Ambitious but rubbish? Or will this little project actually work? The folks over at Top Gear America website have taken on the task to save the world— with a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel. Their Goal? To achieve a 70 mile per gallon mark, at a price of $7,000, and still be able to do a nippy 0-60 run in less than 7 seconds. For the cherry to top this mission, the car will also have to be completely road legal. This means a plate, registration, and hardest of all an emissions test and inspection.

The ol’ Rabbit will begin its quest in New York City and trek all the way out to Regina, Saskatchewan, crossing thousands of miles of “frozen tundra” on its way. There, wizards at CWS Tuning will rip out the dying heart and replace it with a modern, computer controlled, turbocharged VW TDI engine. But the journey will not yet be over. The next stop is Southern California, where a UCLA aerodynamics professor John McNulty will aid in the Rabbit’s aero package.

That's their idea so far.

The rest of the plan sounds pretty solid, but the TGA crew does still need to come up with a name for their new-meets-old diesel. Click through the link below to add your own best guess.
 
+ TopGear.com (America): We Build a 70 mpg Car

Volkswagen unveiled its new BlueSport diesel roadster concept at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this week, and while we had dozens of still photos, VW has released an accompanying video to show the little sportster in action. While there's still no word if the BlueSport will ever see the light of day, we can only hope that Volkswagen will move forward with its plans to bring some sort of oil-burnig roadster to life, and this video gives us all the moor reason to get excited.

+ YouTube: VW BlueSport Mid-Engined Roadster Concept with 180HP Diesel

Audi announced today the launch of another clean diesel car bound for the U.S. market, the 2010 A3 2.0 TDI. The small, sporty member of the Audi family will be capable of over forty miles per gallon, and is already rated a "Top Safety Pick" by the IIHS. Audi's newest green machine will not be forsaking its sporty genes, and will provide 140 turbocharged horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque, as well as the optional Audi Magnetic Ride used in the TT.

The A3 2.0 TDI puts this luxury car in competition with a new, and growing, green market, including the Mini Cooper, BMW 1-Series, Toyota Prius, and all-new Honda Insight.

This announcement from Audi follows an earlier U.S. TDI clean diesel announcement of the Audi Q7 TDI, which we should see in dealerships around April.

Scroll down to view the official press release from Audi.

It seems that diesels are set to play a big part at this year’s North American International Auto Show, and oily fingered engineers at Volkswagen would be remiss if they didn’t have a big part to play in all of that. Enter stage right, the rather handsome BlueSport Concept, a VW roadster that looks to further push the boundaries of how America views new diesel technology.

The full press release won’t be available until VW pulls the wraps off the BlueSport later today, but early reports specify a pretty impressive package. The roadster has got a version of Volkswagen’s 2.0-liter turbodiesel mounted amidships, producing something like 180 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. That mill will move the car all the way up to 140 miles per hour at the top end, while still returning an amazing 57 miles per gallon while in Eco mode. Good stuff.

Be sure to check back with NextAutos later today, when we’ll have live images and even more info about the BlueSport.
 
+ Autoblog: Detroit 2009: Volkswagen BlueSport concept, turbodiesel done right

We just got back from a very snowy trip to Detroit's MGM Grand casino where the thirteenth annual International Car of the Year Awards were held, hosted by Road & Travel magazine's editor-in-chief, Courtney Caldwell. The ballots had all been tallied, and from the original list of nominees, the following winners emerged.

International Car of the Year: Nissan GT-R
International Truck of the Year: Dodge Ram 1500

Additionally, the ICOTY jury presented their first-ever Earth, Wind & Power awards, which specifically shine the spotlight on fuel-efficient vehicles which have really taken our marketplace by storm. Those winners are:

EW&P Car of the Year: Volkswagen Jetta TDI
EW&P Truck of the Year: Ford Escape Hybrid

Click through our small gallery above to see photos of all the winners and stay tuned for all of our coverage from the 2009 North American International Auto Show, starting bright and early tomorrow morning.

It's no secret that we American automotive journalists are anxiously awaiting the arrival of BMW's new U.S.-spec diesel offerings, the 335d and X5 xDrive35d. In the meantime, however, the folks at Honeywell (who specialize in turbo technologies) provided us with a Euro-spec X5 3.0d for a week in order for us to experience BMW's current diesel offerings.

While it's not as powerful as the upcoming twin-turbo-diesel X5 35d, our test car put out a very adequate 235 horsepower and 383 pound-feet of torque. This means the X5 3.0d can scoot from 0 to 62 miles per hour in just 8.3 seconds and -- under normal driving habits -- can achieve fuel economy ratings around 26 miles per gallon. Honeywell tells us that if we would have been a bit lighter on the throttle, we could have achieved up to 33 mpg on the highway.

(Click through the post to continue reading this review.)

Acura's American diesel program is deader than John McCain's presidential ambitions--so says Autoblog Green.  Just prior to their Prop 8 protest walkout, the Green gang was informed by Sage Marie of Honda's US arm that the Acura diesel plan was being put on indefinate hold.  Marie remarked that business factors, such as diesel costs and falling car sales, caused the decision. 

Each year, a jury of well-seasoned automotive personnel give out the International Car of the Year awards in a big ceremony to kick off the North American International Auto Show festivities. This year will be no different, and the final nominees have officially been announced. The Dodge Challenger, Ford Flex, and Nissan GT-R will do battle for the International Car of the Year title, while the Dodge Ram 1500, Ford F-150, and Subaru Forester duke it out for the International Truck of the Year honors.

In addition, the jury will be presenting their first-ever Earth, Wind & Power awards, showcasing cars that help to reduce global warming and promote a cleaner environment. For this new award, the BMW 335d, Volkswagen Jetta TDI, and Jetta SportWagen TDI are the nominees for Car of the Year, and the BMW X5 35d, Ford Escape Hybrid, and Mercedes-Benz ML320 Bluetec are in the runnings for Truck of the Year.

Which cars will reign supreme? We'll have to wait until the official awards ceremony set to take place on January 10 at Detroit's MGM Grand casino. In the meantime, click through the above gallery to see all of the nominees and stay tuned for the winners.

+ ICOTY

If there was one positive factor about 2008's energy crisis, it's that it forced consumers to put more weight on fuel economy when making car-buying decisions. And while we may have moved away from $4-per-gallon gasoline, fuel efficiency still places high on the "must have" list for a lot of new car shoppers. Now that we know how easily these price hikes can happen, it's better to be safe than sorry, right?

We've seen major manufacturers expanding their ranges of hybrid offerings, and for the first time, clean diesels are starting to make their way onto American soil, proving that you don't have to sacrifice performance for the sake of fuel consumption. Scroll through the gallery above to see out list of the ten most fuel efficient cars for 2009.

Note: This information is based off of the 2009 FuelEconomy.gov listing.

When we took some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday, it meant that our usual rotation of switching cars each day would be put on hold. Instead, we all had the chance to spend five days with a particular car in the test fleet; our choices being a 2009 Hyundai Genesis 3.8, 2009 Infiniti M35 Sport, Bosch Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD, 2009 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, and a 2008 Kia Sportage.

Click through the gallery to read our individual thoughts about each vehicle.