Inexperienced Automobile Stories Greatest Automobile To Purchase: Previous winners
8 min read
From the Nissan Leaf to the Lucid Air, with the Toyota Prius, Chevy Volt, and Tesla Mannequin 3 among the many many formative fashions in between, our Inexperienced Automobile Stories Greatest Automobile To Purchase winners annually have supplied not simply what we expect you should purchase, however a glimpse of the longer term.
Over time, we’ve modified the necessities for the award because the green-car market has shifted away from what was once known as “economic system vehicles” towards an alignment of inexperienced and premium costs—one which, for accessibility, is in want of correction.
Early on, we utilized a $60,000 worth cap for finalists, which needed to be scored excessive versus green-car friends at our companion purchasing website, The Automobile Connection. Round 2017 we lifted the worth cap however added a 200-mile driving vary minimal for EVs and a 32-mile electrical vary minimal for plug-in hybrids. This yr, with EVs accessible in practically each car class, we dropped plug-in hybrids altogether. And, because the charging infrastructure expands and extra households begin to search second (or third) EVs for commuting, we dropped the vary requirement for EVs.
2019 Chevrolet Volt
The thread connecting all of those picks: Each single one was both a plug-in car or supplied a plug-in model.
A decade in the past we believed in electrical propulsion as the longer term, and since then peer-reviewed papers, revered scientific sources, automakers, and regulators alike are collectively placing momentum behind the concept—that within the overwhelming majority of typical use instances, EVs are higher for the setting. We cowl plug-in hybrids, hybrids, and different methods to realize larger effectivity and decrease power use as a result of we understand that it is probably not an answer for everybody, like apartment-dwellers. We need to underscore the most effective, however not alienate anybody from striving to do higher.
Right here’s our our record of previous Greatest Automobile To Purchase winners:
2011 Nissan Leaf
2011 Nissan Leaf
This was the electrical automotive that began all of it, the primary mass-priced trendy automotive run purely on battery energy with no tailpipe.
We first drove the Nissan Leaf’s powertrain in 2009, put in in a boxy Nissan Dice, when Leaf improvement was within the dwelling stretch. Satirically, that bundle may need made the Leaf extra of a U.S. success.
Rated at 73 miles of vary, the 2011 Nissan Leaf offered sufficient vary for many American commuters and confirmed that EVs may very well be secure, dependable, and low cost to run. And with numerous enhancements alongside the way in which—a few of them together with a lot bigger battery packs—Nissan has cumulatively offered about 600,000 Leafs globally.
2012 Toyota Prius V
2012 Toyota Prius household
The 2012 Toyota Prius V tall wagon scaled up the Prius thought and introduced extra rear-seat flexibility and cargo house with out severely impacting the Prius’ wonderful gasoline economic system, whereas the Prius Plug-In Hybrid offered 6 miles of all-electric driving.
Though neither of those two fashions was game-changing, rising the enchantment of what was then probably the most fuel-efficient lineup was very deserving of recognition. And looking out again, it was a step ahead for Toyota in propagating its hybrid system throughout the lineup to extra sorts of fashions.
2013 Tesla Mannequin S
2013 Tesla Mannequin S
Driving the Tesla Mannequin S was a revelation, and it made us marvel at simply how far the electric-vehicle area had are available in such a short while. We lauded its 17-inch touch-screen show which we mentioned “is so quick, so crisp, and so comparatively intuitive that it makes all different such management methods appear pathetically outdated.” And we mentioned of the Mannequin S as a complete: “It’s a powerful automotive. Interval. The truth that it’s inexperienced is sort of secondary.”
Even then, in 2012, Tesla was already beginning to lay out its Supercharger community and had, virtually everybody would argue at this level, the higher imaginative and prescient for the place DC fast-chargers must be situated—at strategic factors alongside highways that house owners may use for cross-country highway journeys.
2014 Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid
2014 Honda Accord Hybrid
The very mainstream Accord sedan was the car Honda selected for introducing a wholly new Two-Mode hybrid system—one which relied on an electrical motor to show the drive wheels more often than not. We selected the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid as a result of it felt extra responsive than different hybrid methods and will ship 40 mpg in real-world driving—and since the system offered a straightforward bridge to all-electric motoring within the Accord Plug-In Hybrid, a mannequin that was by no means broadly accessible.
Honda has since put the most recent model of this method into the CR-V, and the Accord, as soon as once more, however with the lack of the Readability Plug-In Hybrid it’s dropped the concept of plugging in—for now.
2015 Volkswagen e-Golf Vs. 2015 Volkswagen Golf TDI
2015 Volkswagen Golf household
In 2014 (for the 2015 mannequin yr), the Volkswagen Golf adopted a new-generation modular platform that made it loads simpler, Volkswagen mentioned, to provide completely different powertrain variations: and it backed up that premise straight away with gasoline, TDI diesel, and all-electric e-Golf decisions. Whereas we lauded the gasoline effectivity of the TDI, the star of the lineup from our perspective was the e-Golf, an all-electric model providing a 24.2-kwh battery and 83-mile vary—and a driving expertise that felt sprightly and sporty in comparison with the Leaf. After which the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal hit, so this award will at all times be seen a bit in a different way looking back.
