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.

In the midst of a thorough product shake-up led by chief executive officer Alan Mulally, Ford looked to Europe for a “right size” hauler to fulfill what it believes is an untapped segment of the North American market. Unlike the automaker formerly known as DaimlerChrysler, which rebadged a big Mercedes-Benz-built commercial van to make the Sprinter, Ford picked the Transit Connect, the smaller of its two European offerings to complement the robust, evergreen E-Series in its domestic commercial lineup.

With the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger now back in dealer showrooms, the pony car war is officially back on. As such, we decided that it would be the perfect time to take a closer look at the mid-level Dodge Challenger R/T.

There are plenty of vehicles on the market capable of comfortably hauling five humans and a load of cargo all while towing a Prius, but until General Motors launched its second-generation hybrid pickups, like the GMC Sierra Hybrid, no offering could boast midsize sedan in-town fuel economy with the Prius and trailer unhitched.

Raccoons must really like Volkswagen vehicles. I can only assume this is true because every time I test drive a VW, those little black-eyed bandits run out in front of me to get a better look of Wolfsburg’s latest and greatest.

In its quest for world automotive domination, Hyundai has been busy of late. Before their glimmer twins, the Genesis sedan and coupe, hit the road, they were known as suppliers of decent, but not great transportation. That’s why the 10-year, 100,000 mile warranty plan was implemented: To put buyers’ minds at ease over their purchases. That was then. This is now.

The Audi TTS Coupe is the devil on your shoulder wagging his tail and poking you with his pitch fork as he encourages you to go faster, faster, faster! — and not just because this particular TTS press fleet vehicle was painted Lucifer red.

As we make our way through Southeastern Michigan’s picturesque countryside in the freshly redesigned 2010 Chevrolet Equinox, the gorgeous farms and homes – both large and small – dot the landscape and remind us why many people from Michigan, never leave Michigan. But despite the pleasant surroundings just far enough from Detroit, a question lingers.

Lightning must strike every ten years or so in Dearborn since that was the last time we saw a Taurus SHO roll out of a Ford factory. The polarizing style of the jellybean-shaped Taurus was one that you either loved or hated, but by 1999, the car was merely a shadow of its former self.

A long time coming, but it’s finally here: The 2010 Ford Taurus. The one that Ford’s Alan Mulally said should have been built in the first place. Gone is the J Mays-influenced Passat-on-’roids cum Ford Five Hundred with enough headroom for a stovepipe hat worn by none other than honest Abe himself.

We’ve built our whole world around the automobile, and yet we’ve avoided figuring out what we’re going to do when fossil fuels can no longer meet our needs. It’s unlikely that oil, a finite resource, will continue to be able to sustain a modernizing world of nearly seven billion people. There are also serious concerns about the environment, not to mention the economic problems associated with oil’s price instability. But none of this means passenger cars have to go away. Rather, they must undergo a massive transformation.

A sterling blue metallic Hyundai Genesis sitting quietly at the curb is a very non-threatening scene. You would never think of the Genesis as a car that makes noises usually reserved for pony cars. You would never think of it as a car whose 0-60 time starts with the number 5. You would never think of it as a car capable of a burn out.

Kia and parent company Hyundai have been on a wild tear of late and it shows no signs of letting up. The most recent example of this is the stylish new entry-level Forte sedan that the automaker hopes will steal some sales away from the class-leading rivals from Japan.

Certainly one of the most dramatic transformations this year, Ford’s Fusion went from rental car fleet darling to a genuine class leader by offering an impressive level of engineering and refinement at a decent price. For 2010, Lincoln, not wanting to miss out, gets a refreshed version of its Fusion variant, the MKZ.