-Back in 2004, the Toyota Prius earned a spot on our 10Best Cars list. It didn’t offer any of the dynamic virtues that normally get us excited, but the second-generation Prius entertained us in a different way with its video-game-like efficiency displays. We surprised ourselves by finding enjoyment in feathering… Continue reading
-About three-fifths of your body mass is water, the key to life. Scientists scour the reaches of the universe for its liquid form hoping that where they find water there may be other life. BMW has found some life in water, too, squirting the stuff into the intake plenum of… Continue reading
-It’s subtle, but it’s there. Listen carefully when chugging along at low speed in Porsche’s new flat-four–powered 718 Boxster and you’ll recognize what you hear. Sure, it’s damped by water jackets and a turbo, distinctly lacking mechanical clatter and subdued by decades of internal combustion progress, but there’s no denying… Continue reading
–What It Is: Volkswagen’s extremely late entry to the lucrative three-row family crossover segment, first confirmed for production two years ago. (The vehicle has been bandied about within VW since 2011, and the segment has existed for at least a decade.) For now, the SUV is nameless, although several concepts… Continue reading
Auto dealerships have always had something of a bad reputation. They’re the original home of pushy sales. And if they’re selling second-hand cars, they’re also the original home of bad products. Even as kids we were told that car salespeople can’t be trusted. In Roald Dahl’s classic, Matilda, Matilda’s father… Continue reading
– Lexus gives itself credit for inventing this vehicle class—a luxury sport-utility based on a front-drive-sedan platform—and by association contributing to one of the most malleable of all vehicle classifications: the crossover. That was in 1998. Since then, in the rare moments when Lexus wasn’t celebrating annual sales—the RX crossover… Continue reading
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Link The third generation of Ford Focus models made its way onto the market in 2010. Since that time, the designs have been improved and refined for your driving pleasure. We managed to get hold of a 2016 Ford Focus hatchback edition last weekend, and we put it through its… Continue reading
-Everyone likes the idea of a 500-hp sports sedan, but not everyone needs or can afford a 500-hp sports sedan. Alfa Romeo’s Giulia—the vehicle that is to spearhead the brand’s hopeful resurgence in the U.S.—had previously been detailed only in high-performance Quadrifoglio guise, complete with a 505-hp engine and a… Continue reading
-In the last two decades, every luxury brand decided it needed an SUV to remain relevant in a market gone bonkers for tall wagonoids. (Well, almost every one; Ferrari says there’s no way it will commit to any truck that we know of, although it would almost certainly be, as… Continue reading
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– The ramifications of the crossover—or, more accurately, the unibody SUV—are still vibrating through the luxury segment. Americans just can’t get enough of these pricey family haulers, and buyers are even beginning to choose them over like-sized sedans. To wit: Audi expects the new Q7 to outsell the A6 in… Continue reading
-When you reach the price of the Mercedes-Benz SL-class roadster, the market does something unusual: It separates. In many segments, car companies are viciously duplicating each other as fast as possible with nearly identical products, but among $ 100,000–$ 150,000 sports convertibles, the choices vary widely in personality and purpose.… Continue reading