2016 Chevrolet Volt
2016 Chevrolet Volt
The primary-generation Chevy Volt was already a powerful inexperienced automotive; however the second-generation Volt that made its debut for 2016 not solely improved on its plug-in hybrid tech however broadened its enchantment—doubtlessly rendering mainstream compact sedans of the time, just like the Chevy Cruze, out of date (GM opted to discontinue each inside three years).
WIth extra all-electric vary, a greater driver interface, a reconfigured inside, and nicer cabin finishes, the 2016 Chevy Volt stayed true to the idea of a range-extended electrical automotive—with 53 all-electric miles after which 42 mpg after that—and it was way more livable day-to-day. “We would severely take into account the 2016 Volt as our solely automotive to make use of,” we mentioned on the time. “It is actually that good.”
2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV
2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV
With a spacious inside, perky driving manners, and a 238-mile EPA-rated vary, the Bolt EV was just about a shoo-in for our 2017 award, given in November 2016. We known as the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV an American-made electric-car milestone, and the “religious successor” to the unique Nissan Leaf, and famous that it offered the vary of a Tesla for roughly half the worth.
2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid
Don’t let the understated badging throw you off. Actually a plug-in hybrid, the seven-passenger Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid can go 33 miles on a cost, when you preserve your foot mild on the accelerator. The Pacifica Hybrid takes goal at busy households, not geeks. There are not any a number of modes on this van; you plug it in in a single day, and so long as there’s cost the system prioritizes it. Run by way of the cost and you continue to have a giant, spacious people-hauler that may nonetheless get 32 mpg mixed.
2019 Tesla Mannequin 3
2019 Tesla Mannequin 3
Though the Mannequin 3 was first delivered in July 2017, they had been nonetheless very slowly trickling out to an internal circle of early reservation holders after we thought of our 2018 award—so, as a substitute, we put the Mannequin 3 within the working the next yr, and it received. We lauded the Tesla Mannequin 3 for its sport-sedan reflexes and balanced driving really feel, panned it for the minimalist interface and wild variations in meeting high quality, and previous that, acknowledged that it was extra environment friendly than different long-range EVs and years forward of some rivals. “On design and engineering, the Mannequin 3 might be probably the most superior electrical automotive on the planet,” we mentioned of the Mannequin 3, pointing to its over-the-air replace functionality.
Tesla’s Supercharger community and excellent route planning erased any doubt. Versus the opposite two EVs that had been finalists, the Hyundai Kona Electrical and Jaguar I-Tempo, we mentioned that the Mannequin 3 was “the one one which you could tackle a cross-country highway journey and make certain you’ll make it.”
2020 Audi E-Tron Sportback
2020 Audi E-Tron SUV
From the time we first drove the Audi E-Tron SUV, in late 2018, we knew that the German luxurious model was on the cusp of a metamorphosis, and this wonderful electrical SUV laid all of it out: Audi noticed a future that meant shifting towards electrical autos, however not reinventing the model. The E-Tron SUV—and slightly later, the Sportback—match completely into Audi’s lineup alongside current gasoline fashions, giving up nothing, however gaining much more luxurious. Its 204-mile vary was a sore level, however the consistency in vary and charging considerably made up for it.
It turned out patrons put a number of emphasis on the EPA vary quantity itself—which is one thing Audi has addressed in a revamped mannequin arriving quickly: the 2024 Q8 Audi E-Tron.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E First Version
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E
Who would have thought we’d be calling a Mustang crucial new inexperienced automotive of the yr? But after our complete editorial crew had pushed the Mustang Mach-E, we couldn’t consider one other Greatest Automobile To Purchase resolution that wasn’t simply unanimous, however decisive.
“The Mach-E isn’t the clichéd Tesla killer,” we wrote, emphasizing that we noticed it as a greater automotive than the Mannequin Y in lots of respects, and even suggesting that it may cue an inflection level for EV adoption. “As an alternative it’s undoubtedly the candy spot for a lot of People who need an electrical automotive however simply don’t see themselves in a Tesla.”
2021 Lucid Air
2022 Lucid Air
How can we identify a automotive that begins at $170,000 in its debut Dream Version guise our Greatest Automobile To Purchase?
That’s the query that we anticipated final yr, as we had been—and nonetheless are—totally satisfied that Lucid sits on know-how that’s able to scale and can change the electrical car market. On the very least, the Lucid Air’s astounding effectivity, vary, and efficiency might be catalysts to spur sooner change, making extra of treasured battery sources. Lucid turned a number of heads with its 520-mile Lucid Air Dream Version Vary and 516-mile Air Grand Touring—each beating Tesla benchmarks—and in 2023 it’ll generate extra gasps with its Mannequin S Plaid–beating tri-motor Air Sapphire.
The place does that go away us? See our finalists for Greatest Automobile To Purchase 2023 and search for a winner Jan. 4.
