09/07/2008

Fit is a highly evolved Honda
Honda is the guy selling umbrellas on the corner when it starts to rain, the lady selling flowers when you’re late for an anniversary dinner, the vendor selling fire extinguishers when your underwear bursts into flame.

09/03/2008

The 2009 6i Sport is Mazda’s answer to our troubled times
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — I toured this bedroom community in the 2009 Mazda 6, the latest entry in the hotly contested market for mid-size, mid-priced family sedans.

08/30/2008

Test Drive: Dodge Challenger SRT8 brings pony car era back for a last hurrah

08/27/2008

Toyota’s Scion xD is a city car with attitude
There are degrees of ugliness.

08/23/2008

Lancer Evo casts a seductive spell
Call it what you will — track car, rally car, cop bait — the 10th generation Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR is a test of willpower: Are you brave enough to drive this car to its fullest?

08/17/2008

Test Drive: The Toyota Matrix arrives just in time
The 2009 Toyota Matrix XRS compact wagon arrived a year later than most people expected, but at the perfect time.

08/13/2008

Pontiac’s roadworthy G8 is right car at the wrong time

08/09/2008

Town and Country, Caravan offer the ultimate family room
The minivan is the Rodney Dangerfield of the automotive world. Respect? Nope.

08/10/2008

Lincoln MKS lifts Ford image
Any resemblance you see between the sophisticated and luxurious 2009 Lincoln MKS and the stultifying sedans Ford’s luxury brand has sold for the last 20 years is not coincidence.

08/06/2008

The least expensive Lexus is no stripped-down model
Lexus positions the IS series as a BMW 3-Series fighter, and while it certainly is on paper, it doesn’t quite make that point in person. At least until this year, when Lexus introduced the V-8-powered, 416-horsepower IS F, the first time this model has had a genuine performance version to rally around.

08/03/2008

New A4 keeps Audi out front
In 1995, Audi was hanging by a burning thread in the U.S. Thanks to some spectacularly bad cars and a meta-scandal concerning mysterious “unintended acceleration,” U.S. sales of VW’s luxury division had spiraled down to around 7,000 cars, and it was no feat to imagine Audi exiting the American scene with its Teutonic tail between its legs. The subsequent turnaround — all those sexy and beautiful cars like the TT and the R8, the foundational leaps in technology such as direct injection, the eight wins at Le Mans, the toe-to-toeing with Mercedes and BMW, all of that — began with the release of the Audi A4.

07/23/2008

A high caliber compact hatchback from Chrysler

07/20/2008

Try to keep it under 200
Let’s take the easy question first: Is the Koenigsegg CCX worth 669,000 euros, or $1.05 million in our currently scrawny U.S. currency? For most owners of mere $200,000 Ferraris — let alone mortals with $20,000 minivans — the answer is an emphatic no.

07/19/2008

The ‘scowling’ Nissan Murano is betwixt and between

07/16/2008

Mazda5 minivan is thrifty carpooler, steady cargo hauler
Sound an all-points bulletin: We’ve lost the “mini” in our minivans.

07/13/2008

Forester: The ice van cometh
LOS ANGELES

07/06/2008

A ‘greener’ sport-utility vehicle
Not every sport-utility vehicle is a gas guzzler.

07/05/2008

Low-slung Audi R8 sets a high bar for cool
On a bright Saturday, I found car-vana in an Audi R8, inner peace on a suburban stretch of road.

07/02/2008

Mini goes for the family dollar with its Clubman
Plenty of people have come this close to buying the sprightly, nano-scale Mini Cooper. And then they got a load of that back seat.

06/28/2008

Test drive: The 2008 Jeep Rubicon is better suited to the off-road than the urban commute
When the Jeep Wrangler was redesigned for 2007, most all the attention went to the Unlimited, the extended model with, for the first time in a Wrangler, four full doors and genuine rear seats.

06/29/2008

Test drive: The 2009 Acura TSX has more fun with fewer horses
On paper, many of us thought the pending arrival of the 2004 Acura TSX would be a bit underwhelming. It was, after all, a slightly massaged version of the European-specification Honda Accord.

06/25/2008

The Sorento EX, an SUV that hasn’t crossed over
For those who seek the road less traveled — or the off road less traveled, Kia offers two of the few remaining small SUVs that aren’t “crossovers” — that is, carlike and often car-based.

