Less than a year after the successful introduction of the new, more sport-oriented 370Z coupe, Nissan, maker of the Fairlady Z, as it is known at home in Japan, decided to go topless by offering the 370Z Roadster for 2010.

The Mercedes-Benz Unimog is (and has always been), very simply, one of the most accomplished off-road machines ever built. From its strange wheel hubs to the design of its chassis, everything about its design is there to work.

Unquestionably the most highly-anticipated vehicle of the last five years – one that provides stellar performance and jaw-dropping looks at a price attainable for the masses – the Chevrolet Camaro was already immediate success for General Motors even before the first one was sold.

At first glance, it might appear as though Audi is taking a step backward with its less-powerful, less-expensive 2010 S4, but, really, the “third” German brand is finally living up to the tagline it recently dropped: Never follow.

Small pocket rockets like the 2010 Mazda Mazdaspeed3 get a bad rap from soccer moms in Suburbans – or at least they do when we’re behind the wheel. While blasting through some rather engaging twisties and avoiding horses, cows, sheep and old hippies just south of Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, we managed to encounter just one such concerned citizen.

There are few more obvious symbols of the conspicuous consumption that characterized the late ’90s and early 21st century than the Cadillac Escalade, but almost overnight, flash and excess gave way to eco-conscious minimalism. What’s an Escalade to do?

There are many memorable firsts in life. Your first kiss, first real job, the first time you drive a $150,000 supercar 100 mph down a very short back stretch and apply full brake 200 feet before a 90-degree right-hander. Wait… what?

Several years into his tenure as chief design executive for Jaguar Cars, Ian Callum continues to refine his vision of the leaper. Newly facelifted and featuring improved underhood motiviation for 2010, the Jaguar XK (now called Portfolio) continues onward, with improvements at all corners. From nose to tail, this cat is ready to pounce.

Few red-blooded Americans grew up without at least one Tonka truck gracing their toy box with its presence. These seemingly indestructible steel trucks were perfect for living out kid-size fantasies of high-speed desert romps, rock crawling and mud bogging. Most kids grew up, however, and are now living out their “rugged” fantasies behind the wheel of a crossover with all the mud credibility of a My Little Pony.

You would never take a Cadillac CTS off-roading. You would never use a Cadillac DTS to tow your 55-foot yacht. And you would certainly never, ever take the 2010 Cadillac SRX to a race track for some high-performance hot laps.

The four-door sedan has always been the red-headed stepchild to the halo-carrying coupes from virtually every car manufacturer in existence. Of course there have been exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, while the two-door model always gets the girl or guy in the end, the four-door seems to get a child safety seat as part of its package.

Thanks to a surprisingly sporty demeanor in a class where low-thrill point-a-to-point-b transportation is the norm, the first Mazda Mazda6 had the makings of a cult classic. Thus, it was with some trepidation that we accepted the keys to the redesigned 2009 model for a week’s romp. To say that the silver 2009 Mazda Mazda6 i Grand Touring had big shoes to fill is something of an understatement.

It’s a beautiful place, this state of Maine. The prospect of flying into Beantown for a quick week of rest and relaxation up north in not-quite “down east” Maine left us totally in the dark about what to expect when we arrived. The one constant for us would be driving in Audi’s new, 50-state-legal Q7 TDI.

Park a white, four-cylinder 2010 Toyota Camry LE in your garage next to a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS or a Porsche Cayman S and don’t be surprised if the neighbors start wondering if you’re bipolar.

Jaguar manages to continue on its quest to distance itself from the past by pushing the envelope at each and every turn. But there are still remnants worth holding on to, like the R designation it uses to refer to high performance variants of production models.

Today, the historic Pontiac brand is a lame-duck politician waiting for his term in office to end. But unlike must politicians these days, the Pontiac Solstice GXP two seat sports coupe should have some staying power, albeit as a rebadged something or other, even if production has ceased just as we are publishing this review.

On the brink of disaster about 15 years ago, Subaru performed one of the industry’s biggest turnarounds ever by mildly ruggedizing and rechristening its already durable Legacy wagon. Accompanied by a memorable advertising blitz staring Paul Hogan, the Outback found its way into thousands of garages in a matter of months and is now the image of Subaru for many.

Talk about being on the tip of the sword. The “new” General Motors has a lot riding on its new Buick LaCrosse five-passenger sedan, the first vehicle introduced since the company emerged from bankruptcy in early July. Are they in the ballpark, or is this just more of the same for the General?

After its introduction nearly ten years ago, and now into its second generation, the Alabama-built Mercedes-Benz M-Class, the firm’s mid-sized SUV offering, is still a relevant player in an increasingly crowded SUV field despite moving further up the market with each passing year.

The basic two-box people-hauler has seen many iterations: From touring car to station wagon to SUV and, beginning about a decade ago, buyers began moving en masse to so-called “crossovers.” A difficult segment to define, it has included all shapes, sizes – and, now, powertrains, thanks to the twin-turbo, 355 horsepower Ford Flex EcoBoost.