The diesels are coming! The diesels are coming! The European diesel invasion has finally arrived – or re-arrived, as it is. BMW’s diesel-powered 335d (and X5 xDrive35d – a mouthful of a name) will arrive in showrooms by the end of this year as part of a renewed effort by German automakers to sell the diesel-fearing American automobile-buying public on oil burners.
When BMW offered us the opportunity to drive the first 335ds imported to North America, we couldn’t resist. Does BMW have what it takes to transform the anti-diesel mindset that permeates car buyers from Topeka down to Tampa and up to Toledo?
There’s no arguing that, at least currently, automotive design is all over the map. And one of the swoopiest designs to ever leave the drawing board and end up in sheetmetal is as polarizing as it is appealing. Herewith, we bring you the Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG.
First, there was the older gentleman on the busy main street. As I rolled past in the Audi A5, he stopped dead in his tracks and made quite a show of pointing out the red sports car to his companions. There was a look of bedazzlement on his face. Or perhaps the Viagra choose that moment to kick in.
Back in 1970, Dodge’s answer to the Pony Car Wars was the Challenger and its sister, the Barracuda. These twins could have been uttered in the same breath as Chevelle, Mustang and Camaro, but the trouble was that Chrysler was too late to the game - by about five years or so. Fast forward to the reborn Pony Car Wars of the 21st century and it looks like Chrysler learned its lesson.
Now in its sixth generation, Chevrolet’s Corvette has earned the ultimate accolade from enthusiasts: It’s said to be a track star that can be comfortably used as a daily driver. To the staff here at Leftlane HQ, that praise has always sounded too good to be true. We’ve enjoyed driving Corvettes on closed courses before, but until recently, we had never lived with one for a week to see what it would be like slog through traffic light-riddled suburbia to see how the ‘Vette would hold up in a world where the Camry and Explorer reign supreme and sports cars are relegated to the garage for weekend use.
The Pontiac Vibe is a bit of an anomaly in General Motors’ product portfolio. Built at NUMMI, a Toyota-GM partnership facility in California - Toyota’s only UAW plant - it neither looks nor feels like anything else in Pontiac’s slightly confused lineup. On the surface, it’s a Toyota with Pontiac badges. Is this another example of badge-engineering gone awry? Or is it a chance to sample Toyota engineering with a bit of Pontiac flair?
It’s six in the ay-em, on a Monday morning. We’re passing through 85-miles-per-hour on Ontario Provincial Highway 22 in an Interlagos blue metallic BMW M6. The V-10 is purring sweetly underhood. There is not another car in sight. Steve McQueen had it right when he uttered the phrase that is emblazoned in the mind of every auto enthusiast: “Speed is life, everything else is just waiting.”
Chrysler LLC is like that Rocky Balboa character from the epic movie series of the same name. Hobbled, bloodied, and grasping for the ropes, he is only hoping for a sudden burst of aggressive adrenaline, a desperation move like throwing in the towel, or sympathetically, the final ringing of the bell.
In the world of automobiles, you’ll find the well-known top dogs, a handful of just plain dogs and, at the bottom of the heap, you’ll find the underdogs: The unexpected, often overlooked and sometimes scrappy contenders that won’t meet the sales acclaim of the top dogs but rather revel in enthusiasm from the lucky few who “get it.” The Subaru Legacy has long been one of those underdogs. Subaru will no doubt never sell 200,000 Legacys, but is this sedan with all the right credentials a compelling underdog choice? We wanted to find out.
I headed out in the Honda Fit one night to meet some friends for dinner. Both of these two friends happen to drive pickup trucks and, up until the moment I pulled in, probably didn’t realize cars like the Fit existed. The jokes started flying immediately, comparisons to women’s shoes and roller skates. “Where do I put the AA batteries?” one asked.
When we awoke to the sounds of reveille blowing across old Fort Baker under the Golden Gate Bridge at the launch of the new Volkswagen Routan, we had to wonder why it took Volkswagen so long to wake up to the need for a minivan – the safe, practical, all-purpose hauler of families, hockey teams, and Costco shopping trips – in their lineup. We also wondered why, when VW finally decided to round out their American product line, the company that invented the microbus went to Chrysler for the new Routan.
It looks like they’re getting serious again. That’s what I thought when we were driving the new Ford F-150 on Interstate 94 outside of Detroit earlier this week. Seemingly content in the past to rely on trucks to bolster their bottom line, Ford Motor Company under the leadership of Alan Mulally has returned focus to fuel efficient cars as well as products from their European portfolio.
The Tiptronic is dead. Long live the Tiptronic! We are cruising past the Great Salt Lake, through Salt Lake City neighborhoods whose backyards are littered with trampolines in a Porsche Carrera S with Doppelkupplungsgetriebe. What the hell are the Germans up to this time?!
From a business perspective, General Motors’ strategy of re-trimming a basic platform and selling it across lines should be commended. It cuts research, development and assembly costs, and, theoretically, spreads a good vehicle across a wide spectrum of buyers. But, as we’ve learned in the past, it can sometimes spread the automaker a little too thin.
Ending up in the middle of what looks like a WPA labor camp that is hard against the Carneros region of vineyards is nothing new to us at Leftlane. It’s just another day on the job in pursuit of the latest and greatest in automobiles and SUVs. The labor camp reference refers to the Carneros Inn, a luxury resort with cottages that resemble sheds with corrugated metal siding that was inspired by the property’s last iteration as a trailer park.
A very nice woman from Audi’s PR department once told me I should try going to Hell. She said that Car & Driver went there all the time. Well, if Hell is good enough for them, Hell is good enough for me, right?
Every once in a while, you stumble across a piece of art that is so breathtaking that you sit for several minutes to calm your breathing and to take in the overall experience of what it is that you are really witnessing. Seeing “Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo” hanging quietly at the Musée du Louvre is one of those situations. We know it more commonly as the Mona Lisa, by da Vinci, but regardless, it is one of those times that we find ourselves caught up in the moment. Seeing a Gulf-liveried Porsche 917 is another breath-snatching moment.
Tahiti. The mere mention of this rhythmic word conjures up images of picturesque beaches hopefully devoid of obese, Speedo-clad French tourists. Someone at General Motors’ downtown Detroit offices in the Renaissance Center must have been lost in a dream vacation one dreary winter day when he or she decided that the diminutive Chevrolet Aveo5 should come in bright colors with exotic-sounding names like Tahiti Green.
For the second time within the period of a month, we check out a Mitsubishi. The only difference being that this is a car the triple-diamond brand really should be making. Scrap the rest of the product line. Don’t waste your time on the Eclipse. Galant? See our earlier review. The only car Mitsubishi needs to be building is the legendary Lancer Evolution.
Late in the 2008 model year, General Motors slipped a six-speed automatic in the four-cylinder Chevrolet Malibu. Innocuously marketed as the “Spring Edition” and only available as a no-cost option on the top-end LTZ model in exchange for a 3.6-liter V6 hooked up to the same six-speed, it’s unlikely anyone other than those shopping for a Malibu took note. But for 2009, GM has spread availability of this efficient combination across the spectrum to include the Malibu’s platform mates Aura (from Saturn) and G6 (from Pontiac), not to mention other Malibu trim levels – and, logically for once, at a cost savings.