The Sorento EX, an SUV that hasn’t crossed over
For those who seek the road less traveled — or the off road less traveled, Kia offers two of the few remaining small SUVs that aren’t “crossovers” — that is, carlike and often car-based.

06/21/2008

Test Drive: Meet the powerful Chevy Tahoe Hybrid
What weighs more than 2 1/2 tons, has seats for up to nine people, looks conspicuously like a big sport-utility vehicle and yet is a gasoline-electric hybrid?

06/22/2008

XF recalls Jaguar’s glory days
DETROIT — Whatever else you say about Ford, there’s no denying the Dearborn, Mich., automaker is a good host.

06/18/2008

Test Drive: Porsche Cayenne is dashing, in a boxy sort of way
The idea of a Porsche sport-utility vehicle might have seemed about as incongruous as a Rolls Royce pickup truck five years ago. Some could have wondered, how can a company renowned for dashing little sports cars put its name on an SUV?

06/14/2008

Saturn hybrid SUV is a thrifty compromise
Let’s get this out of the way first: Yes, the sensible, comparatively simple Saturn Vue Green Line is a hybrid, but it does not get the astronomical fuel economy that Toyota Prius drivers crow about.

06/15/2008

GT-R: Speed without fear
I know what you want from me. You think I’m just your little word slave, that I’m here just to arouse you with steamy descriptions of the new and instantly legendary Nissan GT-R, like: “The acceleration of the twin-turbo, all-wheel-drive, 480-hp GT-R is much like a 50-yard field goal in the NFL, wherein your butt is the football.” Sigh. I feel so used.

06/11/2008

Dodge journeying away from minivan, SUV stigma
Is the new Dodge Journey just another crossover? Is it a sawed-off sport-utility vehicle or a stealthy station wagon? Or is it, just possibly, a minivan in disguise?

06/08/2008

Gallardo goes for broke
Here’s the thing about squiring around a Lamborghini Gallardo: Either you can pull it off or you can’t. And the very first time you swing out of the low-slung cockpit with a crowd around, you’ll know which camp you fall into.

06/04/2008

Infiniti EX35 will keep you on the straight and narrow
In 1990, Toyota launched its luxury brand, Lexus, in the U.S. market, and Nissan launched its luxury brand, Infiniti. Since then, Infiniti has battled for the same sort of marketplace recognition that Lexus has long enjoyed.

05/31/2008

A wagon built for the suburban load
WASHINGTON — We spent an attentive week in the real world driving to work, shopping malls, banks, schools and medical offices. We also did spring cleaning, which meant hauling lots of wastefully purchased stuff to the dump.

06/01/2008

The satisfying Corolla
If the Toyota Corolla were a movie, it would be a summer blockbuster. After all, this is a car that, like a movie studio executive, lives and dies by its numbers, specifically its manufacturer suggested retail price and EPA ratings.

05/28/2008

Kia Sportage, a sensible SUV
With gasoline prices setting new records almost daily, the auto market is ripe for manufacturers such as Kia.

05/25/2008

Powerful fun at a fair price
Pontiac, marketed as General Motors’ performance division since the Eisenhower administration, hasn’t lived up to its own hype over the last 20 years, substituting overwrought styling for outright muscle. Exhibit A: the Aztek, an SUV that looked better if you erected the optional tent over the rear of the vehicle.

05/17/2008

New Malibu delivers good mileage and good looks at a good price
I admit it. I had to check that there was a Chevrolet bowtie badge on the trunk lid of the 2008 Malibu.

05/14/2008

Is bigger better for the Santa Fe?
Crossovers are the family vehicles of choice for many new-car buyers in these days of record fuel prices, and one of the best is the Hyundai Santa Fe, which entered its second generation just last year.

05/10/2008

Europe’s favorite SUV makes good in USA

05/03/2008

Consider the Aston Vantage, Mr. Bond . . .
Before there was product placement, before automakers bought their way onto the big screen, James Bond drove an Aston Martin.

05/04/2008

A star among small cars
Climbing into the Saturn Astra, which replaces the miserable Ion sedan, I close the door.

04/30/2008

2008 Honda is the right Fit for thrifty and practical drivers
Enough already. I’ve heard enough Fit witticisms to last a lifetime — from “I Fit, so you will, too,” and “It Fits like a glove” to “Skip the gym, get a Fit.”

04/26/2008

’08 Liberty is a wolf in new sheet metal
Texas Truck Mama smiled as she pulled into the driveway in her little Mini Cooper. Parked in front of her was a considerably different vehicle, a 2008 Jeep Liberty Limited sport-utility vehicle. It was about two feet longer than her Mini Cooper, several inches taller and nearly 900 pounds heavier.

