Reviews auto news

Review: 2012 Mazda3 Skyactiv

Forget the Mazda CX-5. The Mazda3 still carries the sales gravitas that the CX-5 aspires to, but for now, the C-segment sedan and hatchback that has provided eight years of sales bedrock is still the most important Mazda model. That's why, after making hay with the debut of the CX-5 crossover and its innovative Skyactiv powertrain, the tried-and-true Mazda3 was the next in line for the engine, transmission and aero-tweak hat trick that's allowed the car to claim a 40 miles per gallon highway fuel economy rating.

Putting a new engine in an older car as a way to boost interest and sales isn't a new idea, of course. Sometimes it works, and other times it's not enough to re-float sales that have run aground on the sandbar of customer ennui. The Mazda3 has also consistently pleased enthusiasts, so we wanted to find out how its comportment has changed after the heart transplant.

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Review: 2012 Volkswagen Golf R [w/video]

It is nearly impossible to avoid reminiscing about the 1983 Volkswagen GTI while driving the 2012 Volkswagen Golf R. As you may recall, "the original hot hatch" arrived on our shores seemingly eons ago with a naturally aspirated 1.8-liter four spitting out just 90 horsepower. While hardly brawny, even in an era of wheezy outputs (the 1983 Mustang GT 5.0 generated just 175 horsepower), its low curb weight of 2,100 pounds and a base price of $7,995 made the range-topping Rabbit not only light, tossable and reasonably quick, but very affordable.

Fast forward nearly three decades to the 2012 Volkswagen Golf R, a direct descendant of that first-generation GTI. Thoroughly modernized, and riding on a sixth-generation chassis, the new two- or four-door range-topping Golf boasts a bit more displacement and gobs more horsepower. But that is not all today's hot hatch has gained. With innovation and refinement come mass and cost - both of which have risen dramatically over the past three decades.

After falling head-over-heels for the 2012 Golf R after our first drive of the Euro-spec model in Switzerland last spring, it was time to put one in our garage for a longer run on domestic soil. With an eager and open mind, we welcomed the Golf R into our lives for a week. While we didn't have a chance to toss it around a closed racing circuit, we did put in several hundred miles on the highway, wrung it out on Mulholland and frolicked in wet Southern California mountain snow. In the process, we not only learned plenty about Volkswagen's hot hatch, but we met several other Golf R drivers who were more than willing to talk to us about their own experiences.

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Review: 2012 Buick Verano

It's no secret that Buick is one of the most prominent automakers in China, but the vehicle that's leading the charge in the People's Republic may come as a surprise. The top-selling car in the world's largest auto market last year was the Buick Excelle, a C-segment sedan that just so happens also to be a version of the 2012 Buick Verano that's now on sale here in the United States.

The Verano has only been on sale here for a few months, but as you might expect, U.S. buyers aren't quite as excited about the latest Buick offering as our Chinese counterparts, at least not in the early going. March sales came in at a modest 2,497 units (the Excelle family scored 23,179 April sales in China), making the Verano the least-purchased Buick for that month, while April's 2,989 units were just enough to beat the Regal in Buick's sales portfolio. Do Chinese buyers know something that we don't, or does the littlest Buick just need time to win us over?

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Review: 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco

Don't judge a book by its cover. The sentiment certainly applies to cars as well, but doubly so. Years of driving and photographing new vehicles have taught us that you can't evaluate a new model - or even judge its styling - based on photos alone, no matter how good or bad the images or the sheetmetal might seem. And you can't really know anything until you get that car off the auto show stand and out in the wild, driving it on the street in its natural habitat.

We explain this because when we first spied the new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, we didn't think much of it: Mostly carryover front fascia, grafted-on Camaro taillights, Bangle butt. Move along, nothing to see here. But a funny thing happened when we got behind the wheel of the Malibu Eco for a week. We warmed up to it. We actually liked it.

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Review: 2012 Porsche Panamera Turbo S [w/video]

Porsche offers its Panamera to North American buyers in no fewer than eight models with six different engine choices, including a hybrid. There's even an oil-burning diesel model available across the Pond. At one end of the spectrum is the entry-level Panamera with a very capable 300-horsepower V6. At the other end, and at the top of the pecking order, is the Panamera Turbo S, boasting a 550-horsepower twin-turbocharged V8. Not only is it the most powerful street-legal Porsche on offer, but it is the world's quickest four-door sedan. Err... hatchback.

So others are aware of the Panamera's potential, Porsche reserves its coveted 'Turbo' script only for its most capable vehicles. It is indeed a badge of honor. However, the ante is upped even further when a small scripted 'S' is adhered as a suffix. Its addition indicates to all others that the overall performance has been boosted to flagship levels - it is a tiny yet bold badge of bravado.

To help us solve the riddle of whether or not the Panamera Turbo S is more than just an exercise in demonstrating masculine superiority within ones social circle, Porsche deposited a stunning Aqua Blue Metallic example in our driveway for a week. It was our job to put the $195,000, four-passenger neck-snapper to the test and somehow avoid filling its glovebox with citations in the process.

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Review: 2012 Toyota Camry SE V6

How do doctors do it? How do they tell people that their loved ones are sick, afflicted, or even terminal? Sure, it's one thing to deliver bad news like a mechanic: "Your transmission's fried lady, that's gonna be three grand." But doctors need to be sensitive to the great anguish that will accompany their diagnosis. Nobody wants to find out that their formerly healthy family member isn't well, and a doctor's compassion is as important as his healing hand. The way the news gets delivered is crucial to how a patient, family and friends come to accept the situation and cope with treatment and its aftermath.

Can we then, get a doctor to write this review of the new Camry? Because after a week behind the wheel of the 2012 Toyota Camry SE V6, one thing is clear: This best-seller is ailing.

