, it looks great, and it rides like its air springs were filled with breath exhaled by Jessica Alba. It’s almost too good for Santa Monica.
Volkswagen Golf TDI Diesel
Here’s a simple formula: combine the all-new 2015 Golf’s sweet chassis and impeccably finished cockpit with the proven torque production of VW’s 2.0-liter turbo-diesel four, and the result is a sweet and creamy frappé of automotive virtue. Diesels might not inflame the soul like a high-revving gas-burner, but they’re now so civilized and efficient that it’s hard to care.
Site: Car & Driver
