Despite their small share of total vehicle sales, the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius garner a lot of attention from new-car shoppers, according to J.D. Power and Associates' 2012 Avoider Study.

The study finds that gas mileage is the most important attribute shoppers are looking at now, surpassing older key reasons such as exterior styling, reliability and price.

That puts the Volt, Prius and Leaf in a good position as each are among the most fuel-efficient cars in the country.

The Prius recorded about 140,000 sales in 2011, but the Volt and Leaf weren't particularly big sellers last year. There are a lot of reasons for that, ranging from startup issues, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and other supply constraints. However, there are other issues besetting the fortunes of these green machines, according to the study.

Consumers think the Volt costs too much and that's why a lot of shoppers avoid the plug-in hybrid, according to the study. When people decide to skip over the Leaf or Prius, the most cited reason is the styling is unattractive.

Other shoppers said the Volt's and Leaf's diminutive cabins and lack of cargo space as reasons to avoid the vehicles. Shoppers don't like the Prius' performance, either.

For people who like the Volt, the most cited reason is its impact on a person's image; that's a good shout-out to Chevrolet's successful marketing campaign. The most cited reason for buying a Leaf is its low maintenance costs, and for the Prius, its reliability.

Other highlights of the study show that few Americans are avoiding domestically built cars, with only about 6% of respondents seeing it as a deterrent. The opposite is true for imported vehicles; about 14% of shoppers avoid imported vehicles, the highest level ever recorded by the study. That's probably due to the economic recession and the loss of domestic jobs, says J.D. Power.

Overall, some 43% of shoppers say they'll avoid an entire brand based on its perceived quality and reliability despite whether a given model within the lineup is reviewed well by car experts.

Mitsubishi keeps it simple in the 2012 Outlander SUV. Maybe a little too simple, says Cars.com Family contributor Courtney Messenbaugh. She found the plastic-laden interior yawn-inducing, but the optional third row really raised her ire with its flimsy materials and tight confines — even for her young son. However, Courtney did appreciate the Outlander’s sporty exterior and agility on the road.

2012 Mitsubishi Outlander Review

The eco-friendly gimmick war continues to rage on. On the heels of Chevrolet unveiling eco-impact labels on its new vehicles, Ford has announced that its new-for-2013 Escape will be made with plant material.

Ford is replacing some of the materials in the Escape's doors with kenaf, a tropical plant related to cotton and okra. Kenaf is edible and looks like bamboo; it's currently used in making cosmetics and paper products.

Ford says using the plant improves the vehicle's fuel economy because it reduces the weight of the door bolsters by 25%. Its fuel economy gains weren't specified, however. The automaker says kenaf will help save oil in other ways, too. Because the plant replaces oil-based materials previously used in Escape’s doors, "the use of kenaf is anticipated to offset 300,000 pounds of oil-based resin per year in North America," Ford said in a press release.

When the redesigned compact SUV goes on sale this spring, kenaf will join Escape's soy foam seats and head restraints, recycled-tire climate gauges and carpet made from plastic bottles. 

Ford's Escape certainly isn't the first green vehicle. Land Rover's new-for-2012 Range Rover Evoque, for example, is made with 35.2 pounds of recycled plastic, or about 1,000 16.9-ounce plastic bottles.

Another installment of our occasional Funny Friday series.

While there are plenty of good reasons to pick a Prius, space for sleeping is not usually one of them. Thanks to a new device that resembles a marshmallow stuck onto the back of the car, outdoor enthusiasts may soon be trekking into the wilderness in Toyota’s eco-friendly sub compact. However, there is no guarantee that a hungry bear will not attempt to eat the puffy white contraption on the back of your car.

Hey look! A sporty camper Prius with a big marshmallow on its back.

The new camper shell is the product of the Camp-Inn company of Japan at a Tokyo auto show. Drawing on the popular bolt-on camper shells produced for Saab vehicles, the new Prius Relax Cabin fits onto the roof and end of the short car. While it does add some space, it also looks ridiculous. Of course, the people that this device is designed to appeal to already spend plenty of money for the privilege of getting bit by mosquitoes.

A very roomy interior for two "close" friends.

The camper takes advantage of the rear folding seats to create two separate sleeping areas. When folded down, two people who are very good friends can squeeze into the space for sleep while two nap in the sardine can space above the car. A cramped shower cubicle and seating area somehow fit within the 20 inches the unit adds to the back of the Prius.

If you don’t mind turning your Prius into a bloated cloud-shaped car for a weekend, you can save a few gallons of gas while amusing everyone else on the highway.

