To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day coming up this Sunday, we’ve compiled a list of this year’s top 5 “green” cars. NewsWatch rated these five eco-friendly cars are the best bet for saving the planet and your money.

Toyota Prius

Image via www.egmcartech.com

The Prius is unique enough that it has become a brand of its own. With the addition this year of a larger model (the V) and a smaller model (the C) that brand has expanded.  It is the best name for high-efficiency cars, having set the benchmark year after year.

Mitsubishi i-MiEV

Image via www.treehugger.com

Mitsubishi’s electric vehicle is a futuristic-looking electric car that is the most energy efficient vehicle available in America today.  This pure-electric car uses lithium-ion batteries to drive a 66-horsepower engine, enough to give it spunky performance for driving around town.

Honda Civic Natural Gas

Image via automobiles.honda.com

Natural gas doesn’t get the same hype in automotive design as electric power, but it’s green nonetheless.  Green enough, in fact, for the LA Auto Show to award the natural gas-powered Civic the Green Car of the Year award.  The range of this year’s model has been improved to 240 miles, which beats most electric-only vehicles.

Smart ForTwo

Image via www.smartcarofamerica.com

The ForTwo doesn’t achieve its high energy efficiency by using a small engine to power a small, lightweight car.  It makes up for its size with a unique, head-turning style.

Lexus CT200

Image via www.autoguide.com

The CT200 is a hybrid-only model (not available in a non-hybrid form) that gets 43 mpg.  Best of all?  For the same price as the Mitsubishi-i, the Lexus is, well, a Lexus.

And, of course, we had to add in one of our favorite green cars.

Lamborghini Murcielago

Image via madisoncowles.tumblr.com

This Italian high-performance exotic super car is known for its characteristic scissor doors that open upwards. But, unlike the other cars on this list, it’s neither very eco- nor budget-friendly.

In honor of President’s Day yesterday, here is a list of the top 5 cars owned by U.S. presidents. To see the full list, check out the article on cars.com.

5. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1939 Packard 12

This 12-cylinder Packard was such a unique piece of technology that Roosevelt said he couldn’t do without it. The car currently resides in Toyota’s Automobile Museum in Japan. This image is of the car being delivered to the White House in 1939.

4. Lyndon B. Johnson, Amphicar

It’s easy to see why this rare German car built in the 1960s was a favorite of Johnson’s. Johnson owned an interesting array of cars, including a Jolly 500 Ghia made by Fiat along with his more recognizable Lincoln Continental.

3. Ronald Reagan, Subaru Brat

Reagan is famously known as an actor-turned-politician, but in the late 1970s he secretly drove a Subaru Brat test car around his California ranch and sent progress reports to the automaker. It had to be hush-hush because political sentiment of the day toward Japanese car-makers was confrontational, to say the least.

2. Bill Clinton, 1967 Ford Mustang

The first baby boomer president owned the most iconic car of that generation, a 1967 Ford Mustang convertible. The car didn’t leave the president’s driveway from soon after college until he became president. During his presidency, he was allowed to drive it briefly at a celebration of the car’s 30th anniversary in 1994. The 250 feet covered was the longest distance a sitting U.S. President has driven their own vehicle.

1. Harry Truman, 1953 Chrysler New Yorker

Truman takes the top spot with his 1953 Chrysler New Yorker. Truman and his wife drove this car on a well-documented road trip after his presidency. The former president and first lady drove 2,500 miles from their home in Missouri to the East Coast and back again.

‘The Beast’ Cadillac Limousine

We had to add in one of our personal favorites. With enough armor to stop an RPG and a  price tag of $300,000, the President’s vehicle is a very resilient ride. It’s so armored-up and filled with gear, agents call it The Beast. According to the manufacturer, General Motors, the 2009 presidential limousine, based on the Cadillac DTS, is the first not to carry a specific model name.

Having trouble deciding what to get your gear head this holiday season? Here is the perfect gear head gift idea list with the best gifts as seen in an article from Spike.

Handheld GPS Navigation – If your gear head isn’t crazy about asking for directions, they’ll never have to again with a handheld GPS unit. Even if you miss a turn, most models will just re-route you automatically.

