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2011 MINI Cooper S Countryman ALL4: A Maxi MINI

Tom Ziegler, Senior Editor — Thu, 05 May 2011 09:00:57 +0000

It is an invariable rule of auto design and engineering: Cars get bigger with age.

No product planner ever asked for tighter passenger accommodations or a smaller trunk; no designer wants less sheet metal to serve as a canvas for his art; no engineer wants to take stuff out of a car -- he wants to add more.

Nobody ever questions this movement toward automotive giganticism because it is like the existence MORE

2011 Buick Enclave: Ready for a makeover

alextaylorwheeldeal — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:54:29 +0000

The Cinderella story at the new General Motors continues to be Buick -- and this fairy tale has more glass slippers than simply a supply of new models. Repositioned as the luxury brand partner of Cadillac in the U.S. and smartly leveraging its status as a technology leader in China, Buick is piling triumph upon triumph.

Last week's opening of the Shanghai auto show provided the latest data point as Buick MORE

2012 Mazda5: Putting the ‘mini’ back in minivan

alextaylorwheeldeal — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:42:10 +0000

Cars and trucks -- not just Detroit's but the imports' too -- are afflicted by a case of giantism. It is as if they are all juicing with growth hormones like a baseball player with 26-inch biceps.

For evidence, consider the Chrysler minivan. The 2011 version is more than two feet longer, nine inches wider, and three quarters of a ton heavier than the original that was introduced 28 years ago

All MORE

A brace of Audis makes a play for American hearts and wallets

alextaylorwheeldeal — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:07:06 +0000

Audi's A4 and A6 exemplify the automaker's best qualities: sophisticated design, excellent craftsmanship, and superb road manners. But the company has some catching up to do if it wants to win more American customers.

A pair of Audis showed up on my test drive schedule as winter morphed into spring in the Northeast. They weren't the newest models in the line -- the 2011 A6 is being replaced by MORE

2011 Lexus CT 200h: A Prius-like hybrid for the fast crowd

alextaylorwheeldeal — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:23:29 +0000

When gasoline prices start to rise, the thoughts of economy-minded buyers reliably turn to the Toyota Prius, the mileage champ. Edmunds.com reports consideration of the 50-miles-per-gallon Toyota Prius among its online shoppers is up more than 30% since the beginning of the year -- triple the increase for all hybrids and small cars in general.

Some shoppers, however, may feel diffident about the Prius. More than two million have been sold MORE

Two for the road: The 2011 MazdaSpeed3 and the 2011 Mercedes-Benz E350A

Tom Ziegler, Senior Editor — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:00:48 +0000

Sometimes you get lucky. In writing about cars for Fortune, I find myself competing with dozens of other journalists for first crack at the latest in automotive metal. What with the complications of scheduling and the near-constant stream of product launches, I am sometimes left with sun-loving convertibles in January and snow-chewing SUVs in July. Not that I expect any sympathy -- they are all fresh from the factory, after MORE

Apples to oranges: 2011 Nissan Murano SL AWD and the 2011 Acura TSX Sportwagon

alextaylorwheeldeal — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:57:01 +0000

Crossovers are the hottest body styles to come along since pillarless hard-top convertibles. Station wagons, by contrast, are as dead as tailfins and wrap-around windshields. For more, see my epitath.

So what are they doing in the same review? Well, they are both utility vehicles of a sort, designed to haul more stuff than a conventional coupe or sedan; both are aimed at moderately affluent buyers; and both are made by MORE

2011 Nissan Quest 3.5 LE: In the minivan mainstream

alextaylorwheeldeal — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 11:00:55 +0000

Without doubt, the minivan has the least-malleable image of any product segment.

Lowly sub-compacts sparkle when recast as adorable playthings -- the Mini Cooper -- or hot hatches -- the MazdaSpeed3. Workaday pickup trucks can be easily linked to weekend recreation or made surrogates for Craftsman series racers.

But minivans remain forever tied to the iconic soccer mom and her world of child safety seats, juice box holders, and car pools. It MORE

2011 Lincoln MKZ hybrid: A sheep in sheep’s clothing

alextaylorwheeldeal — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:00:25 +0000

One of the foundation principles of journalism is to comfort the afflicted -- and afflict the comfortable.

Ford Motor is feeling pretty comfortable these days. Its cars are selling, its debt is shrinking, and its executives are treated with the kind of reverence and adulation usually reserved for the likes of Mark Zuckerberg or Justin Bieber.

So if Ford is comfortable, how should it be afflicted? Did I hear somebody say Lincoln?

