Premiere 2012

When nearly 200 cars line up this weekend at the Nürburgring for the Adenauer ADAC Rudstrecken-Trophy, countless Porsches and BMWs will be among them. And a hybrid. Wait, what?

That's right. This year Gazoo Racing - the ToMoCo-backed outfit that has campaigned the Lexus LFA at the same track - is fielding a compe ... Read more »

Citroën has come a long way with its revived DS line of premium offerings. What started with the basic DS3 hatchback has since grown to include the DS3 Racing hot hatch, the DS3 R3 and DS3 WRC rally machines; the DS4 crossover, and the new DS5. Now it seems a convertible is on the way as well.

... Read more »

Zagato's been keeping busy, what with the TZ3 Stradale, a new Aston Martin, and the rumored Fiat 500 coupe. Now, PistonHeads reports that another another sexy Zagato-bodied sports car can join the party. The Perana Z-One has finally reached production, with UK deliveries set to commence.

... Read more »

The 2012 Kia Sorento will be available with the company's hands-free UVO infotainment system, and its brand-spanking-new GDI direct-injection four-cylinder engine. With those new features, the big Kia crossover can really dance with the big guns from the likes of Ford.

Other available options include Kia's YES Es ... Read more »

The next generation Porsche 911 will be a significant departure from all previous generations, though to the untrained eye that could be a hot-air boast. The chief novelty of the 991, confirmed for us recently by Porsche sources in Germany, is that the entire range will benefit from a KERS device, such as what was us ... Read more »

It's "full speed ahead" for McLaren. The British racing team-turned-supercar-maker is hard at work producing the new MP4-12C and just recently debut the GT3 racing version. But that's just the tip of the proverbial for McLaren, which has big plans for additional models to follow. Autocar has published a forecast on a ... Read more »

Would you describe yourself as an optimist? Someone who can always find the good in something that others fail to see? It's an admirable quality, and one we're going to try and keep in mind while putting down our thoughts on the 2011 Nissan Pathfinder.

We could write a thousand-word essay on the demise of the lar ... Read more »

We've been waiting, rather patiently we might add, for Toyota to bring out its latest sports car for what seems like millenniums. This new coupe will be wearing a Scion badge and go by the name FR-S, which stands for "front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sport." It's the "R" and "S" that has enthusiasts eager to lay eyes o ... Read more »

Other than the temporary shut down of General Motors' Shreveport, Louisiana plant and the loss of some paint colors, domestic automakers haven't yet felt the brunt of parts shortages due to the March 11 earthquake in Japan. According to a report from The Detroit Free Press, that changes shortly for Chrysler. Spokeswo ... Read more »

Of the multiple sacred laws of hot rodding, "Thou shall put big engines in small cars" is by far our favorite. This line of thinking spans cultures and has led to the creation of many a magnificent machine. Machines like this Saab 9-3 Sport Combi with a kicking V10 sourced from the mighty Dodge Viper under its hood. ... Read more »

General Motors wants so badly for the upcoming Cadillac ATS to rock our worlds on all markets (i.e., not just in North America) that a source within the automaker has told us that the BMW 3 Series has been a prime focal point for benchmarking the Baby Caddy.

... Read more »

After over three decades of production, the big boxy Mercedes-Benz G-Class is not long for this world. (At least, not in three-door, short-wheelbase form.) But while a Final Edition is already being offered in Europe, you didn't think that Mercedes would leave it down to some extra chrome to bid auf weidersehen to it ... Read more »

Started more than a decade ago as a small get-together for enthusiasts at a Santa Barbara BMW retailer, Bimmerfest celebrated its eleventh anniversary at a much larger venue this weekend: the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The largest BMW gathering in North America draws participants from all over the country thanks to a ver ... Read more »

Nissan has yet to figure out exactly where the company will campaign its new Leaf RC racer, but that hasn't stopped the engineers behind the Japanese automaker's Nismo effort from getting the machine out on track for a little shake-down action.

