Compact Car Reviews

Reconfigured with less go but more gigabytes. The Focus lost its angular, artistic interior design in 2005, but at least the new coupe and sedan feature better materials and the Sync media system. more

It's a gas: The all-new FCX Clarity will bring hydrogen fuel-cell technology to paying customers. more

Fiat's funky new 500 captures the cult coolness of the original Cinquecento. Like the original, the modern 500 is a very emotional piece of machinery. more

Break out the confetti, kids, and start warming up those checkbooks. Put a deposit down for you 135i. Yes, it's that good. more

Longer, and now with dinky doors. Is a bigger Mini really what the world needs? more

The Toyota RAV4 established the compact crossover segment way back in 1996, but Nissan is only now fielding an entry, the Rogue. Although the name might suggest an aberrant or at least atypical approach, the Rogue rides comfortably in the wake of the RAV4 and more

So there I was, sitting under a giant Honda tent at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. It was the morning, I was eating breakfast, and I was staring off into the distance, idly wondering why I couldn't remember any of my high-school Japanese. (Ok, I didn't take Japan more

Smart stops in Ann Arbor on its cross-country road show, Automobile staffers line up to drive the 2008 ForTwo. more

First drive! There's little doubt that the Impreza and the WRX are better cars than their predecessors, but since when should a Subaru look and drive like a Toyota - and an ugly one at that? more

I'm just clearing customs on my way home from Europe when my cell phone rings. It's Keith Price, our favorite Volkswagen product rep, calling. He's on his way to Ann Arbor in a 2004 Jetta, and he wants me to drive it. A 2004 Jetta? Keith is obviously up to no more

I recently rented a Mazda 3 5-door hatchback while on vacation in Spain. I arrived at the rental company's parking garage late at night, started the car, and retrieved from my briefcase the Mapquest directions I had printed before I left Ann Arbor. more

Horse Thief Mile Raceway is halfway up a mountain in California's high desert, perched just above and to the north of Willow Springs International Race- way. A modern outgrowth of Willow's half-century-old main track, it's really nothing spectacular. Save for more

If you're an automaker and you're planning the successor to the iconic vehicle that all but singlehandedly created your new youth division, there are a couple of different routes you can take. For its second-generation Scion xB, Toyota could have ditched the b more

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Remember the first-generation Sentra SE-R from 1991? The one we described as being "perfectly harmonious and elegantly balanced" and "a great little car"? Well, successive generations of the hot Sentra progressively lost their mojo, that agility and driver inv more