Greenest / Cleanest cars (life analysis)

[theaveng]

Every year (since the mid-1990s) greenercars.org publishes the cleanest cars based on a factory-to-junkyard analysis. I went through the list and picked-out some of the more-interesting cars. The ones that surprised me I put in bold:

http://greenercars.org/highlights_greenest.htm

100 maximum score
59 SmartForTwo EV
58 Spark EV
57 Prius City

55 Leaf EV. Prius, Civic, and other compact hybrids.
54 Mirage, Fiesta (normal nonhybrids) (3 cylinders)(and cleanest manual shift cars)
54 Civic Natural Gas
52 Prius V
50 CRZ (manual hybrid)

46 Jetta TDI (diesel; cleaner than the gasoline version)
40 Ford Transit (van)
37 Tesla Model S EV (dirtier than a diesel)
37 Tacoma (pickup)
36 Odyssey (minivan)

WORST:
21 Bentley Musanne (luxury sedan)
19 Bugatti Veyron (16 cylinder sportscar)

[chumly]

Where does the gas smartfortwo stand?

[theaveng]

The premium gasoline "ForTwo" scored a 53/100 so cleaner than a CRZ or Prius V but less clean than a Civic CNG, Honda Insight, et cetera.

[spacemanspif]

Just checked their website. The RAM 2500 was the bottom vehicle with a score of 18 with a 5.7L V8. Is there anywhere to see the whole list?? I'd prefer to scroll through the whole list instead of picking vehicles by class. Is there any way to see past lists???

[UltArc]

Going through each category, there are very few cars on the total list- in the grand scheme of things. I think they were a bit selective in what they choose to evaluate.

[LeanBurn]

^^...that and the car class size sorting is simply messed up. They have the Ford Fiesta listed as a subcompact, yet the Mitsu Mirage, Toyo Yaris and Mazda 2 are compacts? Corolla is a midsize along with the Chev Sonic and the Kia Forte 5 is a large car listed with the Sonata?

[theaveng]

The classes are determined by the U.S. government (NHTSA I guess). For example the Prius is considered a midsize car, even though most people would label it a compact. That's due to the extra interior space provided by the hatchback shape.

:-D

[LeanBurn]

Ok the Prius I get...the rest has no real coherency. The Mazda 2 and the Fiesta are essentially the same car. The others are out to lunch, there is no way the Forte is the same class as the Sonata..its in the same class as the Corolla and the Sonic.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

It's always some apples-to-oranges comparation, and other factors such as the operational contexts might be considered too.

[niky]

Originally Posted by LeanBurn

^^...that and the car class size sorting is simply messed up. They have the Ford Fiesta listed as a subcompact, yet the Mitsu Mirage, Toyo Yaris and Mazda 2 are compacts? Corolla is a midsize along with the Chev Sonic and the Kia Forte 5 is a large car listed with the Sonata?

The Mirage is a much smaller and lighter car on the outside, but the rear seat is a much less punishing place to be than the back of a Fiesta.

That said, I really wish the Federal Government would calculate passenger and cargo volume separately, because the current system truly sucks.