With MORE

2011 Toyota Avalon: No respect

alextaylorwheeldeal — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:27:57 +0000

It's the Rodney Dangerfield of passenger cars.

That's right, Toyota's Avalon gets no respect. Ever since it was introduced in 1994, it has been derided as a "Japanese Buick" -- and that was long before Buicks became fashionable.

Many auto writers, perhaps subconsciously recalling their pre-teen years as Go-Kart racers, joked about the obvious efforts made to appeal to mature buyers, like simplified, oversized controls and a suspension more tuned for comfort MORE

2011 Volkswagen Touareg Supercharged Hybrid: VW’s square peg

alextaylorwheeldeal — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:26:43 +0000

Volkswagen finds itself in a funny place these days with the Touareg SUV.

The German automaker has made clear its intentions to nearly triple its U.S. sales from this year's 286,775 to 800,000 by 2018.

In pursuit of that goal, it has recently produced two slimmed-down models, the Jetta and the Passat, which have been redesigned and repriced for the U.S. market. Both are high volume cars and both will sell for MORE

2011 Infiniti G25 AWD: You get what you pay for

alextaylorwheeldeal — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:32:49 +0000

Infiniti finished 2010 with a flurry of sales, upping its December results 37% from a year ago -- three times as much as the industry's overall 11% climb.

That capped an impressive year in which Nissan's upscale brand moved 103,411 cars and trucks, a 28% increase. One German luxury car manufacturer reports that while it has been stealing customers from its other European competitors, it has been losing some buyers to MORE

Reasonable luxury: 2011 Hyundai Equus Ultimate

Tom Ziegler, Senior Editor — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:41:49 +0000

The year just ended was a sensational one for Hyundai, and the Korean automaker begins 2011 by introducing a sensational car.

Hyundai exceeded 500,000 unit sales in the U.S. in 2010 and established itself among the industry's top seven sellers.

Equally important for the long-term future of the brand, it created, right out of the box, a premium luxury car in the Equus that is the equal of the Mercedes S-class and MORE

2011 Nissan Juke SL AWD: Small package, high profile

alextaylorwheeldeal — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:54:32 +0000

Nissan has been on a tear lately. Its sales for 2010 (including Infiniti) rose 18% (vs. 11% for the industry), and in December they jumped a sparkling 28%.

Playing it safe is not Nissan's way. In addition to its aggressive leap into electrification with the Leaf, Nissan is developing a reputation for out-there car designs.

For every Altima or Maxima, sleek though conventional in look, there is a Cube or Murano with MORE

2011 Ford Explorer LTD: Smooth sailing at a cost

alextaylorwheeldeal — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:52:26 +0000

Ford's latest Explorer leaves behind its predecessor's somewhat unsteady platform and delivers superior handling . But is the top-of-the-line LTD model really worth its $50K price tag?

The rise of online car shopping has thankfully given customers the ability to investigate exactly what vehicles a local dealer has in stock along with the window stickers for each offering.

That reduces the opportunity for the ancient bait-and-switch scam of a dealer who advertises MORE

2011 Hyundai Sonata: A late arrival to the hybrid party

alextaylorwheeldeal — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:31:36 +0000

Despite a steep price tag and less than stellar drivability, the 2011 Sonata puts Hyundai in the hybrid game, giving shoppers another reason to consider a brand they might have snubbed a few years ago.

In 2010, the Hyundai Sonata came out of nowhere to break into the ranks of the 10-best selling vehicles for the first time. Don't be surprised to see it challenge for the top five in MORE

2011 Ford Edge: The popular crossover gets airborne

alextaylorwheeldeal — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 20:01:23 +0000

Sporting a glass cockpit with programmable touch screens, the Ford Edge offers space-age theatricality to the driving experience. But it may face some stiff internal competition when the Explorer is relaunched.

As CEO of Ford since 2006, aeronautical engineer Alan Mulally has adapted some airplane design ideas for automobiles. One of his first was standardizing the placement of controls on all Ford vehicles. You can find the windshield wiper switch in the MORE

Saab 9-5 Turbo 4: The car that arose from GM’s ashes

alextaylorwheeldeal — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 10:00:27 +0000

Like Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of Steig Larson's best-selling trilogy of thrillers, Sweden's Saab has been abused and neglected, and more than once left for dead. But despite having lost money for much of its existence, the automaker has survived. Now the first new Saab in eight years has been released. Will it be the start of a better life?

Saab has been wandering off by itself in the automotive wilderness MORE

2011 Volvo S60 — the naughty Volvo?

alextaylorwheeldeal — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:13:22 +0000

2010 was an annus horribilis for Volvo cars, and whether the future will be any brighter remains an open question.

