Why not treat those who very much want to live the three-pedal life? Still, the base 2022 Mini Cooper is a great all-around subcompact, and any enthusiast would get a kick out of putting it through its paces on a winding mountain road.
We rarely cover in-car audio and despite the Munich High‑End show being surrounded by automotive excellence (there’s a car museum just opposite and it sits…
Throughout the 1990s, the Mazda Miata was the go-to choice for inexpensive, lightweight, whipping-boy roadster fun. But all of that changed in 1999 when Honda launched the S2000 with its mean little style, simplistic interior, and high-revving (9000 rpm!) 2.2-liter four. And while the Miata went through a series of refreshes and shortened its name (to MX-5) since that time, the Honda proved to be a very stiff competitor without many changes over its lifespan. We grew to love the S2000 because of its taut, firm suspension, incredible steering feel, and impeccable transmission—the six-speed manual gearbox is, to this day, one of the best sticks we’ve ever driven—and we were indeed saddened when American Honda announced that 2009 would be the S2000’s last model year.
In generations past, the convertible versions of Ford’s Mustang have offered relatively cheap, fast, open top motoring, but not without paying a pretty big dynamic price. Despite Bill Ford’s proclaiming the Mustang convertible has his desert island vehicle of choice (see above for one of the nearly unforgettable “No Boundaries” commercials from earlier in the decade), driver’s interested in a real performance vehicle have always been forced to opt for the tin-top pony car. The convertible has always suffered from far too much chassis flex to make it serviceable as anything more serious than a quick, weekend tourer—sorry Bill.
Long before a V-6 was ever in the cards, Acura told the world that its four-cylinder TSX was perfectly equipped to do battle with entry-level luxury sedans like the Audi A4 and BMW 3-Series. Sure, it had the looks, the technology, the interior refinement, and the size, but when it came down to performance, the 201-horsepower, 2.4-liter inline-four running through only the front wheels just couldn’t hold its own. So in a segment full of six-cylinder (and turbo four) engines and rear- or all-wheel drive, the TSX sort of became the bargain basement choice in the class.
Ford Motor Company talks about its Plan For Sustainability at nearly every major product press conference. The plan highlights how FoMoCo will deliver vehicles that people will want to drive while meeting the government’s new CAFE and emissions regulations. Greenies and government types rejoice when they hear phrases like “enhanced sustainability,” and “reduction in carbon consumption.”
Many delineate wealth simply as The Haves and The Have Nots. For those who have had enjoyed any sum of money, you know that classifying wealth is not nearly so simple. There are The Have Nothings, The Have Less Than I Do, The Have More Than I Do, The Have More Than I Ever Will, and The Have More Than I Can Ever Imagine.
On several occasions during this bleak period for General Motors, we’ve pointed out that GM has the engineering talent to go toe-to-toe with other high-volume car manufacturers (we already know they can do trucks). Exhibit A is the Cadillac CTS. Now we have Exhibit B: the Buick LaCrosse.
For a company as small and idiosyncratic as Subaru, launching a wholly new contender for the high stakes midsize market is a really big deal. The automaker is rightly aware that its 2010 Legacy won’t be overtaking the sales numbers of stalwarts Accord or Camry any time soon, but Subaru has high hopes and broad targets for the all-new sedan, nevertheless. The stated goal for the Legacy is to become the, “Driver’s car of the midsize segment.” Consider us intrigued.
Over the last few months, we’ve been the lucky recipients of a spate of different Mini products here at Winding Road. From the rather rip-snorting Mini JCW, to a Cooper S droptop, to the presumably humble, plain-Jane Cooper we had most recently as part of an upcoming group test. This extended amount of Mini seat time (I do my best to hog the little beggars from my fellow Winding Roaders, whenever possible) has lead to a strange revelation on my part—I simply like driving the less powerful cars more.
What Was the Question, Again?
Let’s face it, the BMW X6 is an unusual car. We simply aren’t yet accustomed to a large, tall, fastback SUVs (or SAVs as BMW would have it). Making such a car in an M version makes it even more unusual, and challenges the cerebral cortex even more.
The Pontiac Solstice GXP Coupe is a conundrum. Despite its reassuring specifications and sporty body, the car has a love-it-or-hate-it attitude surrounding it. It doesn’t have the rumbly, big displacement engine people expect in an American rear-drive performer. The GXP’s direct-injection, 2.0-liter, turbocharged engine makes more sense for a vehicle like the Solstice, even if it doesn’t summon the emotional response associated with typical Americana. So, to try to wrap our heads around this strange, small creature, we wedged ourselves in the cockpit, and fired her up.
In our new Third Look series, the Winding Road staff will take another, more focused view of cars that have already been through our wheelhouse. Though Driven reviews, comparison tests, and our Ask It section in the Forums are all instructive, multiple chances to drive a particular vehicle always yield new, sometimes subtle impressions. In Third Look, we’ll try to highlight these and bring to light some thoughts we might not have had the first time around.
