The Chevrolet Suburban and Dodge Challenger are some of the biggest gas-gulpers available, but they don’t cause quite the environmental harm other cars do.

That title is reserved for vehicles that combine their poor gas mileage with high tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions. Think along the lines of some of the bulkiest cars on the road, like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chevrolet Trailblazer and Dodge Dakota.

1. Jeep Grand Cherokee
2. BMW M5
3. BMW M6 Sedan/Convertible
4. Chevrolet Trailblazer
5. Mercedes-Benz CL600
6. Mercedes-Benz S600
7. Chrysler Aspen
8. Dodge Dakota
9. Dodge Ram 1500
10. Dodge Durango

Would you buy any of the cars listed below? The original list is titled “The top 10 cars that Americans hate”. Hate is such a strong word. Do people really hate cars? So, to generate this list of the cars Americans dislike, Forbes looked at sales data for the 10 major vehicle segments. The vehicles with the lowest sales in their class made this list.

Kia Rio (Subcompact Car)
Why Americans Hate It: Acording to J.D. Power’s 2008 dependability study, it ranked miserably making it a risky quality purchase for some buyers.
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The Toyota Lexus had 120 problems per 100 vehicles compared to the industry average of 206 problems.

Lexus once again stands alone atop a closely watched list of vehicle dependability after Buick slipped from the No. 1 spot it shared with the Japanese luxury brand last year. It’s the 14th straight year Toyota Motor Corp.’s high-end brand has held the highest ranking in the annual study, which measures problems experienced by the original owners of vehicles after three years. Lexus had 120 problems per 100 vehicles, down from 145 last year.
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The 1995 Honda Civic has been the most stolen vehicle the last two years. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) released its Hot Wheels 2008 auto theft report for vehicles on Wednesday, identifying the 1995 Honda Civic as No. 1.

In 2006 and 2007, individually, the 1995 Honda Civic has topped the list each year, followed by the 1991 Honda Accord, 1989 Toyota Camry and the 1997 Ford F-150 Series Pickup. All four car models have been in exact order the last two years. For 2007, the remaining cars on the list are the 1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup, 1994 Acura Integra, 2004 Dodge Ram Pickup, 1994 Nissan Sentra, 1988 Toyota Pickup and 2007 Toyota Corolla.
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In May, the thrifty Honda Civic became the best-selling vehicle in America.

The Honda Civic became the best selling vehicle in America – car or truck – and both it and the Honda Accord outsold the once-invincible Ford F-150 pickup trucks.

Among the world’s automakers, Honda has long behaved as if the world is indeed running out of all kinds of resources, including oil. Its relentless focus on thrift and conservation, which seemed like eccentricities 20 or 30 years ago, today make Honda the leader of the environmental pack.
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The downfall of the SUV

Tuesday was GM’s annual shareholders’ meeting and the news from GM Chairman and CEO G. Richard Wagoner Jr. wasn’t pretty: $3.3 billion lost in the first quarter of 2008, the closing of four truck manufacturing plants and the potential sale of the Hummer brand.

How did all this happen? For the past decade GM has relied heavily on trucks and SUVs as the breadwinners for the company and has all but ignored passenger vehicles because they were less profitable. The rapid increase in prices at the pump have forced consumers to switch back over to more gas-friendly vehicles. The change in consumer demand has hit GM hard in the pocketbook and has forced the American auto manufacturer to rethink it’s position in the industry.
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While those behind the wheels of fuel-sipping vehicles are likely driving stress free, other motorists are feeling the pinch. Forbes reviewed estimated annual fuel costs for vehicles in nine U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifications and used the highest annual estimates to compile their list. Here it goes…

Lamborghini Murcielago (MPG Rating: 8 city/13 highway)

Bugatti Veyron (MPG Rating: 8 city/14 highway)

Bentley Azure (MPG Rating: 9 city/15 highway)

Ferrari 612 Scaglietti (MPG Rating: 9 city/15 highway)

Maybach 57/62 (MPG Rating: 10 city/16 highway)

Bentley Continental GTC (MPG Rating: 10 city/ 17 highway)
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 GM Posts Record US Automotive Loss of $38.7B for 2007

General Motors Corp. reported a $38.7 billion loss for 2007 on Tuesday, the largest annual loss ever for an automotive company, and said it is making a new round of buyout offers to U.S. hourly workers in hopes of replacing some of them with lower-paid help. GM won’t say how many workers it hopes to shed, but under its new contract with the UAW, it will be able to replace up to 16,000 workers doing non-assembly jobs with new employees who will be paid HALF the old wage of $28 per hour.

San Francisco’s Gas Prices Rank The Highest

In San Francisco, the average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline reached $3.546 at the end of November, up from $2.524 a year ago. Things don’t look much better in other parts of the state. San Jose, San Diego, Sacramento and Los Angeles posted the country’s next-highest per-gallon prices. Such high prices are not confined to California. Among the country’s 40 largest metros, New York City, Buffalo, Seattle, Miami and Chicago rounded out the top 10 priciest places to buy gas.

