Ford Mustang GT Review

Okay, throw the old script away. You know, the one where Mustang invents the pony car, but after a couple of hot new kids named Challenger and Camaro come to town, rapidly loses its edge.That was so 40 years ago. Literally.One thing is immediately clear after an afternoon...much less a week...in the 2010 Mustang GT:Ford is serious.The new 'Stang ought to be just a mid-cycle refresher...but it goes a big step further...it's slightly smaller, a bit lighter, handles and rides a ton better than last year's...and the interior is now a much nicer place to do business. We're talking a jump of two or three grades of materials and workmanship. And...

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Mercury Milan Hybrid Review

Note: The Mercury Milan is gone, just like all of Mercury. However, the Ford Fusion Hybrid is virtually identical apart from some cosmetics. Until we get a Fusion Hybrid to review, we'll roll with the Milan.I've said it before...the real game in hybrids isn't in small cars like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight that are born economy machines...it's in the conversion of larger, more thirsty vehicles and getting great mileage from them.So far, the best examples have been the Nissan Altima Hybrid , Ford Escape Hybrid and Toyota Camry Hybrid.Here's a surprise (at least it was to me): The Mercury Milan Hybrid blows those three away. The EPA mileage...

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Why You Should Want To Review Cars

For 26 years, my favorite piece of automotive journalism has been Brock Yates' "Escape From Baja" in the July 1983 Car and Driver (you can download it as a full-color .pdf here...and you really should...scroll to the bottom of the linked page and click on the image).I mean, really...what could be more fun than 9 frequently inebriated American writers and a photographer driving 8 midsize sedans through inhospitable territory, Biblical weather and (in the case of one of the cars) halfway through a cow before abandoning the trip...and more than $100,000 worth of loaned press vehicles...south of the border (where current press loan documents specifically...

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Pontiac G8 GXP Review

Finish big.Always leave them wanting more.83 years making cars, and it turns out Pontiac learned the rules of show business instead.All those years of building cheap knock-offs of Chevrolets clothed in ludicrous plastic body cladding, they should have been building this.Of course, Pontiac doesn't really build the G8 GXP...it comes to them from GM's Australian division, Holden. But it looks, feels and goes like what Pontiacs from the glory days (1961-1970) spoiled us into expecting.It's too late now...GM having announced that Pontiac's a dead division. The only 2010 Pontiac will be the Vibe...not because they'll just make that, but because it...

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Chrysler Town & Country Review

Chrysler, which watched its domestic competition (now-defunct minivans from General Motors and Ford) wither away and die, still has competition in that arena...from itself.You see, the Chrysler Town & Country is really just a loaded Dodge Grand Caravan. And that means it's also a slightly different-looking, differently outfitted Volkswagen Routan (and tragically for Chrysler, VW got the looks and the materials).This doesn't even begin to address the threat from the Honda Odyssey, the Toyota Sienna, the Kia Sedona and the Hyundai Entourage (discontinued after this was written).And given that the Town & Country Limited starts about...

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Pontiac Solstice GXP Review

GM built a reputation over the years (especially the bad years) of introducing cars that weren't quite ready and then refining them during the production run so that the final few years of a model were pretty close to perfect. Well, this wasn't supposed to be the end of the Solstice (or Pontiac, for that matter), but events have overtaken the once-mighty GM and this is in fact the end of the line for Pontiac.And, wouldn't you know it...the last Solstice is way better than the first. Part of it certainly has to do with the fact that the Solstice I just drove for a week was the GXP...the one with the 260 horsepower turbocharged engine. Yep, it's...

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You Own GM; Will You Drive GM?

David Lazarus of the Los Angeles Times asks the question: Now that we (U.S. taxpayers) now own 60% of General Motors, shouldn't we be driving GM cars? What message does it send if we don't? His column and the answers he gets from Southern California drivers, he...

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Nissan Rogue Review

As other automakers pack their compact SUVs with so much stuff that they flirt with the $30,000 price point, Nissan has done what it did years ago with the original XTerra...boiled the recipe back down to its essentials.The Nissan Rogue is a no-frills, no-excuses small SUV (actually, small crossover, since it's built on a car platform). 170 horsepower from a 4-cylinder engine connected to a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission...Nissan's the one automaker who's absolutely nailed how these are supposed to work). 16-inch wheels, a decent audio system, manually-adjusted cloth seats, power windows, power doorlocks and remote keyless entry. The...

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Honda Insight EX Review

Let's skip right to the central questions here. Should Toyota be worried? Is the new Honda Insight a Prius-killer?Yes and no.Yes to the first question because Honda has come through with a hybrid for a couple thousand dollars less than the Prius sells for (Insight EX base price: $21,300. With destination charges, $21,970). And in tough economic times, the car payment (if you can afford one at all) matters big. No to the second because there will be a large group of people (especially existing Prius owners) who will choose the Prius for reasons that the Honda (at least at present) can't touch.The Insight is shaped like the Prius (apparently the...

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Volkswagen Jetta Review

Some cars become so familiar that they also become somewhat invisible. That's the great thing about a test drive...it can put you back in touch with the car itself instead of the blurred image in your brain.The Volkswagen Jetta is now (with the Golf having been re-named Rabbit a couple of years ago, but on its way back to Golf for 2010) the longest-running nameplate in the VW lineup...and the basic concept is so strong that redesigns end up looking like minor facelifts. Get behind the wheel and you find that the Jetta is an exceptionally well-thought out sedan. The German engineering is obvious every time you touch a surface, move a lever or...

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P.J. O'Rourke Is A Great Writer. As A Re-Writer, Not So Much

P.J. O'Rourke is a former National Lampoon editor and writer who branched out into automotive journalism at Car And Driver (another example of why David E. Davis Jr. is the father of modern automotive journalism) in 1977, following NatLamp's publication of his hysterical (if vulgar, sexist and, in those days, borderline obscene) piece "How To Drive Fast On Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed And Not Spill Your Drink".Over the years, that particular gem has been reprinted in at least one of O'Rourke's books...but with a few of the words changed. Now, P.J. has put out a compilation of his car pieces for Car and Driver, Automobile and other...

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Autoextremist Turns Ten

I remember when my friend Mike Conlee came to me and said "You've gotta see this new website about the auto industry." Incredibly, that was 10 years ago, and I haven't missed a week. Peter DeLorenzo recaps the decade...along with the surprise that this was intended to be the last Autoextremist.com po...

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GM Files For Bankruptcy

It's official. Details he...

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