Automotive Trends

    You’ve got to love Jeep. At a time when most SUVs are becoming watered down, carlike “crossover” vehicles, the Jeep Liberty is staying true to its roots as a real off-road machine.
     Jeep probably could have sold more SUVs if the Liberty were designed for shopping malls and freeways — places where comfort takes precedence over ruggedness and off-road dependability — rather than building an SUV to tackle the Rubicon Trail. But Jeep continues to look to its heritage, making the biggest changes for 2005 to the Liberty’s most rough-and-tumble model, the Renegade. Read more…

A Homerun Even Without The Hemi

    The Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C has been subject to media exposure approximately equal to Scott Petersen being on trial during a Janet Jackson half-time show. Lesser (read: V6-powered) 300s, however, have garnered the equivalent of a below-the-fold sidebar about the best M.C. Hammer tune. We nonetheless know that a healthy number of 300s are being sold sans Hemi power and that there are plenty of people out there who lack the desire (hard to believe) or means (more likely) to buy a top-of-the-line 300C. It is for these people that The Left Lane is challenging the status quo and reviewing a mid-level run-of-the-mill 300 Touring. OK, you know us better than that. Truth is we tried everything this side of bribing Dieter himself (all right, we tried that too) to get our hands on a tire-melting Hemi-powered 300C. The problem was that everyone else in our industry wanted one too. Our Chrysler PR guy suggested a week in the 300 Touring instead. He was confident that the Touring would be sufficient to win us over. He was right. Read more…

Regular Strength CTS Still Cures The Enthusiast Itch

    If you’re a regular reader of these pages then you should recall our review of the wickedly powerful CTS-V. Last fall we burned the rubber off the V’s rear tires and came away thoroughly impressed of America’s M5-fighter. Of course, 400hp, Brembo brakes and a suspension tuned at the Nurburgring tends to impress anybody. Consequently, you’ll understand our initial doubts as to the regular strength CTS’s ability to peak our jaded journalist interests. After all, it’s sans the rumbling V8 and other performance goodies that make the V so special. What could be left to impress us? Turns out, quite a lot. Read more…

    The new Dodge Magnum is a great station wagon with only one problem: Dodge won’t call it a station wagon.
     Instead, the marketing geniuses in Detroit demand we call it an Active Hybrid Sport Crossover Utility Something-or-Another Vehicle, but they’re not fooling anybody. It’s still a station wagon, and a darn good one at that. Read more…

Not Worthy Of The R/T Moniker But Competent Nonetheless

    Maybe I’m just an over-demanding automotive enthusiast but when I am scheduled to drive a vehicle, which has the R/T moniker in the name, I anticipate a vehicle that, as the name implies, can hold its own on the Road as well as the Track. Accordingly, you will understand my disappointment when I discovered a 3.0-liter V6 under the hood of my Indy Red Status rated at 200 just-adequate horses. Perhaps my disappointment does not lie with the Stratus but with Chrysler marketers misusing a storied name. It’s the same case at General Motors where Chevrolet offers an Impala SS with a Un-Super-Sport-like 240hp. But I digress. With that off my chest it’s time to focus on the Stratus Coupe. Read more…

       Starting this year, environmentalists will be a little more timid when they gripe about SUVs.
     That’s because sport utility vehicles — long criticized for their gluttonous appetite for gas and dirty emissions — are turning green. Several manufacturers are planning more efficient models for the coming years, and the first to the market is Ford’s 2005 Escape Hybrid. Read more…

      Because your AT editors are very community oriented and because we love cars, we stopped over to see what the Firebird’s Car Club members of Kettering University put together for a car show for their parent’s weekend. Take a look at our photo gallery to see what the club put together!

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Thinking Green

    This truck is greener than just its paint job. Is it an environmentally minded full-size pick-up truck, or a multipurpose workaday vehicle capable of getting you to the work site and powering your tools? How about both? Who has ever heard of such a thing, I can’t imagine. This all sounds appealing to me, but unless the badge on the side says Prius, don’t expect any of your tree-hugging buddies to embrace it. Interested? Read on, I’ll explain. Read more…

      When you’ve got a sagging brand like Mercury, what do you do?
     If you’re an executive with Ford Motor Company, you take the hot-selling Ford Escape, change a couple of things around, and rechristen it the Mercury Mariner. Read more…

I Never Thought A $60,000 Brick-On-Wheels Could Be So Cool

    There are few things that can increase your “coolness” factor as much as driving a Hummer. Wearing P. Diddy’s bling bling while having Heidi Klum draped on your arm might come close but to gain true “King of the Scene” status from your peers you need to arrive in the latest and greatest plaything of the rich and famous. For the last several years that has been the Hummer H2; the more civilized brother to the Hummer H1, which is itself, just a civilized version of the Humvee used to move troops in and out of harm’s way around the world. It may not be the prettiest thing in the world but it’s sure to get you recognized. If that’s what you want then read no further because the H2 is your ride. If, however, you are interested in how this brute rides, drives, stops, and goes then you’ll want to keep reading. Read more…