First Drives

The 911 Of Hot Hatches Takes The Compact Game To New Levels North American car buyers get a bit of a slap in the face when it comes to delivery schedules for new the Volkswagen Golf and pumped-up GTI models. We'll just repeat the old chestnut: It's worth the wait... even though it still stinks. ...

Loses its Head, Keeps its Bespoke Cool This is the 10th anniversary of the Bentley Continental GT, the 5,500-pound shim that pried open the market for bespoke luxury at $150K. We're into the second generation of the supercoupe that is still – and we think unfairly – derided as a ...

Latest, Greatest Autobahn Bomber Will Not Be Denied – Except To Us Back in 2008, I was fortunate enough to test the second-generation Audi RS6 Avant in southern France on the supremely well-sorted circuit at Le Castellet, a.k.a. Paul Ricard. I was thrown out there with the 572-horsepower ...

Stepping Into The Lion's Den With A Big-Hearted Cat If you're like me – and our demographics suggests you are – you've probably never seen a new Jaguar sportscar at your local showroom. I'm 36, and it hasn't happened in my lifetime... and not by a little bit. Oh, there have been a ...

Cinquecento's Electrifying One-Price Strategy Is A Gas America's electric vehicle segment is getting crowded, but sales remain tiny compared to the overall market. Listening to EV pitchmen, a key phrase heard over and over is "no compromises." This particular EV, the seller says, offers all* the ...

A Premium Van For The Modern-Day Milkman We first saw the Mini Clubvan at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2012, then in December again at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Based on a stock Mini Clubman, the Clubvan's dimensions are identical, while all side windows aft of the middle pillar are blocked ...

Practicality From The Italian Ministry of Cute As seen in the correct Italian/European light, Fiat is rightly dubbed a small car kingdom. This is not the marque's whole story, though, and it's certainly not a way Fiat appreciates being pigeonholed. But even the brand itself sort of has to admit ...

Concentrated ST Formula Proves Just As Potent I'm not the jealous type... usually. But I will fully admit to being somewhat of a Pouty Polly when I read executive editor Chris Paukert's report after driving the then-new 2013 Ford Focus ST through the impossibly pretty southern French Alps region ...

Is A New Kind Of Lexus Hiding Under That Radical Skin? When the now-outgoing Lexus IS generation was launched back in 2006, the company would not have been wise to bring the compact luxury sedan to be driven by journalists to a track like Driveway Austin Motorsports. Taking along a BMW 335i for ...

BMW Gets Much Closer To The GT Look And Feel It Seeks The 2014 BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo is being launched to a pretty cynical automotive press brigade. You know it. We know it. Heck, even BMW knows it. We've just returned from driving it on the rather unforgiving and sometimes nasty roads of ...