2007 Car Reviews

Two years ago, when we first drove the Quattroporte in this northern Italian center of automotive and gastronomic culture, Maserati's engineers eagerly and, it would seem, worriedly pulled us aside to elicit our reactions to the car's DuoSelect electrohydrauli more

With fuel prices in flux and environmental concerns deepening, the seductive song of the hybrid sirens is louder than ever, despite increasing skepticism about hybrid vehicles' positive effects on wallets and the environment. Perhaps the problem is that there more

Do you have the patience to hear about one more SUV? How about one of those annoyingly nebulous SUV/crossover/whatever vehicles? At the risk of having you turn the page right now, we'll tell you that the new Mazda CX-7 is an SUV-like thing that tries to be spo more

Wheels. Audacious, chromed, crazy-large wheels. You walk up to Cadillac's new Escalade and tap the remote to unlock it, and your eyes are immediately drawn to the optional twenty-two-inch wheels. more

It rains all the time in Hawaii. In the wetter regions, during the rainy season-the rest of the northern hemisphere's winter-spastic tropical rainstorms come almost often enough to set your watch by. It rains in the morning, it rains at night, and occasionally more

If you've been busy memorizing the stratospheric horsepower and torque numbers from Mercedes-Benz's latest AMG engine or reliving the muscle-car glory days with the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger concepts, you may not have noticed that small cars are gettin more

From early December to mid-March, Hell freezes over. If the Devil lived here, he would have to put on his parka, gloves, hat, and snow boots-like the other 266 inhabitants of this hamlet hidden twenty miles northwest of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The center of Hell more

The Porsche Boxster versus BMW roadster rivalry is certainly not a new one, as two different iterations of Z3-based M roadsters have been offered to Americans during the Boxster's tenure. The first one bowed in 1998 with the 240-hp, 3.2-liter six from the E36- more

The first-generation Ford Explorer Sport Trac rode on the bones of the 1991 Explorer (which was itself derived from the 1980s-era Ranger), and while its combination of an SUV cabin and a short pickup bed was intriguing, its meager underpinnings betrayed its ap more

While General Motors and Ford have essentially abandoned minivans in favor of the ever-popular crossover market, Kia, looking to snag some of those companies' deserted sales, has greatly improved its second-generation Sedona and benchmarked it against the lead more

Until now, Mercedes-Benz's lineup included a couple of SUVs and the new R-class crossover, but none of its vehicles accommodated seven passengers-a shortcoming that clearly interfered with the automaker's plan to compete in practically every market niche. (We more

Kona, Hawaii - As Lexus sees it, most of the cars in the burgeoning entry-luxury field are trying to be sport sedans. Lexus covers that market with the IS250/350, so it's free to position its other entry-luxury sedan, the new ES350, as exactly the kind of car more

More power than a Porsche 911 Carrera S, less expensive than a base Porsche Boxster, lighter than a Chevrolet Corvette Z06. That's a tall order, especially when you add a soft top and a stylish exterior. Too tall, in fact, for any manufacturer, but perfect for more

There had been warnings about money-grubbing Mexican cops, so the deft U-turn by two Nogales motorcycle patrolmen, just as we were pulling away from the curb, made us reach for our pesos. Lieutenant Antonio Lopez Aguilar dismounted his Kawasaki and thrust forw more

It looks as if Mitsubishi has found the sweet spot for sporty convertibles. If you want a four-passenger droptop for less than $30,000, there are half a dozen economy car-based, front-wheel-drive alternatives, but none offer as pleasing a combination of sporti more