All I want to know is how BMW can take such a huge, heavy vehicle and make it so responsive. The twin-turbo V-8 doesn't feel this impressive in our Four Seasons 750Li, even though it's the exact same engine in both applications. I suppose partial credit goes to the superadvanced differential, which can seemingly make its own traction and alter other laws of physics. Whatever it is, this thing works very well. Even if it makes no sense.inline_mediumwraptextright25802606/reviews/editors_notebook/0911_2009_bmw_x6_xdrive50i0911_09_z+2009_bMW_x6_xDrive50i+side_view.jpgTrue

"Ugly don't mean nuthin' when you're sleeping on Ralph Lauren sheets." Such was the dating mantra of an old friend who evaluated the attractiveness of potential mates solely by the number of zeroes in their portfolio balance. In automotive terms, we suspect, ugly don't mean nuthin' when you've got gullwing doors. Ugly is, truthfully, too strong of a word to describe the new Mercedes-Benz supercar, but so, too, is beautiful. Until you open the gullwing doors, that is. Then, suddenly, all the world stops and stares. The rear end of the SLS, which apparently was inspired by the Buick Reatta and the Acura CL coupe, becomes irrelevant. The widemouth-bass face even fades away, just like the wrinkles on that old man's liver-spotted, shaky hands when they're holding his shiny black American Express.inline_mediumwraptextright25876502/reviews/driven/0911_2011_mercedes_benz_sls_amg0911_06_z+2011_mercedes_benz_sLS_aMG+rear_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

What can I say about the Miata that hasn't already been said more eloquently by others? It was a dreary, cold October day when I hopped into the little Mazda, and yet, by the time I had exited the garage, the top was down, and I had a huge grin on my face. Remember that old commercial where the guy in the Artic (or wherever) climbs into his Miata to catch one moment of sunshine? For once, I can assert there's truth in advertising.inline_mediumwraptextright26966302/reviews/editors_notebook/0911_2010_mazda_mx5_miata_grand_touring0911_03_z+2010_mazda_mX-5_miata_grand_touring+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

A midst insincere electric and hybrid promises and over-the-top, 500-plus-hp, 200-mph cars close to the hearts of German engineers and executives, there was one concept at the Frankfurt auto show that actually represented a credible synthesis of green and mean: BMW's Vision EfficientDynamics. I thought it was excessively busy but highly interesting. A little to my surprise, it was the clear favorite of many serious top-level designers from other companies whose work - and opinions - I respect. But then, who wouldn't like a three-cylinder diesel that gives you, with its associated electrical helpers, 351 hp, a bunch of torque, superlow emissions, and a claimed 63 mpg?inline_mediumwraptextright31006611/features/by_design/0912_bmw_vision_efficientdynamics_design_analysis0912_02_z+bMW_vision_efficientDynamics+side_view.jpgTrue

Miami, Florida -- BMW has a problem: the swanky South Beach clientele who love their impractical $80,000 four-seat trucks (you know, the ones with the 400-hp twin-turbo V-8) may one day start caring about fuel economy. They might have a diesel-powered X5 in their polished marble driveway if practicality weren’t so gosh-darned unappealing.inline_mediumwraptextright31238343/green/reviews/0911_2010_bmw_activehybrid_x6P90050186.jpgTrue

I won't lie - a Toyota Corolla with an automatic transmission hardly tops my dream car list. Having spent some time with it, though, I'd hasten to add that for the pragmatic buyer, the car still belongs near the top of the compact car heap.inline_mediumwraptextright31168536/reviews/editors_notebook/0911_2009_toyota_corolla_xrs0911_03_z+2009_toyota_corolla_xRS+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

Only a Jaguar could do this to us. What other car could sweep us off our collective feet with its power, comfort, and elegance, then malfunction repeatedly, and yet remain so beguiling as to make us feel sorry when it leaves? It's not the story we wanted - nor expected - to tell, but it is indeed the bittersweet tale of our Four Seasons Jaguar XF Supercharged.inline_mediumwraptextright25706930/reviews/12_month_car_reviews/0912_2009_jaguar_xf_supercharged0912_11_z+2009_jaguar_xF_supercharged+rear_view.jpgTrue

The 2010 Audi S4 is a great car. With 333 supercharged horses and an elegant and well put together interior, what's not to like?inline_mediumwraptextright31138704/reviews/editors_notebook/0911_2010_audi_s40911_01_z+2010_audi_s4+side_view.jpgTrue

Months in Fleet: Eight
Mileage to Date: 27,415inline_mediumwraptextright26682775/reviews/12_month_car_reviews/0911_2009_bmw_750li_november_update0910_01_z+2009_bMW_750Li+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

Maranello, Italy -- Ferrari does it again. The 458 Italia raises the bar for mid-engine exotic sports cars to new heights.