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Oakley Design is one automotive aftermarket tuning firm that often gets things very right. Rather than turning to outrageous, over-the-top styling touches, Oakley Design realizes it's working with something that's already special and simply turns the knob from 10 to 11. We saw the firms take on the Ferrari 458 Italia ... Read more »

Curious about the latest crop of cop cars? The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department – which undoubtedly has good reason to be interested in such machines – has released a bit of data to help clue you in on the newest cruisers. California's Boys in Blue put 15 vehicles through rigorous testing, and they ended up with a ra ... Read more »

Here's a bit of news that's sure to acquaint faces with their respective palms all across the motoring world: word on the web is that Aston Martin is planning to produce an all-electric version of the company's new compact, the Cygnet. This, friends, is why people drink in the morning. The vehicle is all but guarante ... Read more »

General Motors has finally come out and said exactly what kind of power the 2012 Chevrolet Impala will bring to the table when it debuts later this year. In February, we heard that the aging full-size four-door will come with a 3.6-liter V6 under the hood mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, though at the tim ... Read more »

The Maserati GranTurismo is one sexy two-door, and the ultimate in Trident-wearing super coupes is the MC Stradale. To give this super GT its bragging rights, Maserati engineers coaxed another 20 horsepower from its 4.3-liter V8 engine, bringing the grand total to 450 powerful ponies. Also tweaked were the chassis an ... Read more »

We're not entirely sure how they've done it, but those miserly engineers from General Motors have managed to eke out an additional two miles per gallon from the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze – at least in certain configurations.

According to the official Online Ordering Guide for the 2012 Cruze (via Cheers and Gears), GM' ... Read more »

The electric vehicle market continues to grow, and BMW is going to be a major part of that expansion. The 1 Series-based Active E will be arriving soon, with a per-month lease rate of $499 and $2,250 due at signing. Following the release of the Active E, the BMW i3 will head to market sometime in 2013 with a reported ... Read more »

The Audi S lineup is not a world filled with many choices. Sure, you can pick your poison in terms of which S vehicle you want, but you do not have a say in which engine is mounted under the hood. However, it seems the upcoming Audi S6 and S7 might be poised to break with that tradition.

Rumor has it that the mor ... Read more »

It's been an on-again, off-again affair with rumors of a possible R version of the Volkswagen Polo. But according to the latest from the Old World, things are looking up for the prospective pocket rocket.

The change in fortunes come down, according to Autocar, to the launch of the Volkswagen Polo R WRC, the car w ... Read more »

Audi keeps churning out more exciting versions of its two-door supercar, the R8. It began with the R8 V8, went power hungry with the R8 5.2 FSI V10, topless with the R8 V10 Spyder and on a track-focused diet with the R8 GT. Soon, Audi will let loose with the next iteration; the Audi R8 GT Spyder, a lightweight dropto ... Read more »

South African Chrysler fans has a new special edition vehicle coming their way. Described by Chrysler as a way to "satisfy the boy racer in all of us," the Dodge Caliber Mopar Edition is a blacked-out hatchback rolling on 18-inch powdercoated alloy wheels.

Under the hood sits a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that ... Read more »

The Maserati family of automobiles is a small, tight-knit clan of exotic Italian machinery that sounds as good as it looks. Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne wants to expand that family, and capture more of the growing exotic car market that is currently taking shape in China. What does this all mean to the Trident ... Read more »

That Honda could have done more with the CR-Z than the lukewarm hybrid sport-hatch that resulted is no big news. But Mugen is here to highlight the point.

After teasing us with some initial details, a rendering and a shot of the engine bay, the pseudo-works Honda tuner has released the first photos of the modifie ... Read more »

The automotive market in China is expanding, and it's doing so quickly. Chinese car shoppers helped the industry grow 33 percent in 2010. Luxury automakers enjoyed even more prosperity with a 75-percent increase in sales. So what brand catches the eye of a Chinese consumer looking to put some luxurious wheels in his ... Read more »

A lot can change in two days. Remember that Scion FR-S prototype we spied heading to the Nürburgring earlier this week? Well, it's turned into the car you see here, now complete with a more aggressive body kit and a proper wing out back.

Adding the body kit makes the FR-S look much more like the concept car that ... Read more »

There's no refuting that Nissan has a rich motor racing heritage, one which it continues to build in series around the globe. And to celebrate its racing prowess, the Japanese automaker is launching a special 370Z GT Edition.

The special model features retro stripes running down the rocker panel over either black ... Read more »

As a race, we humans are obsessed with the notion of "best." Whether it's generations of on-point marketing or a strand of latent genetic code that pushes us to shack up with a better mate, we just can't shake the disposition. It's what drives our society forward – the quest for the latest product that promises a sli ... Read more »

While Honda may have to delay rolling out the successor to the current CR-V crossover, a shortage of parts resulting from the crisis in Japan doesn't mean it isn't still working on the project. And while we hadn't seen any prototypes running before, we've now received our first glimpse.

