The Sun Shines on Pontiac: A Solstice for 2006

One thing that’s immediately apparent about the Solstice roadster–it’s drop-dead gorgeous. From any angle, and inside and out, this is not only the most beautiful thing to come out of Pontiac, but probably GM itself, in thirty-plus years. And one thing that you won’t notice upon laying eyes on this [...]

2006 Mercury Milan: A Glimpse Of The Future Of Family Sedans

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 [...]

2006 Mercedes-Benz R500: A People-Hauler for the Other Half

The people at Mercedes Benz must be working overtime. In the last couple years alone, the boys in Stuttgart have brought to market several all-new vehicles–think CLS-class, B-class, the upcoming baby-ML-class, and this new R-Class. Mercedes calls it a “grand sports tourer” or “crossover,” based upon the unibody construction [...]

Chevy Plays the Retro Card: The 2006 Chevy HHR

Chevrolet, and indeed all of GM, is visibly working hard lately to produce vehicles that are actually competitive and desirable–and with good reason; even GMAC and OnStar don’t make enough cash to support the General producing cars at a loss. Perhaps the most whimsical of the apple-pie-American brand’s new ventures [...]

A New Standard in Compact Cars – Honda Gets Its Civic On

In the world of basic transportation, it’s ubiquitous. Honda’s Civic compact has been a perennially popular automotive appliance for over three decades now–the best-seller for the last nine years. The baby Honda has been a true green machine, pleasing gasoline misers and pollution-preventers alike with its above average mileage, below [...]

Preview of the 2006 Fisker Tramonto

September’s Frankfurt auto show will be the site of the unveiling of the first *two* automobiles to bear the new Fisker Coachbuild moniker. This preview sketch hints at a pure two-seater sports car to be called the Tramonto. With a promised 610 horses under its rarified hood, the Tramonto’s performance [...]

2007 Porsche Cayenne: Spy Shots

Coming to us from the Southwest are these spanking-new spy shots of the upcoming next-generation Porsche Cayenne. Undergoing hot-weather testing in mild disguise, this appears to be very close to the production SUV we can expect to see in dealerships in 2007. Not messing with a good thing–the Cayenne has [...]

Sneak Peek of the new Porsche Sedan

After the raging success that is the Cayenne–nearly half of Porsche sales now go to the SUV–we can’t blame Porsche for moving to expand its lineup even further. Now, after the more conventional Cayman coupe, the official word is finally out that the boys in Stuttgart are planning a fourth [...]

2005 Nissan Xterra: Getting Dirty to The EXTREEEME!

I’d never seen a trail like it. After a couple days of melting snow, the mud at the Summit Point Raceway off-road course was soupy and slick, and deep as a moat in places. The rocks looked like boulders, right there in the middle of what was laughingly called a [...]

Detroit Builds a Lexus? Buick’s LaCrosse: Surprisingly Good

Let’s get this out of the way right now. You may see the Buick LaCrosse (stripped-down versions, at least) populating your local rental-car outlet’s lot-but if you’re set thinking about the LaCrosse as a rental-car, you’d better change your perceptions of rental cars. This Buick-maybe for the first time-actually hits [...]

2005 Ford Mustang GT Convertible: High Speed Fun in the Sun

Ford Mustang: always an American icon, it was entirely redesigned and re-engineered for 2005, becoming by all accounts one of the best new cars of the model year and an outstanding sporty-car sales success – the likes of which Ford Motor Company hasn’t seen since the original, 41 years ago. [...]

2006 Bentley Flying Spur Preview: “How the Other Half Roll”

It wasn’t enough time. It never is with cars like these. Although we didn’t get to drive it, we were wowed at the early May introduction of Bentley’s new Continental Flying Spur sedan. And we wanted more.

Let no one tell you different–the rich have it damn good. And those tax [...]