Time: 2332, Eastern. Outside temperature: six degrees. Speed: 83 mph, climbing.  One needs to remind himself of following distance when letting the dogs run. Thoughts appear as bullet points in the frontal cortex. Led Zep II makes me hammer down The left lane is clear, but there are some right lane travellers that could become […]

Both Infiniti and Lexus know how to ruin a car. The Lexus GS 450h and the Infiniti M Hybrid are what results from taking a fundamentally good car and adding a bustle full of batteries. It’s more galling now because of what’s happened to these two. For years, both the M and the GS were mildly interesting also-rans that couldn’t compete with the established segment leaders on any measure but price/value. But now, you’ve got an Eastern Jaguar and a crisp Arleigh-Burke class sedan that are mounting a more credible challenge against the benchmark Germans. The M and GS have learned how to control dynamics to deliver the Patris, fillii et Spiritius Sancti of performance, handling and luxury. Hybrid versions of these cars seriously blunt the excellence, and it’s a damn shame.

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It’s happened, all in a neat confluence of threes. By my decree, the third generation of the Lexus IS has surpassed the BMW 3 Series. While BMW has been busying itself creating niches for increasingly grotesque vehicle-type-things, Lexus has turned out a pair of legitimately great sports sedans, first in the GS and now in […]

A recent conversation with a blubber-lined autojourno archetype: He: “What’re you driving this week?” Me: “2014 Hyundai Santa Fe Limited” He: “I hate crossovers. People should just buy wagons. In Europe…blahblahblah…diesel…estate….shooting brake…nomnomnom…where’s the bar?” Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo, my friend The Walrus doesn’t get it.

This is the Lexus LS460, the luxury boomer that built the brand. It was the Lexus LS that launched the Automotive Battle of Hastings back in 1990, attacking the European establishment with devastating competence. The 2013 Lexus LS460 is still that great, and yes, the ride is still more Chris Craft than hardtail.

Instructions: Step 1. Put on Fanfare for the Common Man. Step 2. Light a hand-rolled cigarette. Take a deep drag. Step 3. Begin reading aloud with as low and gravelly a voice as you can muster. Your script: Pickup trucks are America. In the vast expanses that make up this country, they feel completely comfortable […]

  On paper and in person, the 2014 Kia Forte looks like a Very Good Car™. Is it really, though? The outgoing Forte pulled the same trick, looking all the world like it was going to keep the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus up at night, an illusion that fell apart upon driving. […]