Automotive Trends

Operation: Opulence

      In the automotive food chain it’s good to be at the top. That’s where automakers like to introduce their latest technologies, premium powerplants and most extravagant luxuries in what amounts to a rolling test bed of the industry’s cutting edge. Competition at this level is always entertaining and reaching borderline comical levels. Thought the 16 speaker audio system in the BMW 7-Series was class leading? Audi will see your bet and raise you an optional 19 speaker system that costs half a Nissan Versa! If the seven speed auto in your S-Class was boast worthy last year Audi would like to introduce you to their new eight speed autobox. What, your cruise control only maintains a set speed? Mercedes has active systems that will brake the car to a stop without your input, pull you back into your lane should you start to drift out and pierce through the darkness with night vision that would make half the world’s militaries jealous. Development moves so fast in this rarified class that we’d have to hire a full-time Luxury Car Editor to keep up. Since we spent all the money budgeted for that position on a Star Wars pinball machine for the office we decided we better familiarize ourselves with the latest and greatest from the primary luxury players. We requested a BMW 7-Series, Mercedes S-Class and Audi A8 loaded to the roof with gadgets and lined with the finest leather to treat–we meant test–ourselves and the latest six figure luxury sedans in an epic comparison test only the AT Crew could concoct. In need of a destination we set the nav systems to Sault Ste Marie on Michigan’s northern border with Canada and set off on Operation: Opulence to determine the winner. Read more…

Maybe We Could Have Picked A Warmer Weekend?

    The plan drawn up at AT headquarters was deceptively simply: Gather the hot new Mazda MX-5 and the sexy Pontiac Solstice, drop their respective tops, and chase the horizon for a day of fantastic fall fun. It’s the stuff dreams are made of—or at least our tire smoking, fuel-injected dreams. This plan, however, would require two things. First, that we could get our anxious little paws on the keys to the two hottest cars for 2006 during the same week. And second, that the weather in Michigan in late fall wouldn’t resemble something from The Day After Tomorrow. Read more…