After 15 months of uncertainty, Ford sold Volvo to Zhejiang Geely Holdings, the parent of Chinese automaker Geely, for the bargain price of $1.5 billion.

It was a humiliating comedown for the 83-year-old company whose competitive advantage from its strong safety reputation eroded under Ford's 11-year ownership by unimaginative product development, inroads MORE

2011 Volkswagen Jetta SEL: Slow start to a long race

alextaylorwheeldeal — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:09:14 +0000

Rare, indeed is the $20,000 car that incites as much controversy as the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. It is just another indication of the depth and duration of feeling evoked by the VW brand -- especially when you consider that it stems from some clever advertising from 40 years ago, and a car model, the Beetle, which had a 68-year production run.

VW better hope it can channel that emotion and use MORE

2011 Dodge Durango: Recipe for a comeback?

alextaylorwheeldeal — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 16:47:34 +0000

With a revised look and feel, the handsome 2011 Dodge Durango could be the harbinger of a very big year for Dodge, and for Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne. For the past 18 months, CEO Sergio Marchionne has been holding Chrysler together with spit, baling wire, and a lot of airy promises about the future while [...]

Kia keeps climbing: 2011 Sorento EX V6

alextaylorwheeldeal — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 16:49:26 +0000

If you had to pick the one import car brand least likely to survive the economic turmoil of the last ten years, Kia would have been at the top of the list. It is the most recent entry into the U.S. market, having only arrived on these shores in 1994, later than third-tier Japanese companies [...]

Porsche Cayenne ups its game

alextaylorwheeldeal — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:27:15 +0000

The 2011 Cayenne looks better, specs out better, and drives better than its disappointing forbear. When the first Cayenne SUV came out in 2002, unlike most Porsche purists, I was immediately attracted by the idea of a Porsche with four doors. It was the family man's Porsche; the addition of the usable back seat meant [...]

From Korea with love: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze 2LT

alextaylorwheeldeal — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 20:10:08 +0000

One of the up-and-coming stars of the new General Motors is a Korean-born designer named Taewan Kim, who was educated both at the Royal College of Art in the U.K. and Brigham Young University, practiced his design chops at Fiat working on the Punto and Cinquecento, and now oversees the design studio at GM's Daewoo [...]

2011 Mazda2: Invigorating for a subcompact

alextaylorwheeldeal — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:44:02 +0000

One of the benefits of being a voter for end-of-the-year car awards is the opportunity to drive automobiles that ordinarily wouldn't find a place on my schedule. With the interests of Fortune readers top of mind, I don't look for a seat in too many hot hatches or heavy duty pickups. But the responsibility of [...]

2011 Kia Sportage: Worth the price?

alextaylorwheeldeal — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Kia has graduated from upstart to established commodity in the American auto market, but are consumers ready to pay close to $30,000 for one of its vehicles? At this late date, nobody should be surprised when Kia lands in a popular segment like compact crossovers that is dominated by towering competitors like Toyota and Honda [...]

2011 Ford Explorer: Makeover for an aging star

alextaylorwheeldeal — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:22:24 +0000

Amid declining sales and a shifting auto market, it looked like Ford had lost faith in the Explorer, one of the company's most successful models. But Ford has given the Explorer a revise and a new lease on life, perhaps at the expense of another member of its family. Ford doesn't do everything right. Back [...]

2011 Audi A8: The latest shot in the luxury car wars

alextaylorwheeldeal — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 07:00:21 +0000

The battle for supremacy among top-shelf German luxury cars is like an arms race. Each manufacturer loads up its latest model with the latest technological gadgetry and challenges its rivals to top it. Success is the occasion for chest bumps in the end zone but the failure rate is high. Mercedes-Benz gets credit for introducing [...]

2010 Lexus LS 460: Mechanical perfection wrapped in a soothing package

alextaylorwheeldeal — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:23:01 +0000

For one of the most significant cars of the last two decades, the Lexus LS 460 gets a lot of grief from enthusiasts. A writer for "The Truth About Cars" website declared the Lexus "is for people who hate cars." On Edmunds.com, the LS 460 was described as being "about as exciting as a PBS [...]

The 2011 R-class: The Mercedes of Minivans

alextaylorwheeldeal — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:20:57 +0000

What's the most disrespected vehicle in Mercedes-Benz's lineup? The R-class -- by a mile. The R-class has seemed like an orphan since its inception. Spawned by the ill-fated merger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler, it is built in Mercedes' Alabama plant, where the spirit of Carl Benz is seldom seen. Even Mercedes didn't seem to know [...]