Review: Ford Fusion Hybrid

By Edward Niedermeyer
November 4, 2009 At the risk of sounding older and crankier than I feel, it can be hell trying to find a car with a unique identity anymore. As our four-wheeled friends have become more refined, they’ve also become more homogeneous. Especially when sampling mass-market sedans, the distinctions are often subtle to the point of solipsism, and a [...]

Review: Ford Fusion Hybrid

Posted in Car Reviews | Ford | 72 comments

Review: Porsche GT3

By Sajeev Mehta
November 2, 2009 Quick: name a major multinational automotive motorsport series where a rear-wheel drive, naturally aspirated vehicle isn’t the dominant player in the field. Sure, there’s a turbo here and Quattro there, but the Porsche GT3’s template is the recipe for success from F1 to the 24 hours of LeMans. This simplistic design demands predictable power [...]

Review: Porsche GT3

Posted in Car Reviews | Porsche | 41 comments

Review: Lexus HS250h

By Michael Karesh
October 28, 2009 Every luxury car make seems compelled to explore how low it can venture in the American market without hopelessly devaluing the brand. Mercedes no longer offers the C-Class hatchback Coupe and has shied away from offering the A- and B-Classes in the United States. BMW hasn’t offered a semi-affordable four-cylinder [...]

Review: Lexus HS250h

Posted in Car Reviews | Lexus | 74 comments

Review: 2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost

By Robert Farago
October 26, 2009 Remember the scene in Jaws when Quint is being eaten by a great white shark, where he kicks his legs at the beast’s head, trying to avoid its endless rows of razor-sharp teeth? I reckon Lincoln’s designers based the MKT’s snout on Bruce’s man-eating maw. Sure, there’s a touch of Hannibal Lecter’s mask to the [...]

Review: 2010 Lincoln MKT EcoBoost

Posted in Car Reviews | Lincoln | 116 comments

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: First Place: BMW 535xi

By Michael Freed
October 24, 2009 Stop typing in the comments section about how another BMW won another comparison. If the BMW came second fiddle to the Audi or the Jaguar, you would be typing that the BMW got second only because it got first so many times before, and we were wrong. So first, second or last, the BMW gets [...]

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: First Place: BMW 535xi

Posted in BMW | Car Reviews | 69 comments

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Second Place: Audi A6 3.0T

By Michael Freed
October 23, 2009 After urbane styling and precise road manners  made Audi a real player in the luxury sports sedan market with the late ‘90s A6, the Ingolstadt Werkmeisters took a more conservative route with the third-generation A6. It became larger, more architectural than haute couture, and softer. For 2009, though, Audi decided to give the A6 an [...]

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Second Place: Audi A6 3.0T

Posted in Audi | Car Reviews | 84 comments

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Third Place: Jaguar XF

By Michael Freed
October 22, 2009 If there’s a counterpoint in this test to the GS350’s robotic rationality, it’s the Jaguar XF. If the Lexus makes perfect sense to the kind of people who see car buying as an equation to be solved, the XFR is the only choice for right-brained aesthetes. It screams sex appeal like nothing has since Sofia [...]

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Third Place: Jaguar XF

Posted in Car Reviews | Jaguar | 69 comments

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Fourth Place: Lexus GS350

By Michael Freed
October 21, 2009 Lexus should include a PlayStation 3 with every GS350 they sell the public, so the new owners can take their new vehicle for a spin around the Nurburgring in “Gran Turismo.” That way they’d be able to safely enjoy their new Lexus and not waste a single penny in gas. Either way, the driving experience [...]

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Fourth Place: Lexus GS350

Posted in Car Reviews | Lexus | 68 comments

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Sixth Place: Infiniti M35x

By Michael Freed
October 20, 2009 Luxury sport sedans have a lot of boxes to tick. In a segment where high price points have not prevented a a crowd of competitors from gathering, every contender must develop a unique identity that sets it apart from the pack. This means a combination of performance, character, quality and feel that makes the car’s [...]

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Sixth Place: Infiniti M35x

Posted in Car Reviews | Infiniti | 49 comments

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Fifth Place: Mercedes E350

By Michael Freed
October 19, 2009 When my dad hit middle age in the ‘70’s, his first reaction was to park a Mercedes in our garage – a ’75 450SE, which my mom nicknamed “Heinrich.” The Mercedes sedans of that era weren’t beautiful cars, but damned if Heinrich didn’t turn heads – it was obvious that someone important was driving it. [...]

Import Sport Sedan Comparison: Fifth Place: Mercedes E350

Posted in Car Reviews | Mercedes-Benz | 53 comments