04/27/2008

Hybrid for the high powered
Let’s face it, rather than sacrifice, we want to save the Earth at our convenience. Thus, the rise of the gas-electric hybrid car, which allows us to continue driving large vehicles while consuming less fuel.

04/23/2008

Escape offers reasons to crossover to the hybrid
The great thing about the Ford Escape is that, unlike other small crossover SUVs, it isn’t cute. Its look is purposeful. A guy can be seen in public driving one without others questioning his manhood. A woman can get step out of it without having her womanhood questioned. It looks the part of a small, tough truck, one good enough to be competitive in any parking lot beauty pageant.

04/20/2008

Beginner’s luck
What would you expect out of an entry-level BMW? Expect good news, because once in a while, less really is more. Once in a while, a car wows you.

04/19/2008

Viper has the power to bite you
Call these the final days of the Horsepower Wars.

04/16/2008

Scion xD tones down the funk, but it’s still hip
Toyota’s creation of the Scion brand seemed like a great idea. While Lexus caters to the rich and Toyota sates the masses’ appetite for mainstream transportation, Scion is supposed to tap into a contingent of young buyers with short money and a penchant for the funky. Then (goes the theory) when those Scion buyers eventually get better jobs and have their face tattoos removed, they move up the ladder to Toyota. Or to Lexus.

04/12/2008

Cadillac CTS is the new star in class
My favorite piece of recent movie dialogue comes from the animated tour de force Ratatouille.

04/13/2008

GT2: Not for the faint of heart
You may recall from psychology classes the name Harry Harlow, a controversial researcher known for his wire monkey-surrogate mother experiments.

04/09/2008

Sable is back with a lot of car for the money
Shoppers can get a lot of car for the money with the 2008 Mercury Sable.

04/06/2008

Explore in style
Modern-day explorers like to travel in style, and nobody does that any better than Land Rover.

04/05/2008

A simple, sophisticated, graceful Audi
Beautiful, sophisticated and dynamic, the 2008 Audi S5 sport coupe is the car that finally fulfills Audi’s promise. The powerful coupe’s sleek styling and superb handling lay the groundwork for a line of new Audis that may challenge BMW as the premier luxury-performance brand.

04/02/2008

RX-8 rotary sports coupe handles well in bad weather, too
WASHINGTON — Little things are important. Consider the matter of tires and my subject car, the 2008 Mazda RX-8 sports coupe that really isn’t a coupe, because it has four doors and seats for four people.

03/29/2008

2008 Saturn Vue: The Germans get it right
The English have an automotive lexicon all their own, including terms like “bonnet” for hood, “saloon” for sedan and, one of my favorites, “tickover” for idle. Another phrase, “cheap and cheerful” — mentally supply a chirpy British accent — describes a car that doesn’t cost much but is pleasant and enjoyable nonetheless.

03/26/2008

Nissan’s new compact SUV is a likable Rogue
Imagine that you’re charged with naming Nissan’s new compact SUV, one that does battle with such SUVs as the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Saturn Vue, Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner.

03/22/2008

Chevy’s winning wagon
If there were ever a car to make you long for summer evenings, picnics and drives to the beach, it’s the 2008 Chevrolet HHR SS.

03/23/2008

More Mini for the money
It’s my considered opinion that the BMW Mini Cooper is the most successful car design of the last 20 years. What can touch it? Here’s a car that puts a spearmint thrill through you every time you turn the key, a larking, capering, glass-and-steel nymph that nicks past other traffic as if everyone else were mired in molasses. On top of the giddy charge of merely wheeling the thing, you’ve got this utterly charismatic styling, a po-mo masterpiece, a rolling tribute to the iconic Mini (1959 to 2000) designed by Alec Issigonis and built by the British Motor Corp. That’s Sir Alec to you, you peon.

03/19/2008

They don’t get much bigger, or better, than Sequoia
Trundling down the street with three tons of curb weight and a profile big enough to block out the sun, the 2008 Toyota Sequoia large SUV takes some getting used to.

03/16/2008

Cut to the chase in the Bullitt
Not to go all Pauline Kael on you, but Bullitt — the 1968 crime drama starring a Ford Mustang GT390 and some guy named Steve McQueen — is a fairly tedious bit of Aquarian cinema: the chicka-chicka-waah soundtrack, the inscrutable plot, the anaerobic dullness of every second that McQueen is off-camera.

