The “Break it Down” Blog

Custom Diesel-Electric Honda Insight – 100mpg

Red Light Racing (site currently down) has a story about two mechanics in Maryland that did a custom modification to a standard Honda Insight hybrid gasoline-electric car by replacing the gasoline motor with a diesel motor. Out of the box the default Honda Insight is rated at 40mpg city, 43mpg highway. During an 1,800-mile road trip [...]

Continue reading...

Coming Soon: Car Keys That Jam Teen’s Cell Phones

If I were a teenager this would be really annoying, but now that I’m an adult and I recognize how bad of a driver I use to be.  Keeping teens from being able to use their cells while driving is a good idea.  A lot of states already have or are working on laws that [...]

Continue reading...

Toyota iQ Wins Japanese Car of the Year Award

Thanks to Patrick Norton for the heads up on this: Just a year after it was unveiled, the Toyota iQ (super-compact) car won the Japanese Car of the Year award. The iQ is a super-compact car targetted directly at the Smart Car fortwo market, offering a similarly sized car that is designed to seat 4 people [...]

Continue reading...

Antro Solo Human-Solar-Gas-Electric-Hybrid Does 150mpg

The Antro Solo, pictured above, is a Solar-Gas-Electric and “Human” powered hybrid vehicles that came out of design shops in Hungary. The car is designed to go 150mpg and is planned to enter the market in 2012 at a $20,000 price point. The entire car, chasis made out of carbon fiber, weighs less than 600lbs but [...]

Continue reading...