Bluetooth Stereo – With the advent of the personal MP3 player, having a car stereo with 3.5mm auxiliary jack is a must. Also, many state laws require you to use a hands-free device when using your phone in the car, so why not kill two birds with one stone and upgrade your gear head to a new head unit with Bluetooth and an AUX jack?

Exotic Car Rental – Since we aren’t all in the position to buy our gear head a new Audi R8 or Corvette ZR1, here’s another option. An exotic car rental for a week will give the same thrill without the car payments or insane insurance rates.

Car Detailing Kit – You know your car enthusiast loves to keep his/her vehicle as clean as possible, which makes a car detailing kit the perfect gift. An ideal kit should include auto shampoo, windshield wipes, paintwork cleanser, and a paste wax for a flawless shine without rubbing or buffing.

DC Power Supply – If your gear head is sick of looking around for car charger adapters for cell phones or likes to take a laptop on long road trips, a DC power converter is the perfect gift. Anything you can plug into a wall socket can now be powered/charged right in your car.

Air Cleaner Replacement – All vehicles use air filters, but the stock ones are typically cheaper filters that restrict air flow which cuts into mileage and horsepower. Advanced air filters are re-usable for the lifetime of your car, yield better gas mileage, and actually provide a noticeable boost in power as well.

Digital Tire Gauge – Low tire pressure not only causes a poor ride quality, but also cuts into gas mileage by as much as 10% and adds premature wear to tires. A digital tire gauge will help keep tires in good shape.

Extended Warranty – No matter how well your gear head cares for their automobile, there are going to be lots of things under the hood that eventually wear out or fail. An extended warranty from CARCHEX is the perfect gift to keep your gear head’s car on the road for as long as possible.

The 2012 NASCAR season features a major change that you will probably never notice. For the first time in NASCAR’s history, car will be outfitted with fuel-injected rather than carbureted engines. This move was made to bring stock cars more inline with production vehicles. While both carburetors and fuel injectors have been around for a while, all cars produced in the USA  since 1990 have come with fuel-injected engines.

Other than a new technology for pit crews to master, what difference will this change make on racing? Pat Goss explains why the switch might make for more exciting and strategic racing.

So, even if you don’t know a socket wrench from a sock, or the difference between an oil and an air filter, you can now talk with some confidence about NASCAR’s new fuel-injected engines.

You have questions, Pat Goss has answers.

This is the first year that NASCAR has used fuel-injected engines. What does that mean and what advantages does it give the drivers?

Well, fuel injection is a more precise way of metering the amount of fuel that goes into an engine. And of course there are varying types of fuel injection, some a lot more precise then others. As far as race cars go, the biggest single advantage, unless they do something to alter it some other place in the car, is that they should be able to go a little bit further on every gallon of fuel.

Long gone are the days when you had to hand crank your windows, manually adjust your seats, or rely on only one side-view mirror. Cars now come packed with technology that even a decade ago would have seemed only possible in science fiction. We now have cars that brake for us, that warn us if there is a vehicle in our blindspot, and can even parallel park themselves.

But is there a downside to all this new automotive technology? Pat Goss explains why all these wonderful gadgets could actually be making us “dumb and dangerous drivers.”

So, even if your car should warn you of possible danger, make sure to check over your shoulder before changing lanes. It could very well save your life.

You have questions, Pat Goss has answers.

I love all the new safety features on my car but my friend says they are making us too reliant on technology. Are these new features good or bad for drivers?

Modern cars have a wide array of electronic devices that sometimes are standard, sometimes they’re optional, that can actually help prevent accidents. There are things like blind spot warning systems and lane maintaining systems and braking systems that will brake the car automatically if there’s a vehicle ahead of you. Well, the problem with all of these is that under certain circumstances they could save your life, but there is one absolute rule with them: you do not rely on them as your primary source of information or reaction to situations. You still, no matter how many of these devices are on your car, you still have to be a driver. You have to maintain control. You have to use your brain. If you rely on these safety features too much they make you a dumb and dangerous driver.