One in an occasional series reviewing consumer vehicles that are powered by water, natural gas, electricity, hybrid motors, high-efficiency gasoline engines or some other alternative source.

I remember when the first Mazda Miata hit American shores in 1989, I wondered to myself why it was a gas- as opposed to electric-powered version of the European roadsters of the 1960s. Turns out a Santa Ana company had already unveiled such a car . . . 30 years earlier.
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What is believed to be the first fire incident involving a Lamborghini Aventador happened on a test drive this past weekend in the southbound lanes of the San Joaquin Hills toll road (Route 73) past El Toro Road in Aliso Viejo.

The fire broke out in the left rear wheel well area before fully engulfing the $379,000 sports car owned by Lamborghini of Newport Beach.

No one was injured. Three lanes of the 73 were closed. More >>

One in an occasional series reviewing consumer vehicles that are powered by water, natural gas, electricity, hybrid motors, high-efficiency gasoline engines or some other alternative source.

My first item in the "Ride Me" category was an obituary for Seal Beach's Doug Korthof, an environmentalist and electric-car advocate I'd written about and who was later featured in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?

I thought of Korthof while tooling around the beaches Seal and Huntington in a spiffy new Mitsubishi electric car.
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Today we begin here at Navelgazing's "Ride Me" lot one in an occasional--and someday, perhaps, weekly--series on consumer vehicles powered by water, natural gas, electricity, hybrid motors, high-efficiency gasoline engines, my tears or other alternative sources.

Kicking things off is the peppy little 2012 Kia Rio Ex, an eye-opening 5-door compact that would do nicely for daily commutes and for anyone fuming over the recent price spikes at the pump.
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piagphotography/Flickr Creative Commons

Shell offers a pricy pump service.

​It used to be said that everything was more expensive in California. And until our housing market crashed, it might have been true. But at least one thing remains ridiculously overpriced here--gasoline. California's average cost of gas is now $4.34 for regular gas, while the national average is currently at a record high of $3.81. Even filling up at your local Arco station, known for cheap prices that reflects its basically-fumes makeup, adds six or seven dollars more at the pump.

A quick search on Gas Buddy for Orange County shows the lowest gas price is in Orange at $4.13. Try stocking up on cheaply priced gas next time you're up in North County--Anaheim, Stanton and Cypress is where you'll find the lowest prices. But rather than tell you where you can find the cheapest gas like all other sites, we're going to do the opposite: tell you the five most uneconomical gas stations in Orange County. Avoid these stations at all cost, lest you feel ripped off when you pass the others.More >>

​A disabled man has been fighting the city of Newport Beach for more than a year over a ticket he received for parking in a handicapped spot without displaying the proper placard.More >>

​UPDATE, FEB. 14, 2:31 P.M.: What a wonderful way to mark Valentine's Day: Adopt a Charger ("Accelerating the adoption of plug-in vehicles via fee-free electric car chargers") has established the Doug Korthof Memorial Charger Fund. Money raised will be used to install and maintain a charging station near Korthof's Seal Beach home or alma mater, Cal State Long Beach.

The site explains why it is honoring Korthof that way, after the jump . . .
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​Road hogs are running rampant in Brea.More >>