Of course, you might be just as smart to go and find an old Toyota mini motorhome and do some work to make that as fuel efficient as possible.

Or, even better, just pack all your gear on your bicycle and pedal over to the campsite…anything to help the environment, right?

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Find new Tundra info in our official 2012 Tundra buyer’s guide.

For the 2012 model year, the Honda Crosstour gets a new four-cylinder option that starts at $27,655, excluding an $810 destination fee. The model officially went on sale today at Honda dealerships.

The base EX four-cylinder Crosstour comes with features that include heated side mirrors, a backup camera, Bluetooth connectivity, seven-speaker stereo and a 10-way power driver's seat.

That figure is $2,685 less than a base EX V-6-equipped Crosstour, which starts at $30,340 and adds more features than just the engine, including noise cancellation, fog lights, chrome door handles, dual-zone automatic climate control and a four-way power passenger seat.

The EX-L trim four-cylinder Crosstour is available for $30,705. The model comes with dual-zone automatic climate control, heated front seats, power passenger seat and leather upholstery. The four-cylinder is rated at 21/29 mpg city/highway and 24 mpg combined.

The four-cylinder is only available with front-wheel drive, while the V-6 has an all-wheel-drive option — it's available for $1,450 on the EX-L trim.

Here’s what we have our eye on today:

• Fourth-quarter profits are trickling in. Ford's pretax profits declined to $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, down from around $1.3 billion in the year-ago quarter. Pretax profits for all of 2011, however, totaled $8.8 billion, up 5.6% over 2010 — the third consecutive year of improving annual profits, Ford says. Meanwhile, Hyundai's fourth-quarter profits climbed 38% to $1.8 billion at current exchange rates, Automotive News reports.

• J.D. Power and Associates' Avoider Study, now in its ninth year, found 43% of new-car shoppers avoid certain brands or models because of perceived quality or reliability issues rather than actual data. Thirty-eight percent of shoppers based avoidance on ratings and reviews, while 14% avoided certain cars because of past ownership experience. The import-domestic wars are taking an interesting turn, too: Fourteen percent of shoppers avoid import brands because of their origin, the highest number since the study began. By contrast, just 6% avoid Detroit brands for the same reason, a "historically low level," J.D. Power says.

• Honda CEO Takanobu Ito predicts a bullish 2012, with full-year profits for the automaker in the fiscal year ending March 2013 recovering to pre-recession levels. Ito told Bloomberg News he expects North American sales to lead the recovery, with U.S. sales improving 24% in 2012. Ito has high hopes for the redesigned Accord, which hits dealers this fall. Accord sales fell 19% in 2011, but it remains Honda's best-selling model.

• California, the nation's largest auto market, may require almost all automakers in the state to sell enough electric, fuel-cell or plug-in hybrid vehicles so that they make up 15.4% of total sales by 2025, Automotive News reports. The California Air Resources Board's proposal would ramp up starting in 2018. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a group representing much of the auto industry, says the CARB proposal represents "a disconnect with the marketplace."

Just when you thought the vampire trend was waning, Audi jumps on the bandwagon with its 2012 Super Bowl ad.

On top of being gorgeous and a blast to drive, Audi’s A7 is apparently really good at repelling vampires. Well, its LED headlights, to be specific.

In Audi’s Super Bowl spot, the A7’s new-for-2013 performance-oriented S7 sibling rolls up to a BYOB (bring your own blood) vampire bonfire. The hapless driver inadvertently turns his fang-bearing buddies into dust when the S7’s LED headlights illuminate the party.

Sure, S7’s LED lights are cool, but we can think of more exciting things to promote about the car: its 420-horsepower, twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 comes to mind.

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Chevrolet says it will start putting new informational labels on its vehicles to help consumers understand the vehicle's ecological impact. But is it just a marketing gimmick?

Starting in March with the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, each new model will have a small label on the rear driver-side window. More Chevrolets will get the label starting with the 2013 model year.

The label helps explain the ecological benefits of choosing a Chevy over competing vehicles, or possibly a used car. Facts on the Sonic's label include that it was produced in the U.S. — thus reducing emissions related to transportation — and that the car is 85% recyclable. An independent third-party sustainability agency verifies the information on the labels.

We don't know of any other manufacturers with labels like this, which actually puts Chevrolet's facts into a bit of a vacuum. How will consumers know if other vehicles don't offer the same green benefits? For instance, a car is one of the most recyclable items on the planet, with about 75% to 80% being reused on average. That makes the Sonic's recyclable figure, while still better, seem less impressive.

If other automakers started printing labels like this and there were more comparative analysis and context, we could see how the labels could benefit car shoppers.

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