Automotive Trends

       2006 Ford GT

       Happy Father’s Day from the Editors of Automotive Trends!!!

This Is The ML You Want

     Yeah that ML550 and its 382 hp V8 may be calling your name from across the showroom, but we urge you to resist. There’s a better ML tucked over in the corner that we think most people will fall for after a single test drive—even though it’s wearing badges that few consumers recognize. To tell you the truth, we wouldn’t have a clue what BlueTEC meant either if we didn’t spend our days reading press releases. But based on our experience with the new-for-2009 powertrain, all you really need to know is anything wearing BlueTEC badges is powered by Mercedes’ best diesel engine ever. And considering the praise we heaped on this engine’s predecessor in our 2006 review of the E320 CDI sedan, that’s saying something. Read more…

      Now that Ford has made official what many had been predicting (hoping for?), the discontinuation of the Mercury brand demands some reflection on what went wrong.  Ford launched Mercury in 1939 in order to bridge the gap between Ford and the Lincoln brand, which itself old Henry had purchased in 1922.  This was a logical move considering that cross town rival General Motors had five car divisions producing six brands (Cadillac offered an entry level companion make called LaSalle from 1927-1940) in addition to the GMC Truck division. Read more…

      Don’t be looking to do any serious rock crawling with this SUV. Land Rover’s new parent company Tata sees that there is money to be made by offering a soft-roading lower-riding and generally more fuel-efficient crossover. The LRX Concept, shown here at the 2008 NAIAS, may carry a few styling cues from its big brother Range Rover but the similarities stop there. The base offering will be front-wheel drive with all-wheel drive available. Engine offerings haven’t been announced yet, but we know that Land Rover is working on a diesel hybrid system, though no telling as to whether or not this setup will make the trip across the big pond to the US given our hesitancy to accept diesels.

      While Chevrolet decided to go electric in a practical manner with the compact Volt sedan, Dodge went for broke and based their EV (shown here at the 2009 NAIAS) on a Lotus Europa S. Sadly, we won’t see this vehicle come to fruition as the Fiat partnership has dissolved the Chrysler ENVI electric initiative altogether. With a claimed 150 to 200 mile range the Circuit EV was within spitting distance of another Lotus based EV sports car, the Tesla roadster, when its batteries finally decided to take a rest.  The Circuit’s lithium-ion battery pack combined with the 200-kW motor could output 268-hp and an instant 480 lb-ft of torque. None too shabby for a green bean!

      As promised, your AT faithful have delivered the goods from the 2010 Brown City Days Car Cruise. We appreciate all who showed up despite Mother Nature’s insistence that we all get wet. Dampened posters and sodden trousers be darned, we put the top up on the Ambassador and the show pressed on! Click through to see the gallery. Read more…

      Today is the 2010 Brown City Days Car Cruise and as such your AT faithful are out burning petroleum by the barrel driving around in a 1967 Rambler Ambassador convertible. We’ll be bringing you pictures from the show later today, but pictured above is the pair of boulevard brawlers we managed to pull together for the 2006 BC Car Cruise. Yeah they are a bit mismatched, but they sure caught everyone’s attention. The Saturn Sky won the beauty contest that day while the Mazdaspeed6 fascinated onlookers with its hidden talents (namely a turbocharged 2.3L).

      The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé is slowly and elegantly revealed to a crowd of journalists at the 2007 NAIAS. The Drophead Coupé styled after and remained remarkably true to the 2004 100EX Concept. Its list of features is a mile long, but some of the notables include a stainless steel hood, grille, and A-pillar, rearward opening coach doors and a teak deck to cover the convertible top when it’s stowed. Underhood is a 6.75L V12 featuring direct injection. With 453-hp and 531 lb-ft of torque on tap the Drophead Coupé is capable of hitting 60 mph in under 6 seconds.

      Alright, I admit my lamenting over the loss of Mercury has led me to dig into the photo archives to dig up what we have on Ford’s middle brand. And what you see above is probably our favorite from the past 20 years. The 2003 Mercury Marauder. Available only in Henry’s favorite color (black) that year, the Marauder turned heads riding on 18″ chromed wheels. This Grand-Marquis-gone-midlife-crisis featured smoked head and taillamps, chromed dual exhaust tips and a unique 5-passenger seating arrangement complete with additional gauges and center console mounted shifter. Under the hood was a 32-valve 4.6L V8 producing 302-hp and 318 lb-ft of torque. The 4-speed auto that was coupled to this motor was a bit lazy and likewise the acceleration times, but this car’s token was its presence and an exhaust note that was piped right out of the ’60s.

      Well, it is official. Ford Motor Company announced today that the Mercury brand will be phased out by the end of the 4th quarter this year. While we hate to see the brand go, none of us here in the AT garage could say that we didn’t see this coming. Ford has been limping the brand along on a life support of ancient Grand Marquis sedans and lightly re-trimmed Blue Oval cars for quite a while. Still, the news brings a tear to the eye. The bright side to this song of sorrow is that Fo Mo Co will be refocusing their efforts on Lincoln and promise seven new or heavily refreshed models will be brought to the lineup over the next four years. My vote is for a genuine CTS combatant and the dropping of the silly MK-whatchit nomenclature. But I digress. Our hearts are heavy tonight over the news that Mercury will soon be joining the Saturn and Pontiac brands at that showroom in the sky. Click through for a gallery of historical pics we dug up and remember the good times with us. Read more…