03/15/2008

Redesigned Impreza is a rally racer’s dream come true
The most fun I’ve ever had on four wheels was piloting a Subaru Impreza WRX STI during a two-day rally race.

03/12/2008

Infiniti EX35 built for lots of driving and a bit of hauling
NEW YORK — A long road trip in a premium vehicle was a good way to end the old year and begin anew. For the drive, we chose the 2008 Infiniti EX35 Journey, a luxury crossover-utility model that was big enough to accommodate a party of five, but small enough to escape the $10-a-night surcharge that many New York garages apply to mid-size and larger sport-utility vehicles.

03/09/2008

Hear Lexus Roar

03/05/2008

Mercedes C-Class: A haven when the going gets rough
Commuters, pick your weapons. We all know that charging to and fleeing from work is a daily battle, executed in the dawn and dusk, and made even worse by winter weather.

03/01/2008

Suzuki Grand Vitara with a V6 starts at just under $20,000
It’s easy to forget about the Suzuki Grand Vitara when shopping for a new sport-utility vehicle, unless you’re a big budget watcher.

03/02/2008

An earnest mid-size economy car
MILL VALLEY, Calif.

02/24/2008

Smart Fortwo: A wee bit of fun
“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;

02/22/2008

Saturday Cars: Stick to the track with Honda’s S2000 CR roadster
I got beaten up. It was my fault. I asked for the whipping. This is how it happened:

02/17/2008

Bentley GTC: Height of luxury
Driving to Rhode Island for a late-summer beach weekend, I’m stuck on I-95. For hours, the twin joys of my Bentley Continental GTC convertible have been foiled. It’s raining, so we can’t put the top down, and there’s license-plate to license-plate traffic, so no opening up that stupendous twin-turbo W-12.

02/16/2008

2008 Subaru Tribeca gets a new face and more power
On sale for only two model years, Subaru’s first seven-passenger sport-utility vehicle, the B9 Tribeca, is already getting a makeover.

02/13/2008

Peppy Nissan Versa is a standout subcompact
Small cars are in, for sure.

02/10/2008

A Torrent of performance, economy
Decent fuel economy probably is the main reason that crossover-utility vehicles such as the compact Pontiac Torrent are being snapped up by consumers, just as sales of traditional truck-based sport-utilities decline.

02/09/2008

Turbo gives Acura RDX more oomph for the cylinders
The Acura RDX crossover sport-utility vehicle doesn’t look like a grand experiment.

02/06/2008

’08 Saab 9-3 chasing younger, more aggressive buyers
Remember the early Saabs, the ones with grilles that looked like gaping goldfish mouths?

02/02/2008

Dodge Avenger a lot of car for not much money
Just because the new Dodge Avenger is a midsize sedan doesn’t mean it’s conservative or mainstream.

02/03/2008

Audi Q7 makes driveways optional
Audi has long trumpeted its Quattro all-wheel-drive system’s excellence on the track and highway. But now, Audi is adopting it for use off-road, in the new Q7 crossover SUV.

01/30/2008

Volvo rolls toward an overload
A couple of weeks ago, when the temperatures dipped into the 40s — or as we call it here in Southern California, the extremes of human endurance — I went shopping in West Los Angeles. It was like base camp at Annapurna. High-heeled hotties had turned in their sex spurs for pairs of Merrell hiking boots. Guys were walking around in zero-degree quilted Marmot jackets. I’m sorry — I just don’t think crampons and bottled oxygen are necessary to make the traverse to the valet stand.

01/27/2008

Ready for some horseplay?
These ponies skedaddle with a deep, throaty whinny.

01/26/2008

Saturday Cars: Power and distinction with AMG
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. — As Mercedes-Benz celebrates the 40th anniversary of its high-performance brand-within-a-brand this year, AMG has finally become nearly famous.

01/23/2008

The Grand Cherokee SRT8: A Jeep with hot rod genes
Today’s test car, the 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, gave me the Willys.

01/20/2008

A family hauler that hauls
Being a parent of school-age children can make one feel like a taxi service: Drive the kids to school. Pick them up from school. Drive them to soccer practice. Pick them up from soccer practice.

