Five finalists for Green Car of the Year named

Two clean diesels, two clean conventionals and one everything.

That's probably the best way to sum up the five finalists for the Green Car of of the Year, what has become one of the major prizes in the automotive world.

In the past, hybrids and electric cars seemd to have the edge. But in the last few years, the award has increasingly gone to a wider variety of cars.

This year, the two clean diesels are the Audi A6 TDI and BMW 328d. The two conventionals, meaning cleaner, more efficient versions of cars with standard internal-combustion engines, are the Mazda3 and the Toyota Corolla. And the everything is the new Honda Accord, which comes in a variety of "green" configuations.

Jurors include Jay Leno; Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of Ocean Futures Society; Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club; and Matt Petersen, board member of Global Green USA.

Here's a little detail about the contenders:

The Finalists:

Audi A6 TDI. The 2014 A6 has a 240-horsepower, 3-liter, 6-cylinder TDI clean diesel engine and all-wheel drive, good for zero to 60 miles per hour in just 5.5 seconds. It has a start-stop system, which shuts off the engine at intersections. It gets an EPA estimated 38 highway miles per gallon, and has more than 700 miles of highway driving range.

BMW 328d. BMW's first four-cylinder diesel engine in the U.S. is rated at 45 mpg on the highway. It has a 180-horsepower, 2-liter engine with rear- or all-wheel drive.

Honda Accord. The midsize Accord now comes in a four-cylinder, V-6, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid version. Even the V-6 engine gets 36 mpg on the highway. At the high end, the plug-in gets an EPA rating of 115 MPGe, the government's way of rating electric vehicles.

Mazda3. With the brand's Skyactiv technology with its conventional 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine, the new Mazda3 achieves 41 mpg on the highway.

Toyota Corolla. The popular compact's su! bcompact gets 42 mpg with its conventional 140-horsepower 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine. It uses Toyota's Valvematic technology .