Miles to date: 28,386
Months in Fleet: 11inline_mediumwraptextright25226582/reviews/12_month_car_reviews/0911_2008_infiniti_ex35_awd_journey_november_update0909_01_z+2008_infiniti_eX35_aWD_journey+side_view.jpgTrue

They're round, they're black, and they might just save your life. They're not just for truckers or ski bunnies, and they're not just for snow. Winter tires are one of the most misunderstood components you can buy for your car -- most people have no idea how useful, and how affordable, they really are. Herein, then, is a primer on new winter shoes.inline_mediumwraptextright26926000/features/news/0911_snow_tires_faq0911_01_z+snowtires+driving_on_snow.jpgTrue

It was strange to be driving this F-150 just after reading in the business pages about the shrunken market for big pickups. The consensus among those in the industry was that the casual-use buyer had largely abandoned the market and wasn't likely to come back. That certainly doesn't portend well for the F-150 Harley-Davidson, a shiny black $50,000 showpiece whose owner would sooner laser off his tattoos than throw a bunch of lumber or gravel into the truck bed. Even as a show pony, this latest version of the Harley-Davidson F-series also seemed to me to be less successful than some of this truck's previous iterations. The 5.4-liter engine's 320 hp holds no performance advantage over lesser F-150s, and the swoosh side graphics look like they were lifted from an RV. At least the power-retractable running boards clean up the aesthetics and function well. And the black-and-red two-tone leather, accented with gloss black trim, is suitably flashy.inline_mediumwraptextright25793498/reviews/editors_notebook/0911_2010_ford_f150_harley_davidson_edition0911_05_z+2010_ford_f-150_harley_davidson_edition+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

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Room for one more
Honda seems to have the crossover market pretty well covered with the compact CR-V and the eight-seat Pilot, yet the company sees room for one more. The Honda Accord Crosstour looks to slot in between the two in terms of functionality, yet will stand at the top from a pricing perspective. By packaging, pricing, and marketing this vehicle on the high-end of the five-passenger crossover segment, Honda is targeting both empty nesters and young couples moving from either a smaller or larger vehicle into this growing segment. Competitors for the Crosstour include the Ford Edge, Nissan Murano, and Toyota Venza.

As Lufthansa flight 4532 skimmed the hills of Lisbon on its landing approach, we reflected on the five-year journey that had brought us to Portugal to drive the newest BMW, the 5-series GT. It was back in the March 2004 issue that our European bureau chief, Georg Kacher, provided the scoop: BMW was planning an unusual new type of vehicle, one that was known within the company as the “space-functional concept” or RFK (for, in German, Raum-funktionales Konzept). Two models, one based on 3-series components and the other drawing from the 5-series, would differ substantially from BMW’s existing wagons and SUVs and provide seating arrangements akin to - don’t say it - a minivan’s. By our June 2008 issue, we were able to report that this not-quite-a-sedan, not-quite-an-SUV, not-quite-a-wagon concept, which had become known as the V-series, had evolved into a four- or five-seat hatchback sedan called the V5. (BMW’s second-generation, seven-passenger X5 apparently met the company’s needs for a people mover.) We were wrong about the name but right about everything else, and we observed that, like the X6, the new vehicle would attempt to “tap into a niche that you didn’t even know existed.” Fast forward to September 2009: As we arrived in Lisbon, the 5-series Gran Turismo still seemed to us as unlikely a vehicle to wear a BMW badge as it did back when our man Kacher first reported its conception.inline_mediumwraptextright31059330/reviews/driven/0912_2010_bmw_535i_gran_turismo0912_10_z+2010_bMW_535i_gran_turismo+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

