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Consumer Reports has released a list of five cars to avoid. The list includes some well-known names, as well as some cars you're probably avoiding anyway.

"The five models here may be on a lot of buyers' shopping lists, but we suggest you steer clear," Consumer Reports explains. "They didn't perform well in our testing or they suffer from subpar reliability. Either way, there are better choices."

The two picks that we find most interesting are the Honda Civic and Toyota Prius C.

It used to be that 100,000 miles was the dreaded odometer reading that got you thinking about a new car. Today, that number is more like a half-life for many owners. New research shows more evidence that auto consumers are keeping their vehicles for longer than ever.

Several months ago, market analytical firm Polk reported that duration of vehicle ownership had reached record levels, citing an average of around six years. Its numbers were pretty modest if we're to believe a new study by AutoMD.com. According to the study, as cited by The Detroit Bureau, 78 percent of vehicle owners plan to keep their models for 10 or more years. Only 4 percent report that they expect to trade in between six and seven years, and only 3 percent in three to five years.

Ford announces this week that the 2013 C-Max Hybrid is EPA certified at 47 mpg. The car gets a rare round EPA rating of 47 highway / 47 city. And, of course, that equates to 47 mpg combined. Take out the fours, and it's a jackpot of EPA certification.

The 47 mpg is just short of the Toyota Prius' 50 mpg combined, which leads non-plug-in hybrids. However, Ford is quick to point out that the C-Max Hybrid is the first hybrid to average 47 mpg for both city and highway driving. Most hybrids get a bump in city fuel economy thanks to regenerative braking, but the C-Max Hybrid keeps it level.

The idea that the fuel economy of new cars would reach record levels is almost intuitive. Automakers have been using new strategies and technologies to deliver higher fuel economy numbers, both to appeal to consumers and meet government regulations. With gas prices often flirting with record or near-record levels, consumers have responded by buying more efficient cars. It seems like we should be hitting record levels every year, and a new report shows that to be the case during the first half of 2012.

In March, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute reported that average fuel economy for new cars had topped 24 mpg for the first time. While it came down in April, consumers remain very concerned with fuel economy, and average new-vehicle fuel economy set a record during the first half of 2012. According to auto market research firm Baum & Associates, the average fuel economy for new passenger vehicles in the US between January and June was 23.8 mpg. That's more than a 1 mpg increase from the 22.7 mpg record set during the same half-year period in 2011.

Now that Facebook has a footprint that leaves traditional media outlets dark green with jealousy, many companies skip the traditional press releases and trade show debuts in favor of Facebook announcements. We've seen it more and more in the auto industry, and the latest example is the unveiling of Nissan's new Pathfinder.

Instead of waiting for Paris or another major auto show, Nissan chose to reveal the 2013 Pathfinder during a hot, lazy late-July day. It will hold a more official unveiling event on Friday, August 3. Nissan foregoes the shadowy, out-of-focus teasers in favor of full photos to get some buzz going for Friday's event.

When we first saw the Arrinera, the Polish supercar, it was impossible to think anything other than "Lamborghini knock-off." In fact it was so close to a Lamborghini, some Polish media outlets claimed it was a replica of a tuned Lamborghini. Arrinera denied those reports and is moving ahead with the production version of its car. Given the back story, we expect the production car to take a few steps away from Sant'Agata Bolognese in terms of styling. The first teaser pictures provide more specifics as to what we can expect.

The teaser pictures don't provide enough evidence for us to determine how "Lambo" the production Arrinera will be. The shadowy profile view shows a shape that appears quite similar to the prototype model. The other shots zero in on small areas of the car.

When it debuted in 2007, the Nissan GT-R wasn't just a new car; it was a new paradigm. The car demonstrated that extreme supercar-beating performance can be established without a huge engine or $200,000 price tag. It wasn't the most exotic-looking car, but with acceleration equivalent to a $250,000 Italian sports coupe, it was, and continues to be, the supercar for the masses. But its reign at Nissan may be waning.

According to an Inside Line report citing an inside source, Nissan has not yet approved the next-generation GT-R, and it may not end up doing so. The report cites weakening sales and the retirement of GT-R chief engineer Kazutoshi Mizuno as reasons Nissan may not wish to keep the GT-R alive.

After saying that it would debut the new Mazda6 at the Paris Motor Show, Mazda has pushed the reveal date up by about a month. The Japanese automaker will debut the car at the 2012 Moscow Auto Show in late August.

We assume the pushed up debut has everything to do with a leaked photo raining all over Mazda's teaser parade. Mazda was on its fourth teaser, and we assume a fifth was coming, when a Russian blog leaked the first full photo. Mazda's announcement about the Moscow appearance was accompanied by that very same photo just a day later, so it appears Mazda is eager to take back its role as narrator of the Mazda6 story.

We've heard tell of a big McLaren debut before. At the time, it wasn't clear if the reveal would be public or private, and since we never heard anything about it later on, it was either private and tightly concealed or didn't happen. According to a new report from the UK, McLaren will hold a private debut at Pebble Beach, followed up with a full public reveal at the Paris Motor Show a month later. The subject of the reveal, of course, is the much anticipated F1 successor.

Not only does CarsUK provide a pretty solid (and believable) time line for the F1's appearance, it also has some new rumors about what the car will be capable of. We've heard the flagship's codename is P12, and CarsUK says that the actual model may be called '799'. That number undoubtedly refers to the ~800 hp that's rumored to come from its 3.8-liter V-8 engine.

Eight hundred horsepower would be more than enough for McLaren to compete with cars like the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta or Lamborghini Aventador, but the P12/799 is about something more - it's about competing with the fastest, most powerful cars in the world. The Bugatti Veyron, SSC Tuatara and upcoming Ferrari Enzo successor are a few of its future colleagues. So McLaren will reportedly use a KERS system to add up to a 200-hp boost for a total of 1,000.

When the Ford C-Max Energi launches this fall, it stands to become America's most affordable plug-in hybrid (just barely, after tax credit). Its solid price combines with a Prius Plug-In-beating 20 miles of all-electric range, making it a solid combination of affordability and eco-friendliness.

The C-Max Energi is a plug-in version of the C-Max Hybrid and is more closely aligned with the Toyota Prius Plug-In than the longer e-range Chevy Volt. The car packs 20 miles of all-electric range and 550 miles of total range into a package that ducks below $30,000 after tax credit.

As nice of an update as the new Mazda6 appears to be, we were getting a little worn out by all the teasing. We covered the first three videos, but had to start ignoring the teaser barrage. A run-of-the-mill mid-sized sedan just isn't worth that much teasing and analysis.

Thankfully, the power of the Internet has stepped in to put an end Mazda's teaser campaign at four videos. A photo originally leaked on Russian blog AutoWP shows the first full look at the Mazda6's front end. We imagine a full official reveal will follow soon.