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Here are the 12 cars drivers enjoy owning the least by The Consumerist

Rank / Model / % Satisfied
12 Chevrolet Aveo (sedan) 44
11 Ford Ranger 44
10 Mazda B-Series 44
9 Ford Freestar 44
8 Chevrolet Aveo (wagon & hatchback) 44
7 Chevrolet Equinox 41
6 Jeep Grand Cherokee (V6, gas) 41
5 Chevrolet Colorado (4-cyl) 40
4 GMC Canyon (4-cyl) 40
3 Buick Terraza 34
2 Saturn Relay 34
1 Chevrolet Uplander 34

One of Britain’s biggest leasing companies has revealed its top second-hand choices

Lex carried out a study to reveal which models are going to be worth the most on the second-hand market – and there’s good news for MINI, Mercedes, Audi and Honda. While the trendy supermini ranks first in the top 20 used cars of 2007, Audi is crowned the most coveted brand in the rundown. The prestige German maker’s TT and A5 sports cars occupy second and third places in the line-up respectively – and Mercedes has two models in the top 10.

 Of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s top picks for cars safety in 2008, Honda had seven models on the list.

Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. had the most vehicles on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s annual list of the safest cars for the 2008 model year. 34vehicles received the top safety pick designation for 2008, compared with 13 vehicles from the 2007 model year.

The institute requires new cars and trucks to have electronic stability control, or ESC, to qualify for the award. Many auto companies are putting the antirollover technology into their fleets ahead of a government requirement for the systems by the 2012 model year.

… and so does the rest of the country. If it’s done anything, it’s made me never, ever want to buy a Chevy.

Who hates those Chevy commercials because of their song “Our Country,” by John Mellencamp? According to Newsweek, everybody hates it. Mellencamp’s melancholy anthem have become so ubiquitous that they’re driving sports fans to distraction. Chevy thinks the campaign has been a success, and are actually making more “Our Country” commercials, despite heavy criticism from people who are sick of the song.
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Japanese Cars: Leaders In Fuel Efficiency

Honda and Toyota offered car owners the highest average fuel efficiency of the 2007 model year vehicles, the U.S. government reported. The average fuel economy for 2007 vehicles in the U.S. was 20.2 miles per gallon (8.6 kilometers per liter), the same as 2006 vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency in an annual report that used new testing procedures.
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One of the Most Technologically Dense Cars: Lexus LS 600h L

The Lexus LS 600h L is the world’s first vehicle of any type to be powered by a “full hybrid” V8 powertrain. Full hybrid means the car can be powered by the gas engine only, the electric motor only, or both at the same time. Unlike its gasoline-only cousins, the LS 460 and LS 460 L(a beautiful car), both of which are rear-wheel-driven, the new hybrid limousine is an all-wheel-drive configuration. During normal driving conditions, power is split 40 percent front/60 percent rear. If the road becomes dicey, it is capable of a near 50/50 split.
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Just because you drive an SUV/truck doesn’t mean your any safer than a sedan

Analysis shows that rear-crash protection isn’t the best in trucks and many SUVs. Despite the considerable weight and size of these kinds of vehicles that convey a sense of safety, more than one third of 59 SUVs analyzed by an insurance industry group had seatback and head restraint combinations that rated only “poor” for proper head and neck support. This means that passengers in those seats could be at higher risk for whiplash injury.

Worst Ratings:
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Which One Are You Driving?

There is a significant difference in the driver fatality rate among vehicles, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. A recent IIHS report on driver deaths, in vehicle crashes for the 2001-2004 model years or calendar years 2002-2005, reveals that the average death rate was 79 per million registered vehicle years. Some models had twice that fatality rate, while others had significantly lower rates.Results from the IIHS study show that vehicle weight and size factor into the death rate. Generally, the smallest, lightest vehicles have the highest fatality rates in crashes. None of the 15 vehicles on the lowest-fatality list are small, while 11 of 16 on the highest list are small. Midsized and very large luxury vehicles have the lowest death rates among vehicle types. The data shows that heavy cars are generally safer. But in some cases, bigger isn’t necessarily safer.
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The 2008 BMW 5 Series: Dangerous yet Beautiful

The 2008 BMW 5 Series was the worst performer in new side-impact crash tests of luxury sedans by the insurance industry. The Acura RL, Kia Amanti and Volvo S80 all earned the highest safety rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, according to results released Thursday. The Cadillac STS and Mercedes E-Class earned the second-highest rating. All six sedans were equipped with standard side air bags. The air bags in the BMW 5 Series protected the head, but separate air bags designed to protect the chest and abdomen performed poorly, the institute said.
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Here’s The Slideshow

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to combining technology and luxury vehicles is doing it in a way that’s user-friendly, because it’s about convenience, fun, and safety — not frustration. These luxury cars can do everything from play your mp3s and DVDs to adjust automatically to treacherous driving conditions and off-road terrain. And perhaps best of all, they look good doing it.
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1. Audi TT Roadster 3.2 Quattro $44,500
2. BMW 335i Sedan $39,675
3. Cadillac CTS $32,500
4. Ferrari 430 Scuderia
5. Infinity G37 $32,000
6. Lexus LS600h L $104,765