The test mule in this soli ... Read more »

The Nissan Juke is offered in two different drivetrain flavors: front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. When marketing the Juke early on, Nissan listed the gas tank capacity at 13.2-gallons. That's true... for the front-wheel-drive model, however, the all-wheel-drive Juke has a smaller 11.6-gallon tank. Nissan caught t ... Read more »

As recently as a decade ago, mentioning brands like Hyundai and Prada in the same sentence would have seemed laughable. But today's Hyundai is a very different company with a very different image. And no car could sum up such a transformation more than the Genesis.

Two years ago, the Korean automaker announced a ... Read more »

We love a good station wagon. Audi has just pulled the wraps off its sleek new 2012 Audi A6 Avant, and we're already swooning over the capacious cargo-hauler.

'Lightweight' seems to be the buzzword for the latest A6 wagon. The body is comprised of bits of aluminum (20 percent of it in fact), and the A6 benefits f ... Read more »

Schmuck. It's the German word for jewelry. It's also the kind of customer who would be interested in buying a Maybach paved in diamonds. But that doesn't appear to be deterring the top-of-the-line Daimler brand from icing out its limousines like a rapper with a new record contract.

Back in 2006, Maybach teamed up ... Read more »

I had been anticipating the pre-dawn run to the airport for a few days. Having spent the week with a Porsche Panamera Turbo, complete with the torque-boosting Sport Chrono pack (yes, that one), the blast to SFO was a fitting sendoff. It was also perfectly timed.

I was boarding a marathon flight to Austria for the ... Read more »

Following the launch of the refreshed 2012 Continental GT coupe, Bentley is prepping the inevitable droptop GTC variant, which our spies have just caught testing on the Nürburgring.

As you'd expect, the Conti GTC benefits from a Mulsanne-inspired front fascia, as well as some slightly updated taillamps. Inside, a ... Read more »

but the type of satisfaction that makes you proud to own the car in your driveway. AutoPacific has done some research to determine which automakers are the doing the best job of keeping customers happy. The results are in for the 2011 Vehicle Satisfaction Awards (VSA), and you may be a wee bit surprise to learn that ... Read more »

According to Auto Express, the decidedly adorable Mini Rocketman Concept from this year's Geneva Motor Show might be headed for production as a new entry-level model within the next few years. If the rumors are to be believed, we could see the new mini Mini on the streets as early as 2014.

Auto Express suggests t ... Read more »

Feast, children. Feast your eyes on the new Aston Martin V12 Zagato. The product of a reborn partnership between the British sportscar-maker and the Milanese design house that goes back fifty years, the V12 Zagato has just been revealed on its way to the Concorso d'Eleganza at Villa d'Este on the shores of Italy's La ... Read more »

Honda is recalling 1,156 of its recently introduced 2012 Civic sedans and coupes over faulty O-rings that could result in a fuel leak. In the affected cars, a misaligned O-ring that seals a connection in the fuel feed line could result in fuel leaking from the engine.

If any sort of ignition source is present, a ... Read more »

Earlier this year, we reported that Aston Martin had allegedly given its Lagonda crossover concept the green light for production. Now, in speaking to Europe's CAR magazine, Aston CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez has confirmed that the concept will spawn "two or three" new Lagonda models.

Aston Martin is planning two full-fled ... Read more »

We have the Scion FR-S on the brain, and it's not going away anytime soon thanks to the onslaught of new spy photos that keep rolling in. This time, however, we've got video instead of still photography courtesy of our friends at FT86club.com.

It's always great to see a car in motion, and besides, now we have an ... Read more »

In 1991, Mazda became the first and to this day only Japanese automaker to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans using the 787B you see above. It was also the first and only rotary-powered car to ever win the grueling French endurance race.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of that Le Mans win, and to celebrate that vic ... Read more »

Americans began racing cars just as soon as they started to appear on our streets, as evidenced by the fact that the Indianapolis 500 has been going strong for 100 years. The U.S. Senate wanted to tip its collective hat to commemorate that momentous occasion, so our senators decided to pass a resolution officially re ... Read more »

The wait is over... almost. According to a report from Inside Line that jives with what we've been hearing ourselves, Toyota (or Scion, or both) and Subaru are set to use the Tokyo Motor Show to jointly unveil the hotly anticipated rear-wheel-drive sport coupes that they have been working on together since what seems ... Read more »

Remember the good old days when you and your dad spent countless hours in a dimly-lit garage to piece together an old ramshackle Soapbox Derby car for an upcoming downhill race? It probably was constructed out of ancient materials, rocked wagon wheels and had a cable brake that may or may not have stopped you before ... Read more »

