2006 Car Reviews

For a very long time, the Passat sat on the sidelines of the American family-sedan playing field. It was seemingly content, in mid-1990s fourth-generation guise, to dangle its optional, gutsy VR6 engine in front of Volkswagen devotees and to snag a few four-cy more

A pickup truck we loved, but not necessarily as a pickup truck. more

The groundbreaking whale was reliable and drove well, but it sure looked weird. more

Japan sends us our first European-style people mover, and it moves us. more

The Chrysler 300 was the first Detroit sedan in a long while to really set the country on fire. At the same time, it also introduced a new concept: Chryslers, apparently, don't have to be mediocre. more

I, assistant editor Sam Smith, claim publicly that the Hyundai Accent SE is more fun than a Honda Fit! The Fit may have torque and sheer horsepower on the Hyundai, but the Honda's chassis falls flat under aggressive cornering--and ultimately fails to provide t more

Philadelphia Europeans think we're crazy. American buyers snap up the Volkswagen Jetta sedan over its hatchback Golf sibling ten to one. This is especially galling to those who know that the Golf offers more space for large items and is as good as the Jetta fo more

Adria, Italy As a send-off for the current Mini Cooper, Mini is offering the Cooper S with the John Cooper Works GP kit, a stripped-down, pumped-up version for 415 of the hard-core faithful. The GP dumps its rear seats and rear wiper and forgoes options such a more

When our Infiniti M45 arrived from Japan at the Port of Los Angeles, we decided not to put it on the back of a truck for the trip to Michigan. more

To paraphrase the Bard, a Pontiac G6 with any other roof still drives like a G6. The steering and brakes feel artificially heavy in an attempt to seem sporty, its throttle and engine calibration deliver maximum thrust only from the get-go, and the interior pla more

What if you could drive a Land Rover that gets 21 mpg instead of 14 mpg yet suffers little in real-world acceleration? You can, at least in Europe. While in England, we tested two versions of the Discovery 3 (Europe's LR3): one with a 2.7-liter turbo-diesel V- more

One of the first things you notice when you climb into the new Volkswagen Passat is its vast interior space. more

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In Ann Arbor, Michgan, home of automobilemag.com's editorial offices, leagues of Toyota Priuses and Subaru Legacy wagons patrol the streets, fighting the good fight for sensible, low-emissions, all-weather mobility. What better place, on an unseasonably cool a more

I went to college with a sheikh. He was a fun guy to hang out with, because his worldview was shaped by the unshakable confidence that comes with having a long row of zeros on your bank statement. He knew that he'd never get in trouble for anything short of ar more