There was a time not too long ago that you couldn’t have paid me to buy another new American automobile. Don’t take that statement that wrong way; it wasn’t for lack of trying. I love the lines of the true classics like the ‘57 Chevy or the ‘65 GTO. But somewhere in the last few decades, the American manufacturers seemed to just give up on making a good product—and I went through several modern American pieces of junk before I gave up trying too.

Yet in the last two years there is one major American manufacturer, who, above all others, seems to have come out the other end of a dark tunnel with a clear vision for its future and a line-up of solid, well-designed cars on which to build—Ford.

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The US electric motorcycle market is a niche within a niche. Motorcyclists still represent a tiny fraction of the traffic mix in the country where the automobile is king. While most motorcycles get better mileage and have lower emmissions than most cars, they still run on gas.

There are very few electric motorcycles on the market, even fewer being mass manufactured. The one that comes closest to performing like a “real” motorcycle is the Zero S. This 17hp machine with 60 foot pounds of torque is actually more enjoyable than some of the gas-powered bikes in the same horsepower class I’ve ridden. The massive torque of an electric motor makes the Zero the envy of all low-power motorcycles.

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Here at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca I take the Andretti Hairpin and learn to accelerate in successive turns. After accelerating uphill, I enter “The Corkscrew” where I cannot see the sharp downhill turn to the left until I am in the middle of it. As I get into this sharp turn, I need to prepare for the sequence of curves that immediately follow.

Yes, it’s a corkscrew.

I try to remember the coaching that I received. Hold the steering wheel with something less than a death grip. Breathe. Look ahead — but looking ahead at the top of the Corkscrew I only see blue sky. Looking ahead to my future, I only see darkness.

The 2009 BMW 335d that I am driving handles beautifully, offers more turbodiesel acceleration than I care to try, and I can personally guarantee you that the brakes work — well.

After three laps, I exit the track, park the BMW, remove my helmet as I leave the car, and resist kissing the ground in front of “real” drivers. I have been invited to test drive new vehicles with the Western Automotive Journalists, even though I write about green cars and clean transportation. I long for yesterday.

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Several of the vehicles were available to be driven at the ChallengeX event. Of the vehicles that were there, I was most interested in driving the University of Waterloo's entry. Most of the teams (12 of the 17 competitors) were using a B20 biodiesel blend as their fuel and all but one of the others used some form of internal combustion with E85 ethanol or reformulated gasoline. But the University of Waterloo team took a different approach.

The Waterloo vehicle was powered by a hydrogen fuel cell (with onboard batteries for backup) and propelled by front and rear electric motors. When I sat down behind the wheel, my guide from the Waterloo team explained that some of the things in the vehicle that are different from the way we're used to driving a car. There were a number of different sounds, coming from the front and the rear, as various systems came online to start the fuel cell system in operation. Matt Stevens from the Waterloo team explained the whole sequence of operation to me this way:

• when you first crank the key, there's no actual sounds as the no engine rank is required (or possible!)
• when the key returns to on from the crank position, first is a relay clicking meaning the battery is connected and the vehicle is ready to drive. Meanwhile the fuel cells are starting up:
• begins with a quiet hiss as the stacks are filling up with up with hydrogen,
• next the recirculation pumps kick on, making a low hum and a very slight vibration,
• last is the air delivery blower kicking up to pump air into the stacks,
• and voila, 65kW of fuel cell stacks ready to deliver power. Process takes about 10 seconds, but the car is ready to drive on battery power as soon as the first click is heard and the car is put into drive.

Image Credit: University of WaterlooI'm not a test driver. And even if I was, this was just a trip around the block of GM's Renaissance Center headquarters, so it was just four right turns and a couple of stops. I wasn't doing any hard maneuvering or acceleration testing, or anything else rigorous like that. Those tests had been conducted during the preceeding week at GM's proving grounds. Still, I think it was a unique opportunity to have the chance to drive a fuel cell vehicle. I may not ever have one in my driveway, but I've had the chance to drive one.

While the sounds were different from what you are likely used to with an internal combustion engine, the vehicle drove no differently than any other vehicle. It responded to the accelerator in the same way as any other vehicle, and it had reasonable pickup (even with four people in the car) and performed very comfortably. If they'd left the radio in and played it during the drive, it might not have been noticable that there was any difference at all.

I'm still uncertain about the ready availability of hydrogen, and the infrastructure to distribute it. But it's quite a thrill to drive something like this, even if it never makes it into mass-scale production. Hydrogen fuel cell power does have its uses, even if we don't see it become a mainstream automotive fuel. And, though hydrogen may be difficult to deploy across North America or Europe, it may be easier to bring it to other parts of the world, where the current fuel infrastructure is much more limited, and there is less commitment to gasoline and related fuels. So, although it's farther out there than the other entries, the design and engineering in this project are worthwhile. And even if we don't have hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in our driveways, we're likely to find some specialty applications using hydrogen as part of a comprehensive power scheme in the future. In any case, the engineering efforts of this team (and others) will be put to good use.

Although the two five-door hatchbacks look similar, the Prius is a longer midsized car. In theory, the Honda Insight pricing starts at $19,800 which has pressured Toyota to offer a Prius with a base price only $2,000 higher. The 2010 Insight that I drove included upgrades such as a navigation system and six speaker audio system. The vehicle price, including pre-delivery service, was $23,770.

I started the Insight, and then touched the ECO button. Even in that mode, I had enough acceleration to get on any freeway in a hurry. The ECO mode helped me minimize demands on the 1.3L gasoline engine as I navigated the roads hugging Monterey’s dramatic coast. Like the Ford Fusion Hybrid, I was rewarded with a display of green leaves for my eco-driving behavior.

Handling was smooth and a bit sporty. Driving the Honda Insight was smooth and quiet even when I went up a sustained 16 percent grade, demonstrating that its electric motor is quite effective in blending power with the 98 hp engine.

Price will definitely be a factor in buyers deciding between the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius. In some markets, such as California, another factor may be the ability to get an HOV sticker with the Insight. For my money, if I could get a larger more fuel efficient Prius for only $2,000 more, then I would get the Prius. On the other hand, if there was a $5,000 price differential at the dealer, then I would go with the Insight. All in all, both are wonderful cars.

If you want great fuel economy, few compromises, and driving pleasure, test drive the latest hybrids from automakers like Toyota, Honda, and Ford. The intensified competition between them is bringing better performance and safety and economy.

Complete Article including MINI Cooper test drive.

John Addison publishes the Clean Fleet Report and is the author of Save Gas, Save the Planet.