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Meet the Greenest and Meanest vehicles of 2016

If you've been keeping track, you won't be surprised with the number one entry in this year's list of greenest cars from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). In fact, the top three spots on the 2016 list are all the same as they were in 2015. After that, things get interesting. For one thing, this is the first Greenest list that doesn't have any purely internal combustion engine powertrain on it. Hybrids, yes, but if you want to be one of the top 12 greenest cars this year, you'd better have some sort of electric angle. ACEEE says that the conventional, gas-powered Smart Fortwo and Chevrolet Spark just missed the cut. In a statement, ACEEE lead vehicle analyst Shruti Vaidyanathan said, "The 2016 scores are in, and plug-in electric vehicles are outpacing all other vehicle offerings in terms of environmental friendliness." Like last year, one of the noticeable vehicles missing from the green list is the Tesla Model S. One reason? ACEEE takes curb weight into account (lighter is better), and the Model S is a heavy beast. The ACEEE doesn't just look at the clean side of the ledger. It also puts out a "meanest" list. These are the vehicles that pollute the most, not only from their tailpipes, but also any pollution created during the entire manufacturing process, from mining the raw materials to the energy used to produce the vehicle at the factory. The entire list, from greenest to meanest, is done using a "cradle to grave" analysis. You can see how the ACEEE determines its rankings here, explore the entire greenest cars site here, or click through our galleries to see which vehicles are extra green (above) or extra mean (below) this year. 12: Mercedes-Benz GL550 4MATIC View 12 Photos More Electric Cars than Ever on Greenest Vehicles List Electric Vehicles Nab 9 out of Top 12 Spots in ACEEE's Environmental Vehicle Rankings Washington, DC: Despite a tumultuous year for the automotive industry, manufacturers have continued to offer exciting technology options for a growing vehicle market. Today at greenercars.org, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released its 19th annual comprehensive environmental ratings for vehicles. The following vehicles comprise the Greenest List for 2016: Greenest Score 1. Mercedes-Benz Smart ForTwo Electric Drive Convertible / Coupe 63 2. Chevrolet Spark EV 63 3. Fiat 500E 62 4. Toyota Prius Eco 61 5. Volkswagen E-Golf 61 6. Nissan Leaf S / Leaf SV 61 7. Kia Soul Electric 59 8.

Poor headlights cause 40 cars to miss IIHS Top Safety Pick rating

Over the past few months, we've noticed a number of cars and SUVs that have come incredibly close to earning one of the IIHS's highest accolades, the Top Safety Pick rating. They have great crash test scores and solid automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning systems. What trips them up is headlights. That got us wondering, how many vehicles are there that are coming up short because they don't have headlights that meet the organization's criteria for an "Acceptable" or "Good" rating. This is a revision made after 2017, a year in which headlights weren't factored in for this specific award. This is also why why some vehicles, such as the Ford F-150, might have had the award last year, but have lost it for this year. We reached out to someone at IIHS to find out. He responded with the following car models. Depending on how you count, a whopping 40 models crash well enough to receive the rating, but don't get it because their headlights are either "Poor" or "Marginal." We say depending on how you count because the IIHS actual counts truck body styles differently, and the Infiniti Q70 is a special case. Apparently the version of the Q70 that has good headlights doesn't have adequate forward collision prevention technology. And the one that has good forward collision tech doesn't have good enough headlights. We've provided the entire list of vehicles below in alphabetical order. Interestingly, it seems the Volkswagen Group is having the most difficulty providing good headlights with its otherwise safe cars. It had the most models on the list at 9 split between Audi and Volkswagen. GM is next in line with 7 models. It is worth noting again that though these vehicles have subpar headlights and don't quite earn Top Safety Pick awards, that doesn't mean they're unsafe. They all score well enough in crash testing and forward collision prevention that they would get the coveted award if the lights were better.

Sunday Drive: A new Rambo Lambo takes center stage

Surprise! Autoblog readers love fast cars. Doesn't matter what shape; doesn't matter what size. As long as it's got big power, wicked acceleration, and ludicrous speed, you're interested. Take, for instance, the brand-new Lamborghini Urus. It's got a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 sending 641 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque through an 8-speed automatic transmission to all four wheels. It hits 62 miles per hour in 3.6 seconds, and has a top speed of 189.5 mph. Ludicrous speed? Check. And although you'd be hard pressed to draw a line straight back from the upcoming Urus to the old, off-road-ready LM002, at least you can say that Lamborghini does have a history of producing overpowered SUVs. A 5.2-liter V12 engine producing 444 horsepower and borrowed from the Countach certainly qualifies as big power, especially considering this was in the 1980s and '90s. A prime example just sold for nearly half a million bucks. Moving along to more traditional sportscars, we got a sneak peek at the next Porsche 911's interior, thanks to some intrepid spy photographers. And we spy with our little eyes some major changes to the quintessential German sportscar. Finally, we round out this Sunday Drive with two First Drive reports. Both are German, but past that, they couldn't be more different. Either way, ludicrous speed is all but guaranteed by either one. As always, stay tuned to Autoblog for all the latest automotive news that's fit to print. The 2019 Lamborghini Urus, fastest SUV in the world, has landed Rare U.S.-spec 1990 Lamborghini LM002 fetches $467,000 at auction Next Porsche 911 will get a major interior overhaul 2018 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe/Cabriolet Review | Creamy goodness 2018 BMW M5 First Drive Review | Power meets traction