green living, smart spending
Pardon the pun, but the 2012 Scion IQ is a smart buy. This feature loaded premium micro-subcompact four-seater starts at just $15,265. The Scion iQ is only 10 feet long, making it the world’s smallest four-seater, but it’s big on safety and technology — including the world’s first rear window airbag — plus other functionality
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The 2012 Nissan Versa is the least expensive car in North America, with a starting price of just $10,990 MSRP and a budget-saving fuel economy of 33 mpg combined city/highway. Now that I have your attention — The 2012 Nissan Versa is no upholstered roller skate, no stripped-down entry-level tin can that you’d be embarrassed
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The 2012 Volkswagen Beetle is an icon, a bargain, and fuel efficient,too. The redesigned third generation of the classic “people’s car” will start at just $18,995, for a stylish, sporty, four-passenger car that’s fun to drive , and loaded with what I call creature features. The 2.5 liter base model has a 170-horsepower in-line five-cylinder engine
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Seats five, gets 40 mpg highway and 28 city, has a fun, sporty driving feel, a top safety rating, and a base price of $16,500. Even the fully-loaded top-of-the-line model clocks in at just $22,500. No wonder the Ford Focus is one of the bright stars in the Ford garage. The Ford Focus has been
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Price, fuel efficiency, US government safety ratings, depreciation and residual value, and warranty coverage all determine whether a vehicle is a good buy. NADA Guides, a top provider of vehicle information and pricing, scores hundreds of vehicles each model year to determine the Best Car Buys. Here’s the 2011 list for the most popular car
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California B&Bs have gone green with a variety of innovative and eco-friendly practices, including using solar power and geothermal energy systems to reduce electric costs, and providing electric car charging stations for guests arriving in plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf and Mini E. In Santa Cruz, The
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Fuel efficient, fun to drive, starting price of just $15,800. No wonder nearly half of all Mazda models sold in North America are the Mazda3, which has been racking up awards — the latest of which is as a “top safety pick” by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), for achieving the highest crash
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The all-new 2011 Kia Optima has been collecting notable awards that would be impressive even for a sedan that costs a good bit more than this class-leading, family friendly, fuel efficient sedan with a starting price of $18,995. Most important for my money is that the 2011 Kia Optima is the first Korean-built vehicle to
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Simply, the 2011 VW Jetta is great car. This is a family-friendly, budget-friendly sedan that does double duty as a peformance sedan. This all-new, redesigned model is precision German engineering and safety features, lots of cabin and cargo space, and what I call ‘creature features’. Combine that with fuel economy of up to 42
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For the eleventh year in a row, Honda is the most green, most fuel efficient car company in the world. That’s the word from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), which rates five Honda models as among the “greenest vehicles of 2011” . The greenest, most fuel efficient of them all is the
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