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These are 2014's best-selling cars and trucks

Now that 2014 is no more than a set of numbers on spreadsheets, at last, the grist mill gets its first real load to chew on. The number one selling vehicle in America last year was the Ford F-Series, a fact that should surprise you only if your family name is Van Winkle and your naps tend to last 38 years, which is how long the Ford pickup has ruled our buying landscape. Even though series sales were down 1.3 percent, it still racked up 753,851 units. That's 2,065.3 sales per day, every day, all year. The Chevrolet Silverado, up 10.3 percent for the year, was still a daylight second at 529,755 units. The cab-and-bed love continued into third place with the Ram 1500-3500 trucks, gaining 23.6-percent year-on-year to clock 439,789 units. The robust turnout at The Bighorn and Jeep helped Fiat-Chrysler increase its sales by 16 percent, past the two-million mark. Our number one car? The Toyota Camry, staying in first place with a 4.9-percent sales boost to 428,606 sales, trailed again by the Honda Accord at number five with 388,374 sales. Accord sales rose six percent, and if it's any consolation to Honda for coming in second - not that it needs one - it is the only manufacturer to have three vehicles in the top ten. The rest of the list: the Nissan Altima with 335,644 sales (+4.7%), the Honda CR-V with 355,019 (+10.2%), the Toyota Corolla/Matrix combo with 339,498 (+5.9%), the Honda Civic with 325,981 (-3.1%), and the Ford Fusion with 306,860 sales (+2.9%). Total sales for the year were up six percent to 16.5 million vehicles, a volume not seen since 2006, aided by a strong December that was up by 11 percent year-on-year. Ford was the top selling brand overall but sales didn't really budge from 2013, while Subaru rocketed up 21 percent to finish with 513,693 sales. At the precious end, BMW, Audi, Porsche and Land Rover all had record years, and Kelley Blue Book thinks we could be looking at 17 million sales for the next two or three years. Looks like it's time to start making hay again... Featured Gallery Best-selling vehicles of 2014 View 10 Photos News Source: Detroit News, Associated Press Auto News Chevrolet Ford Honda Nissan RAM Toyota Car Buying Truck Sedan sales

It's possible to go 111 miles on electricity in the new Chevy Volt

Wayne Gerdes at CleanMPG put the 2016 Chevrolet Volt in Premiere trim through a few closely watched on-the-road tests over a few days. One of them was a run from full charge to EV-only exhaustion, and at the end of the trip Gerdes had traveled 111.0 indicated miles on a single charge, 111.9 according to his Garmin. What's the catch? He guessed his average speed was about 20 miles per hour, which was 15 and 20 mph around town and "a few miles" at 50 mph on the highway. The EPA says the new Volt should go 53 miles on battery power. In the 2011 Volt, rated at 38 electric miles, Gerdes got 75.5 miles on a charge. The upshot is that at urban driving at average speeds should get drivers the EPA rated 53 e-mpg without fuss. He wasn't so impressed with performance in Charge Sustaining Mode, though. During one run that covered 101.2 actual miles in CSM, using 1.691 gallons, the Volt got 59.8 mpg. Speaking of driving in CSM only, Gerdes said it's less efficient here than in competitors from Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai, but that's one of the few performance-related complaints he had. Elsewhere around the PHEV, Gerdes liked improvements to the eight-inch display and rear-view camera, build and design quality, the much quieter ride, and the switch to regular fuel. The six-foot Gerdes found the cabin space still cozy, especially in the back where ingress and egress could be a challenge for people of a certain stature. He lamented the fact that he couldn't find instantaneous fuel and energy consumption or among the many readouts, and would prefer the sedan kicked into glide mode sooner. In spite of that, he declares the Volt II "a full blown electric car." Head over to CleanMPG for the rest of his assessment.

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

If you can't wait for the next-generation Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Hennessey says they will have you covered. The Texas-based company has announced it will offer a spate of upgrades for the 2014 Corvette ranging from a range of bolt-on options all the way up to a 1,000-horsepower, twin-turbo system. Buyers can start with a cold air intake, cat-back exhaust or stainless steel long-tube headers, but Hennessey says it will also offer up three stages of forced induction mayhem should those bits and baubles not provide enough thrust.
Those choices start with a supercharger system good for up to 700 hp, though Hennessey will gladly ditch the blower in favor of two turbos. Doing so will spin the crank to the tune of 800 horsepower all the way up to a certifiably ludicrous 1,000 ponies. There's no word on how much these tricks will cost you - or when they will be available, as we're guessing they haven't gotten their hands on the car yet - but you can head over to the Hennessey site to drop them a line if you're curious.