The Acura RL, flagship of Honda’s flagship line, suffers a lame-duck reputation among the automotive cognoscenti. Up against flashier rivals with more-potent powertrains and more-prestigious pedigrees, the premier Acura must by now be afflicted by a severe inferiority complex. The hierarchy having already been set, the RL lost the [...]
Continue reading: Acura RL: Accurately Assessing a High-Tech Wonder
Upper-crust, Anglophile auto-lovers were initially introduced to the ragtop version of Bentley’s immensely popular Continental GT (the GTC-clever, no?) at the 2006 Chicago Auto Show. Even from the pictures, it was easy to fall in love. However, now that the New York Show has come and gone, we’ve had our [...]
Continue reading: 2007 Bentley Continental GTC Preview
Saab has been something of a whipping-boy in the automotive press; paired up with BMWs and Audis and other sporty Euro-makes in comparison tests that the brand’s basically predestined to lose. After all, Saab never really was about all-out European-style driving sublimity-even if the brand’s current owner doesn’t really get [...]
Continue reading: 2006 Saab 9-3 Aero: Quirky for Quirky’s Sake-And Why Not?
Three hundred and forty horses would seem to be enough in a two-ton sedan. So would 18″ rims, a taut suspension, and grippy leather seats. In fact, you’d figure the standard Chrysler 300C would prove more than enough car for pretty much anyone-and the shelves of awards and accolades DCX’s [...]
Continue reading: 2006 Chrysler 300C SRT8: What if Rolls Royce Made a Musclecar?
From the outside, the GLI model is distinguished by a black honeycomb grille, a gloss-black finish on the grille surround (instead of the base Jetta’s chromed monstrosity) with red piping around it, and attractive 18″ alloy rims. Inside is an upgraded gauge package, aluminum console trim, and drilled-look pedals. Otherwise, [...]
Continue reading: 2006 VW Jetta GLI: Zero to Hero in Six Grand
Toyota’s Avalon, Buick’s LaCrosse and cars of their ilk have just been put on notice. Hyundai, the South Korean brand that has blasted its way into the economy car and small SUV segments–after a total 180 from their early days of disposable Excels–is at it again. The new target is [...]
Continue reading: Renewed Assault – Hyundai Azera Declares War on the Near-Premium Segment
The marketers like to tell us that cars like this–the Chevy Aveo, Toyota Echo, and so on–are perfect for young kids going off to college, buying their first car. Or having it bought for them. But we were young not so long ago, and we remember feeling like we’d never [...]
Continue reading: Penny-Pinchers Rejoice: The All-New 2006 Hyundai Accent
Volkswagen has been in a state of quiet desperation of late. While sibling/subsidiary Audi is reaping the benefits of a successful bid to compete on an equal footing with high-lux brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, VW itself has seen sales slump by 20% or more. Most of that slide [...]
Continue reading: Onward, Soldier! VW’s New Jetta 2.5 for 2005
Hyundai this year debuted their all-new high-volume midsize Hyundai Sonata sedan, at what CEO Bob Cosmai called “the most important launch in our history.” We first experienced the car in the San Francisco Bay area, at a generous junket that couldn’t help but leave a favorable taste in our mouths. [...]
Continue reading: A Surprising Sonata: Hyundai’s New Midsizer for 2006
Seems as if every other article in the Auto pages is proclaiming the passing of one or another of the old Big Three. And it’s true; 2004 was not a good year for American auto manufacturers. General Motors and Ford have been hit particularly hard, as for years executives have [...]
Continue reading: Star for the North: The All Wheel Drive 2005 Cadillac STS-4
It’s been going on for so long now–since 2003 at least–that it’s no longer news. Cadillac has reinvented itself; hot new CTS, SRX, XLR and STS models (some with that extra-sexy V-Series designation), with their creased-suit “Art & Science” styling and ‘Nurburgring-tuned’ suspensions, have brought the brand out of sales [...]
Continue reading: Rethinking Grampa’s New Car: The 2006 Cadillac DTS
We’ve been waiting for it a long time–certainly much longer than since last year’s “Year of the Car” as proclaimed by Ford. We didn’t get it with the 203-horsepower Five Hundred sedan (nor it’s upscale Montego twin). We certainly didn’t get it when the Taurus hit some nine years without [...]
Continue reading: 2006 Mercury Milan: A Glimpse Of The Future Of Family Sedans
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