That’s right, 10 miles per gallon. Amazingly, it seems like the Ford F-250 Lariat engine is operating like an ancient dinosaur. Sure, you’re getting plenty of power, but at what cost? With current gas prizes and regular driving, it won’t take long for a Ford F-250 owner to have paid for the vehicle twice, not to mention the amount of greenhouse gases they will have pumped into the air.

The most fuel efficient vehicles in CR’s real world tests were the Toyota Prius at 44 mpg, the Smart Fortwo at 39 mpg and the Honda Insight EX at 38 mpg.

The letter sates that Toyota was too quick to dismiss the possibility of their vehicles computer’s being the problem, that they made their conclusion based on flawed study, and then went on to mislead the public by stating that the fixes they were making would alleviate the pedal sticking problem.

Toyota has recalled more than eight million vehicles since late last year, with more than six million in the US alone.

Lentz is scheduled to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on February 23, has been an ardent defender of Toyota and denier of any computer problems with Toyota vehicles.

Check out the House letter to Toyota and let us know what you think. Was Toyota trying to pull a fast one on American car buyers?

The McGill University designed and built electric snowmobile has a top speed of 35 mph and a range of 10 miles, which is for its function as a utility vehicle. It also makes great use of regenerative braking which, in an alpine setting, can add a lot of life to the battery.

The regenerative braking also makes for a safer snowmobile when descending a steep slope. Jeff S. Turner of McGill University explains:

“You can actually switch from forward to reverse with the throttle pinned, and it’ll smoothly bring you to a stop before accelerating backwards. So going downhill, you can pop into reverse gear, and your throttle suddenly becomes a perfectly progressive regen brake pedal. There’s no messy blending of regen and regular hydraulic brakes to speak of.”

Canadian Snowmobile Adventures, based out of Whistler, BC, is one of the McGill electric snowmobile program’s and has been for year. They hope to ultimately develop a zero emissions snowmobile for use in their winter backwoods tours.

Nissan has been touting the affordability of the Leaf since it was announced. They currently refer to it as “the world’s first all-electric, zero-emission car designed for the mass market.”

The Nissan Leaf price hasn’t been announced yet but we have been promised an April unveiling of the magic numbers. After that announcement, potential buyers will be able to drop a $100 reservation fee to place an order in August.

If you’re wondering what price range you can expect, the Nissan Leaf is expected to be priced competitively against the popular Toyota Prius hybrid. As an all-electric vehicle, this price could make the Leaf a very competitive car. Especially considering that Nissan’s Leaf has a top speed of over 76 mph and a range of at least 100 miles.

For those of you in the market for a new eco-friendly vehicle, let us know if you’ll be considering the Leaf, or plan to put the $100 reservation fee down.

The small engine compartment along with Toyota’s success in the realm of hybrid vehicles leads one to assume this concept is for a new Toyota hybrid. The lack of tailpipe and gas cap could be an indication of how rough the sketch is or that it’s for a previously unheard of electric Toyota.

L’Automobile speculates that this will be a new Lexus to be unveiled at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. Is this the design

Hot on the heels of the Toyota Prius hybrid recalls due to brake problems, the Ford Fusion hybrid and the Milan hybrid are getting updates to their software to address a braking problem of their own.

Ford has started a repair program which will alert all known owners of Ford Fusions or Milan hybrids built before October 17, 2009. They will be directed to their nearest dealer regarding, their “Customer Satisfaction Program 10B13.”

In the meantime, the Toyota recall story continues to make headlines as it has now been revealed that Toyota has known for years that the Prius had break issues.

Stay tuned to Eco Auto Ninja for the latest on the Toyota recalls and breaking news on issues with the Ford Fusion.

What a PR nightmare for Toyota who now has the American public looking at their cars like they are some kind of time bombs ready to accelerate them into oblivion at any second.

The Prius is not yet part of the recalls that extend to Europe and China and cover 4.5 million vehicles.

As Tesla Motors goes public for the first time, a disturbing bit of info has come out in its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The Tesla Roadster will cease to be produced in 2011 for the simple reason that Tesla won’t have anywhere to build the high-end electric sports car.

“We do not plan to sell our current generation Tesla Roadster after 2011 due to planned tooling changes at a supplier for the Tesla Roadster,” the company write in its IPO.

Since the Tesla Roadster is built by Lotus, they are probably talking about the factory in Hethel, England getting changes that will prevent production there.

The Tesla Roadster is slated to see production again, but it won’t be until 2013 at the earliest. And since we all know how these things go, that’s probably a very generous estimate.

The Tesla Model S will be launched in 2012, but that still leaves two years without any cars going out and it’s based on the assumption that everything goes as planned and production deadlines are met perfectly.

Let’s put it this way, if I were in the market for a $100,000 electric car with a 244 mile range and can go from 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds , I’d probably pick one up sooner than later.

The bizarre thing about the lawsuit is that it doesn’t seek to have Toyota recall and fix any of its cars that suffer from the defective pedals. No, Toyota is already doing that with eight million cars. What does it seek then?

The lawsuit “asks the Court to enjoin Toyota from implementing any fixes in the accelerator pedals of the subject vehicles without approval from the NHTSA.”

What that means is that they are asking the court to prevent Toyota from fixing any vehicles without the express permission from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The problem with this is that the NHTSA does not provide official approval for recall remedies. Therefore, if the court does find in favor of the plaintiffs Toyota cars being recalled, will never get fixed.

You’ve just got to love red tape, don’t you?

Want to see if your car is on it? Follow this link to see the complete Toyota recall car list.