01/19/2008

Touareg 2 is VW’s new deluxe SUV
It’s a little difficult to drive a $60,000 Volkswagen without thinking about how life has evolved in VW-land — come on! VW was the original cheap car, the Beetle, the air-cooled wonder that was the vanguard of fuel-sippers imported to the United States, land of 30-cent-a-gallon gasoline more than 50 years ago. So, yes, it’s hard to square that original econobox with VW’s 2 1/2 ton Touareg SUV, a true luxury wagon that has more gadgets per square inch than the Bug had in any of its incarnations.

01/16/2008

Lexus RX 400h is a stealthy hybrid
Buying an expensive gasoline-electric hybrid SUV might not make a lot of sense if saving money on gasoline is the only motivation.

01/13/2008

Test Drives: Just once before you get old
RALEIGH, N.C

01/12/2008

’08 H3 Alpha is the smallest — and best — Hummer yet
As an American automotive journalist living in Paris, I’ve seen the vehicles that I test shrink to match the narrow roads and, some might joke, the narrower waistlines of Europe. Tiny city cars and fuel-sipping diesel-powered hatchbacks no longer look so foreign, especially when parking is scarce and gas costs more than $6 a gallon.

01/09/2008

The sassy 2008 Altima Coupe
Don’t be surprised if you think the new Nissan Altima Coupe is more expensive than it is.

01/06/2008

Cruising with the very best
DALLAS — Toyota’s iconic Land Cruiser enters its seventh generation for 2008, positioned once again to be the standard-bearer among the ranks of true off-road-capable sport utilities.

01/05/2008

2008 Range Rover Sport is the bargain in its class
The Range Rover Sport once seemed quite expensive to me, with its starting price in the upper $50,000s.

01/02/2008

Color Ford’s Escape Hybrid for 2008 a solid green
Shoppers will experience a version of sticker shock when they look at the 2008 models on dealers’ lots. But the surprises won’t come from the prices as much as they will from the Environmental Protection Agency’s revamped fuel economy information.

12/29/2007

Redesigned for ’08, Subaru Outback spiffs up its image
The newest version of the popular Subaru Outback has arrived for 2008.

12/23/2007

2008 Porsche 911 Turbo will get the presents there on time
Let’s start by saying this: Porsche’s latest version of the 911 Turbo Cabriolet is fast enough to turn your eyelids inside out. Star Trek fans will recognize the blurred lights that come with its twin-turbo propulsion from the Enterprise going to warp speed.

12/19/2007

The Scion tC: Shift into sporty mode
Hard to believe, but it’s been four model years since Toyota launched its Scion brand, aimed at the youth market. Heck, some of those early buyers must be nearing 30 by now.

12/16/2007

Mercedes’ sinful pleasure
Let’s assume there’s a bright side to the universe, a place where mercy and justice prevail, where the good are rewarded and the bad punished with equal alacrity. On this sunny shore, public school teachers make six figures, all stray kittens find good homes and yard gnomes never get their little ceramic heads caved in.

12/09/2007

Stylish yet sensible Volvo C30
The 2008 Volvo C30 T5 is the best-looking and most enjoyable compact car to go on sale this year.

12/08/2007

Mercury’s Mariner Hybrid SUV is less expensive for 2008
Mercury’s fuel-sipping gasoline-electric hybrid, the Mariner sport-utility vehicle, doesn’t get the publicity that other hybrids do.

12/05/2007

Subaru aims at wider appeal with 2008 WRX
As people often say when they are about to offend every aesthete within earshot, I’m no art critic.

12/01/2007

For new Jeep Liberty, space is up, price is down
Jeep officials have performed a feat of alchemy — they’ve reduced the starting retail price of their revamped-for-2008 Liberty sport-utility vehicle by nearly $1,300, even as they improved the Liberty’s suspension, stance, styling, seats and features.

11/28/2007

Infiniti G37 Coupe for 2008 amps up the sleek-meter
Who would have guessed that the sleek and handsome Infiniti G coupe could become even more sexy-looking for 2008?

11/24/2007

Town & Country: Powerful, roomy and full of amenities
For the purposes of this article, I will dispense with my usual sphinx-like air of mystery to tell you something personal. I am a new father.

11/17/2007

Buick’s all-things-to-all Enclave
Verily, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a chubby eighth-grader to wriggle into the back seat of most four-door, three-row crossovers. Here is the functional impasse of vehicles such as the Mazda CX-9, Volvo XC90 and Acura MDX: The opening for the rear doors cannot be made large enough for passengers to readily reach the third row. Widening the rear-door openings results in something like the Mercedes-Benz R-Class, whose huge rear doors