Yaris Named "Green Car" of the Year

You've probably herd that the Environmental Transportation Association (ETA), a British organization, recently named the Yaris its "Green Car" of the Year.In its search for this year’s winner, the ETA reviewed more than 1,300 models of cars on sale in Britain, scoring them based on their emissions, fuel-efficiency and noise-pollution numbers.
n the form in which it’s sold in Europe, the Yaris' average fuel consumption, when equipped with its optional 1.4L diesel engine, is rated at 52.3 mpg, and when equipped with its 1.0L gas engine is 44.4 mpg, enviable figures that almost certainly helped vault it past its competitors.

One of those was the Prius, which was also in the top three of the ETA’s Green Car list.

Here in this country, of course, the Yaris is equipped with a 1.5L gas engine, which when equipped with a manual transmission, is rated by the EPA at 29 mpg in the city, 36 mpg on the highway, with a combined mpg figure of 32.

It’s interesting to note, however, that the EPA’s fuel economy site, which lists the fuel economy numbers developed during strict EPA testing, also lists the economy numbers recorded by actual owners and drivers of the cars in question. The site lists the Yaris owners’ on-road mpg numbers as falling into a wider range than the EPA test numbers, with city numbers a bit below those listed by the EPA, and highway numbers vastly above those listed by the EPA.

No matter. What counts is that for people looking for economical, environmentally responsible rides, there are options. And according to the Environmental Transportation Association, Yaris is one of them.