Super Moody Group

Chevrolet makes a hybrid Tahoe - it gets 21 city / 22 highway. But the company's own non-hybrid SUVs do better than that. The 2010 Chevrolet Traverse gets a combined average of 19 mpg topping out at 24 mpg on the highway. The smaller 2010 Equninox does even better with a 26 mpg combined EPA estimate and 32 mpg on the highway. Although the Toyota Prius does get a real world 50 mpg, many more affordable small cars do nearly as good as other hybrids - Kia Forte EX w/ fuel economy package 36 mpg highway, 2011 Ford Fiesta w/ automatic transmission 29 city / 40 highway, 2010 VW Jetta SportWagen TDI 30 city / 42 highway. Other cars like the Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra Blue, VW Golf TDI and Honda Fit do well too but most are priced at or below $20,000 (the VWs are a little more) So maybe skip the hybrid and save some money.

After driving the 2011 Ford Fiesta for about two days in San Francisco, CA I can honestly say this small car is better than any other subcompact - better than the Fit Sport, Yaris, Smart, Aveo and probably even better than the current Focus (although Ford is quick to point out the current Focus won't be with us much longer). The Fiesta's 1.6 liter inline four isn't dripping with power but it is more than adequate. The 120 hp engine also gets decent fuel economy - in mixed city and highway driving from Half Moon Bay back to the city I averaged 38.9 mpg. This is thanks, in part, to the new PowerShift six-speed dual clutch transmission. Sadly, there's no shift it yourself feature. Handling is excellent for such an inexpensive car - Scion's xD feels sloppy by comparison and even the Fit Sport doesn't quite deliver the Fiesta's crisp, sure feel. Amazingly, the interior remains quiet even on the highway, the seats are comfortable and the interior materials are wel...

If you haven't seen Ken Block's jaw dropping Gymkhana 2 video by now you've probably been doing a 20 year stint at Folsom Prison or you're a parent with a toddler - different choices, same result, you don't get out much. Just in case - you can see it here. Now we know there will be another super stellar stunt video and this time around Block trades the modified Subaru in for a tweaked Ford Fiesta - no, not the yellow hatchback from the 80s, the new 2011 Fiesta that's set to go on sale here in the US this Summer. The Ford press release reads, in part - "For Monster World Rally Team driver Block, the opportunity to push the limits of his car control while maneuvering around a series of cones, slaloms, 180-degree and 360-degree and figure-eight turns and other obstacles all while utilizing extreme acceleration, braking and drifting is pretty much the definition of fun. For that reason, Block chose the Ford Fiesta as the car that will be purpose-built for his ...

It's no secret that Ford has been planning an upgrade to its stellar Sync info-tainment system but now we know that the first car to get the expanded Sync services is the 2011 Ford Fiesta. This week in San Francisco, Ford is showing off the new Fiesta to a select group of people - sorry no driving impressions until Monday. The new Sync features include a Pandora and Stitcher interface - you can even "thumbs up" a song. The new system is called Sync AppLink which allows a driver or passenger to access smartphone apps via voice control. The truly amazing thing about Ford's Sync system isn't so much what it does - and it does a lot. No, the really great thing here is that Ford clearly gets that most people who get all geeked out by Sync like technology probably aren't in the market for a $30-40,000 car. Putting AppLink on affordable cars like the 2011 Ford Fiesta is almost as brilliant as the software itself. Here's a video on the Twitter/OpenBeak feature .