Early Odds for Green Car of the Year

This week, the Green Car Journal released its finalists for the Green Car of the Year.

Naturally, high mileage numbers equate to standings this year.

• The 2010 Audi A3 TDI: 30 mpg city / 42 mpg highway
• The 2010 VW Golf TDI: 30 mpg city / 42 mpg highway
• The 2010 Mercury Milan hybrid: 41 mpg city / 36 mpg highway
• The redesigned 2010 Toyota Prius: 51 mpg city / 48 mpg highway
• The all-new 2010 Honda Insight: 40 mpg city / 43 mpg highway

For the 2010 model year consumers have lots to choose from, but my odds on favorite for this year's award, which will be handed out Dec. 3 at the Los Angeles Auto Show is the Toyota Prius.

Simply put, it is the only vehicle to get a combined 50 mpg.

While I'm not a betting man, but if I worked in Vegas, here are my odds for winning the green honor.

• Prius: Even money (Big improvements inside and out. The only thing that could hurt it are those annoying Wizard of Oz commericals.)
• Milan: 3:1 (It would be a nice political nod to Ford's efforts, and all awards are politics.)
• Insight: 2:1 (It's affordable, kind of cute and the very first hybrid in America. But then it went away, so will this year's award.)
• Golf TDI: 5:1 (Glad to see the Golf cross the Atlantic, but it's not likely to take home an award so soon.)
• A3 TDI: 7:1 (Those cool TV commercials might sway a few judges, but not enough.)

Really, this race comes down to the Insight and the Prius. The Milan is the sister of the Ford Fusion hybrid, so it may have the hottest spokesmodel, but it doesn't have that much original to it.

The A3 and Golf TDI vehicles are both fairly affordable and excellent choices, but VW picked up the honor last year with the Jetta TDI so diesel is just not going to win it this year. Last year, it was a pleasant surprise for people like me who like diesels.

Now the Insight made a splash when it arrived in the spring because it has a starting price under $20,000 and offers both excellent city driving and highway numbers. But it also looks like a little Prius - so it doesn't score too many points for originality. It's a fine machine but lacks that punch to push it over the top.

The Prius, however, entering its third generation, was redesigned with drivers in mind. It keeps its iconic shape but adds much needed refinement to its interior and high performance figures. During my test drive of the Prius, I intentionally tried to get the absolute worse gas mileage possible and still managed 26.8 mpg. The car is just that good.

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Comments

[Fanis Siampos]

Energy crisis scam is a serious problem.Of course diesel hybrid would be the best solution

[Scott Burgess - Huffpost Blogger]

dieselis: I'm a big fan of diesels and would love to see more of them come over here. I've often heard automakers say: People don't want diesels and that's why we don't sell them here. Maybe if they were sold here, people would want them. VW, BMW, Mercedes don't seem to want for diesel customers in the US and every carmaker has a nice selection of diesel cars with small, high mileage engines. It's another option that is under utilized right now.

[dieselis]

FORD has a Fiesta turbo diesel that gets 75mpg hwy but it's only availible in Europe. Love my Toyota's but can't understand why they refuse to produce diesels. They have made them their very good at making them. A diesel hybrid with the new lithium ion batteries could easily achieve a combined MPG rating of around 110-140MPG at or around 30 grand. Toyota's excellence in quality and durability a well serviced vehicle would average 500,000miles with minimal high dollar maintenance breakdowns. This cuts the fuel consumption by 60-70%. If only our creative minds weren't stifled by corporate greed we could really beat the energy crisis scam. It was a scam in the late 70's when they had more oil then they could sell. You see when you work at a gas station and your tanks are full and the front office of Rectangle Oil calls and says close up tell them your out of fuel. You know its some funny business going on. Especially when their using every abandoned gas station they can find to store fuel. The only proof I have to these allegations is I was there.