Now, we understand that the car is a veritable institution - there are presently some 40,000 people snapping up Camrys every month. And yes, for most of the car buying public, the new midsize Toyota will continue to provide safe and suitable, if unsurprising, transportation. By our estimation, however, there are at least two, probably three, maybe even four or five other midsize sedans offering a better overall package of price, performance and personality than Toyota's breadwinner. The short list starts with the Kia Optima and ends with the Hyundai Sonata, but the forthcoming Ford Fusion and Nissan Altima deserve their shots as well.

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Review: 2012 Infiniti EX35

In the past, many of us have been guilty of approaching the crossover segment with the same zeal a toddler typically reserves for mashed peas. Equal parts revulsion, befuddlement and betrayal have danced across our faces as we've struggled to comprehend why anyone would willingly put their hard-earned money towards a vehicle saddled with inherently poorer driving dynamics and fuel economy. As lovers of curve-conquering wagons and hatchbacks everywhere, throwing a couple of extra inches of ride height into the recipe has rarely done us any favors. Not surprisingly, we find ourselves in familiar territory once again: far removed from even the outskirts of popular opinion.

Last year, Honda sold a dizzying 218,373 CR-V crossovers, and despite fuel prices determined to bend us over and give us something to cry about, other automakers have fleshed out their lines with a wide array of high-riding vehicles. Ford boasts a total of five crossovers and SUVs in its stable, and it isn't alone. With vehicles like the Juke, Rogue and Murano, Nissan offers buyers a total of seven different models that fit into the segment. The news doesn't bode well for those of us who prefer a vehicle with superior handling mixed with the ability to haul people and cargo.

And there's virtually no refuge in the suede-lined halls of our favorite luxury manufacturers, either. Brands from every corner of the globe are cashing in on the CUV/SUV craze with unabashed ferocity. So when the 2012 Infiniti EX35 showed up in the driveway, we braced ourselves for a week of eating our vegetables, now fortified with doctor-recommended understeer and an extra helping of body roll. But this isn't your typical CUV. With a 3.5-liter V6 pumping nearly 300 horsepower to the rear wheels and a lower-than-it-looks stance, this is a sport hatch masquerading in crossover clothing.

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Review: 2012 Toyota Yaris SE

Toyota lost much of its credibility with enthusiasts after killing off what few performance cars it offered years ago, and yet the average car buyer still seems drawn to most anything wearing one of its badges. Even so, there has been one vehicle in the Toyota lineup that enthusiasts and cars-as-appliance shoppers have seemingly agreed upon for all the wrong reasons: the Yaris.

The subcompact Yaris has never taken hold here in the U.S. like its larger Corolla and Camry stablemates - its awkward shape and unmemorable driving characteristics combined to keep this little Toyota from the top of the sales charts. The Yaris has always remained far behind the monthly sales talliess of the more engaging Honda Fit and practical Nissan Versa.

Toyota has gone back to the drawing board for the 2012 model year, combating the dullness of the old Yaris with a combination of more expressive styling and the promise of improved driving dynamics. It has even tuned the Yaris SE with a stiffer suspension and bigger tires as an olive branch of sorts to budget-minded enthusiasts, so we couldn't resist taking the reins of a five-door SE for a week-long test to see if Toyota's new, greener branch is worth taking.

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First Drive: 2013 Ford Taurus SHO

The American full-size segment isn't an overly welcoming place for those of us who worship at the altar of skinny-pedal antics. While European automakers are happy to deliver their customers a raft of monolithic luxury barges with Saturn V levels of thrust, We The People have been largely left with coma-inducing hardware like the Cadillac DTS, Chevrolet Impala and Lincoln MKS. Meanwhile, bruisers like the Mercedes-Benz E550 4Matic, BMW 550i xDrive and Audi A6 all boast all-wheel drive capability with sports-car besting performance cocooned in the threads of a tailored three-piece suit. These days, if you want serious big-car, bad-weather go with a domestic badge on the hood, you have just a few options, including the 2013 Taurus SHO.

So far, Ford says it hasn't had any trouble convincing buyers to abandon traditional big-boned performance vehicles for the SHO resurrection. Around 10 percent of all Taurus sales leave the showroom with a SHO badge on the fender, and half of the performance sedan's sales have been conquest buyers sniped from brands like BMW and Audi. For 2013, this D-class athlete boasts a slew of mid-cycle changes to keep the model fresh. If, like us, you have a hard time imagining a buyer skipping the 5 Series for a Taurus, a few new exterior tweaks, a more aggressive brake system, a reworked version of MyFord Touch and a new track performance package are all designed to help change your mind.

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Review: 2012 BMW 335i [w/video]

The 328i is better than the 335i.

We are not the only ones claiming that the entry-level BMW 3 Series, fitted with a clamorous lightweight turbocharged four-cylinder engine, is more agile and tossable than its turbocharged six-cylinder sibling - it appears to many that the segment leader has been displaced by its weaker brother.

Well, maybe.

That big 'maybe,' and a whole bunch of its little 'maybe' associates, are what convinced us to grab the keys to a brand-new six-cylinder BMW and take it home for a week. Our objective was to determine why the muscular 335i, long the performance benchmark of compact sport sedans, was getting its tailpipes handed to it by its four-banger kin.

To solve the riddle, we put more than 1,500 miles on a brand-new 335i Sport configured with a six-speed manual transmission. Of course, we liked much of what we experienced, as the redesign fits the 3 Series very well. But we also exposed a few holes in its once-impenetrable armor - some big enough to let two fewer cylinders slip by. Has the quickest and highest-performing of the non-M 3 Series models really lost its top spot on the palace throne? If so, why would someone still want a 335i?

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