Pop quiz time: What vehicle holds the highest average speed on the famed Mille Miglia circuit? A BMW 328. Their average speed was 103 miles per hour, and it was set way back in 1940. That car, the BMW 328, is a legend in the automaker's halls, and was named one of the 25 greatest cars of the century. This year marks ... Read more »

We return to an old whine: Why exactly does the United States as a whole clearly possess the psyche that can categorically reject perhaps the two most useful body configurations ever thought of for road-going automobiles? Namely, the hatchback in all its various configurations and the most wonderful all-rounder on Ea ... Read more »

Lexus UK finally has its first LFA on the Queen's home turf. Rather than take it on a glam tour by propping it up in shiny showrooms, Lexus is taking it to the track. It's also bringing along a camera to record the sights and sounds that come along with the two-door supercar.

... Read more »

Hey hypercar fans, are you in the mood for some Pagani porn? Well, close the shades and turn the lights down low because we've got footage of the Huayra playing nice with the camera. In the Veneto region of northern Italy lies the Adria International Raceway, and it hosted Pagani's engineers as they played around wit ... Read more »

Despite the barrage of concepts presented at the Paris Motor Show, Lotus still has lots of planning ahead as it maps out the future. Five concept vehicles were revealed in 2010:the Elan, Elise, Elite, Esprit and Eterne. We've got an update on two of them.

Car and Driver says that the Lotus Esprit should arrive by ... Read more »

Production of the all-new 2011 Saab 9-4X crossover has started on schedule, despite the company's crippling financial woes. While production of the rest of the Saab lineup at its Trollhattan, Sweden plant has ground to a cash-strapped halt, 9-4Xs are rolling off the assembly lines in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.

The pla ... Read more »

These shots appear to be of the Subaru version of the planned, talked-about, redesigned, and talked-about-some-more 2013 Scion FR-S/Toyota FT-86/Toyobaru. According to our reader spy, this version was wearing Subaru distributor plates, pretty much giving away its true identity.

While the heavy camo does a great j ... Read more »

Ferrari Superamerica 45 2011

a real shame that Ferrari is only building one Superamerica 45, because the car is gorgeous. Besides the lovely Blu Antille paint, the flying buttresses that mold the roof structure into the rear bodywork, and the body-colored wheels, this thing has one of the slickest roof mechanisms ... Read more »

Ferrari's absence at North American auto shows the past few years has meant that its newer vehicles have made their debuts at some less conventional venues. Last year, the 458 Italia's first U.S. appearance was at the Ferrari Challenge event at Miller Motorsports Park. This weekend, the Ferrari FF received a private ... Read more »

Toyota has dodged a bullet after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed its investigation of the power steering system in the 2009-2010 Corolla without finding a defect. To say another recall is the last thing Toyota needs right now would be putting it lightly.

In fact, Toyota should be enjoyin ... Read more »

Endora SC-2

We've seen plenty of coachbuilt Chevrolet Corvettes – both old and new – coming out of Italy. Now ze Germans apparently want to get in on the action, and this is the design with which they aim to do it.

Called SC-1, it's the product-in-the-making from Munich-based upstart Endora Cars. The design i ... Read more »

The 2012 Opel Zafira Tourer has broken cover ahead of its Frankfurt Motor Show debut. Sporting what Opel calls a blend of "functionality and wellness," Opel hopes the Zafira will land at the top of the MPV heap.

To that end, Opel has weighed the people mover down with features and made its interior extremely adap ... Read more »

We've run through the basic Mini Goodwood proposition with you since before its debut at this year's Shanghai Motor Show. Mini intends to build limited runs – 1,000 units total worldwide of the basic Cooper hatchback (at least for starters) of the Goodwood trim under the selectable Mini You area of their branding mot ... Read more »

Automotive News is reporting that the BMW 5 Series GT has been having some unintended and rather unfortunate sales consequences for the German automaker. While the company originally believed that buyers of the old 5 Series Touring would be drawn to the oddball crossover, the truth is that those customers have fled t ... Read more »

2012 Toyota Prius V

The hybrid lexicon is a language built on a foundation of disjunction. Buyers may have phenomenal fuel economy or space for kids and cargo. You can embarrass your neighbors at the fuel pump or have a satisfying driving experience. In fact, opting for a battery pack is so fraught with compromis ... Read more »

The current Audi line-up starts with the A1 and goes all the way up to the A8, but things are about to change as Audi is planning on a new luxury four-door sedan to be called the A9. It will be placed above the current A8 and will be the most luxurious and the most expensive model Audi has ever offered.

Next to t ... Read more »