The Fusion Is Good, Are The Milan and Zephyr Better?
We have driven the Ford Fusion and formed a generally positive opinion about its fresh styling, 6-speed automatic and surprisingly good road manners. It’s a competitive car at its price point and they’ve been selling well-a rare piece of good news at Ford lately. Because we liked the base model so much, we skeptically asked ourselves why people would want to pay more for the Mercury or Lincoln version of the same car. We ordered up a sample of each and gave each car a week to convince us why it’s worth the premium. Read more…
Stereotype Slayer
We Americans like our stereotypes. For instance, everyone knows the English have bad teeth, the Chinese are short and the French are cheese-eating cowards (OK, that one may be true). Likewise, nobody argues with the American perception that diesel cars clatter like a junior high band, are slower than a chess tournament and smoke like the Marlboro Man. Except Mercedes-Benz, who has been changing consumers’ opinions one test drive at a time since the E320 CDI debuted as a 2005 model. Read more…
Bye Bye Bubbles
Which came first, the razor or the car? Our crack research team dove into the history books to find out. When they reported back they all had smooth clean-cut chins and a $1,200 fuel bill. They were dismissed immediately. Read more…
Audi’s Former Hot Shot Plays Second Fiddle These Days, But The Music Still Sounds Good.
If you’re a regular reader of these pages then you know cars from top to tailpipe and the fact that the S4 is no longer the baddest boy in the Audi garage isn’t news to you. If you stumbled onto this page courtesy of the geeks at Google then allow us to catch you up.
Audi has made a wonderful entry-level luxury sedan called the A4 (it has also gone by other names) for a long time. Some years back, perhaps after renting American Graffiti, engineers at the four-ring company decided a big ‘ol engine (they actually used turbos for a while) in their itty-bitty sedan would be a lot of fun. Thus began the history of the high-horsepower A4, appropriately renamed S4, presumably for super but possibly for Sweeeeeet! In 2006 the highest-performance Audi remains the 340hp S4, but that is set to change when the 415hp RS4 arrives on our shores in July. Read more…
I usually detest driving big cars.
It’s not because they’re ugly or slow — which many of them are — but because they remind me of my grandma’s car, an old Chrysler Fifth Avenue that wallowed through corners like its suspension was made of oatmeal and rubber bands. It felt more like piloting a boat than driving an automobile. Read more…
Serious Zoom-Zoom
There are other turbocharged performance sedans on the market but the two we think of first, the Mitsubishi Evo and Subaru WRX, are considerably more manic than the thoroughly upgraded MazdaSpeed 6 we had the pleasure of driving a few weeks ago. We recently tested the Evo and were—not surprisingly—impressed by the sheer power of the tiny 2-liter and the fierce acceleration it provides. But the Evo is tuned heavily toward hardcore and not everyone wants to sacrifice a decent ride, sound insulation, and luxurious interior accommodations in the name of horsepower. Some will willingly trade a few tenths of a second in the 0-60 mph dash for something that can serve family sedan duty at the drop of a hat. Those people will find such a ride at their Mazda dealer. Read more…
Something MoRe
It’s probably appropriate that the high-performance version of Mitsubishi’s Lancer sedan is called the Evolution. Every couple years the die-hard speed junkies inside the three-diamond division tweak the look, and if we’re lucky, the turbo engine of this all-wheel drive monster and add one to the Roman numerals. Right now we’re flying around corners in the ninth version of the entry-level sedan cum serious sports car. Of course, when we think it can’t get any better the Evo will evolve again, and we’ll be blown away—again. Sadly, the 10th generation is still a ways off, but in the meantime the Evo IX is more than capable of serious entertainment. To be sure we were as amused as we could be we asked for the top dog MR edition. We haven’t had this much fun since the office Christmas party. Read more…
Categories: Reviews Tags: 2006, All-wheel drive, AWD, compact, Evo, Evolution, IX, Lancer, Mitsubishi, MR, sedan, turbocharged
Sedan of Elderly Leisure
Just two years ago this sedan would have been revolutionary in the family sedan market. Its extra-large proportions, elevated ride height, spacious interior and availability of all-wheel drive put this sedan into an SUV-like category when you consider all of these features’ marketability. Perhaps this is why the Five Hundred just doesn’t get the heart racing; we expect these niceties in all too many vehicular categories in this day and age. Read more…
The G6 Makes Pontiac Competitive In Small Cars Again
With the G6, Pontiac is setting a new direction for its vehicles. No longer will they be superfluous designs with yesterday’s dynamics but clean, contemporary vehicles with varying degrees of the driving excitement Pontiac is supposed to offer. Thanks mostly to heavy incentives, the Grand Am sold in healthy numbers, but it wasn’t a vehicle that could take on today’s ever-more-impressive small car competition. Thankfully, when it came time to replace the Grand Am, GM started with its excellent Epsilon architecture and built from there. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that when you build with better components, you end up with a better vehicle. That’s exactly what Pontiac has done. Read more…
I’m Getting Too Old For This
“I’m getting too old for this,” I said.
“Good, cause I’m assigning you the Buick,” replied Master Chief Dye.
Yeah, I walked right into that one. Accordingly, I got out my cane, my overcoat, and my bowler hat and strolled out to the garage—at an appropriately adjusted pace. The Cardinal Red Metallic LaCrosse parked there like a mother goose watching the little ones play. I think its BINGO night down at the local VFW hall. Read more…