Case in point is the Camaro RS that we had the opportunity to test over the Forth of July holiday weekend. As a staff, we’ve had ample opportunity to test the 2010 Camaro, in both V-6 and V-8 varieties (read what Rex Roy had to say, here). But there was something especially compelling about driving the new American icon during the most patriotic of holidays.
Boy, has the E-Class Mercedes ever come a long way from being the world’s taxi cab. This latest W212 four-door E-Class is a proper executive sedan filled to the gills with technology, luxury, and style. What is already an edgier base model E-Class goes to the edgy-looking extreme here in the 518 horsepower, E63 AMG and you either mind that or you don’t. We do feel the edge is a little overstated, but it’s certainly not heinously so.
This wasn’t what we were expecting for a “first drive” experience. Instead of being let loose on Metro Detroit’s highways and byways, we were given a carefully planned route in and around the quaint town of Royal Oak and were told to make pit stops at three different businesses along the way. We talked with a catering company, kitchen and bath remodeling shop, and florist supply service about the ways in which the Transit Connect could be a useful tool for small companies who normally had to rely on large cargo vans (Dodge Sprinter, Ford E-Series) or light-duty trucks for their shipping and delivery services. The Transit Connect’s small size, low price point ($21,475 MSRP), and easy-to-maneuver qualities make it a great solution for businesses looking to affordably haul. And the icing on the cake? The little Ford van is pretty good to drive, too.
Charging into any of a thousand deep green tunnels of trees, twin turbos spin 170,000 rpm just in front of the firewall. The all-wheel-drive bites into the asphalt tossed across North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Only way deep, way hot into the corner do the tires begin to sound off. Nanoseconds before, the steering already communicated the impending understeer. The paddle shifter calls for a three-to-two downshift. It engages with a rev-match in 0.75 milliseconds. Nail the throttle for instant power. Clipping a leaf-strewn apex just for effect. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
We’ve personally been present at all of the Panamera events leading up to today’s long awaited drive and we can say honestly that the Porsche luxury liner has looked better and better to us with each walk-around. Whether witnessing in the clouds above Shanghai, in the passenger seat at the company’s Weissach tech center, or driving it here in the Bavarian Alps, we are now certain that the Panamera is at the very least a trueblood modern day Porsche.
General Motors, among financial turmoil and brand sell-offs, has decided to use its most well known brand to usher in the new generation of GM. The vehicle it chose to do it with, however is a crossover: the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox. Why? Because the company is confident that it will sell. The redesigned, reengineered Equinox, in the mind of the company, is the perfect package of comfort, safety, utility, and, most importantly, value.
While sitting around a candlelit table at Chandler’s Crabhouse in downtown Seattle, we talked with other journalists about our recent drive in Kia’s all-new Forte sedan—the replacement for the long-running Spectra. We discussed our generally lukewarm driving impressions, but still resolved that the Forte is a good competitor in the compact segment. One colleague said, “If I only write about the drive experience, it could come off as a bad review—but it isn’t actually a bad car at all.” So stay with us here, because while there may not be any juicy, exciting, sports-car-type bits about the Kia Forte, it’s still a perfectly adequate player in a segment that needs to appeal to the widest variety of shoppers. Think about the Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, and Ford Focus sedans—these cars are tragically vanilla, but they still sell in droves. And so the Kia Forte comes to town, bringing with it a bigger pile of standard equipment, attractive design, and a very low price point. None of these cars are particularly exciting, and the Forte still manages to seal up the whole compact sedan package better than these aforementioned competitors.
Don’t call it a Prius. First of all, the Lexus HS250h only gets a combined fuel economy average of 35 miles per gallon, compared to the Prius’s 50. They appeal to separate segments, have different engines, and the HS has many features unavailable to the Prius. The two cars even look totally different. The HS has had enough of being compared to its downmarket Toyota cousin.
We first saw the BMW 5-Series GT Concept at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, but now the official images and details about the Funky Five have been released, set for a 2010 model year debut. In a way, the 5 GT follows in the footsteps of the BMW X6 in the world of gender-bending vehicles. The GT will fall in between the new 5-Series sedan and wagon in terms of interior volume and size.
We love convertibles, as our readers probably already know. So when Lexus asked us to take the new IS C for a spin, we happily obliged. The motto for the drop-top version of the IS is “Live a little, a lot.” With this in mind, and with sunscreen at hand, we headed to the Southern California coast for some top-down driving.
Elegance on wheels elegantly wafting o’er the Tuscan hills: that’s all the new E-class coupe wants to be and do for you.
—Florence, Italy
One of the bigger sensations of the 2009 Geneva Motor Show this past March was the long-telegraphed intro of the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan (designation “W212”) and coupe (“C207”). Naturally, the sedan is solid and enjoyable, but the coupe needs to be sultry. And it is sultry enough.