I'm having a bit of difficulty finding the right context for the E-class coupe. Its name says I should be looking at the BMW 6-series, while its price tag and its C-class underpinnings say I should seek out comparisons with the Audi A5.inline_mediumwraptextright30985329/reviews/editors_notebook/0910_2010_mercedes_benz_e3500910_03_z+2010_mercedes-Benz_e350+side_view.jpgTrue

2010 Mazda3 s Sport 5-Doorinline_mediumwraptextright25452041/reviews/12_month_car_reviews/0911_2010_mazda3_s_sport_5_door_october_update0910_01_z+2010_mazda3_s_sport+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

There goes another one -- a Mercedes-Benz S-class, doing at least 100 mph, shoulders aside my Volkswagen Golf TDI on a rain-lashed German autobahn.inline_mediumwraptextright25746371/green/reviews/0910_2010_volkswagen_golf_tdi0910_09_z+2010_volkswagen_golf+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

In 1962, Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov initiated a program to develop a lightweight racer to compete against Carroll Shelby's Cobras on the track. The Grand Sport Corvettes would weigh about 2000 pounds and draw power from a 377-cubic-inch V-8 with aluminum-block-and-head construction. A 1963 General Motors edict to end all racing involvement derailed the plan, but not before a handful of the Grand Sports were built. The prototype Vettes were delivered to private parties, who raced the cars with mixed success until 1967, but plans to homologate the car with a total production run of 125 copies were abandoned.inline_mediumwraptextright26338120/reviews/driven/0911_2010_chevrolet_corvette_grand_sport0911_01_z+2010_chevrolet_corvette_grand_sport+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

2010 Lotus Exige 260 Sinline_mediumwraptextright25667702/reviews/editors_notebook/0910_2010_lotus_exige_260_s0910_14_z+2010_lotus_exige_260_s+rear_three_quarters_view.jpgTrue

Automotive journalist and impresario Jay Lamm is a comic genius who sees all motoring manifestations in terms of their potential ridiculousness and then invents brilliant ways to share his skewed points of view. His absurd racing series for $500 clunkers, the 24 Hours of LeMons, has been a huge success, so he decided to expand his bad-car concept to include a pointed parody of the stuffed-shirt, big-bucks automotive potlatches known as concours (contests) of elegance. Held last August on Saturday afternoon between Friday's Concorso Italiano and Sunday's Pebble Beach lawn party, the Concours d'LeMons drew the expected coterie of Pacers, Pintos, Peugeots, and other horrors, but the runaway winner of Worst in Show was this 1980 KV Mini 1.inline_mediumwraptextright26538064/features/by_design/0911_1980_kv_mini_1_design_analysis0911_04_z+1980_kV_mini_1+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

With all four wheels spinning, you need to be pretty quick on the steering wheel - the 911 will move around laterally (uh, which means it'll dart around in search of a curb or an oncoming car.) Second gear comes almost instantaneously and with no interruption in power, then third, then fourth, then, oh, hello, Officer. Oh, and your passenger might pass out with fear. If not, he or she will likely be screaming at a pitch slightly higher than that of the police cruiser's siren.inline_mediumwraptextright25691174/reviews/driven/0910_2010_porsche_911_turbo0910_02_z+2010_porsche_911_turbo+front_three_quarters_view.jpgTrue

The assignment was simple, or so it seemed. I'd spend a week driving the Tesla Roadster, using it as I would any other car, to see if it was compatible with the lifestyle of someone who has gasoline running through his veins and whose entire identity hangs on the cars he drives.inline_mediumwraptextright26511790/green/reviews/0911_2009_tesla_roadster_electric_car0911_01_z+2009_tesla_roadster_electric_car+front_view.jpgTrue

When the four-cylinder Mazda 6 i Touring showed up to our office, I had my doubts that the 170-hp engine could keep up with the larger body style of the 6, especially when mated to the automatic transmission. But 120 miles later, I can say that I was wrong. The Mazda's engine is more than capable, and the five-speed automatic transmission isn't lazy. As a result, the Mazda6 is actually a peppy car.inline_mediumwraptextright26742220/reviews/editors_notebook/0910_2010_mazda6i_touring_plus0910_02_z+2010_mazda6i_touring_plus+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue