2011 Volkswagen Touareg...

VW finally gives in to the hybrid temptation, and does so remarkably well. As a longtime diesel promoter, Volkswagen’s interest in hybrids has strictly been competitive, its corporate line an assertion that diesel is the better fuel-saving alternative. With the 2011 Touareg , though,...

Monday Afternoon Crew C...

I don’t know if you saw Carl Edwards punting Brad Keselowski off at the end of the Atlanta race yesterday, but it was both a dumb move and an exceedingly dangerous one. Keselowski was lucky his car landed on the passenger, rather the driver’s, side and NASCAR was lucky the...

Plug-In Hybrid for Next...

Mercedes passenger-car development boss Thomas Weber believes not only that fuel cells—marketed as range-extending hybrids— have a viable future , but that they will be just one part of a complicated mix of drivetrains. Here’s what he had to say at the Geneva show about other...

Geneva Motor Show: Volk...

Filed under: Geneva Motor Show , Hatchbacks , Sports/GTs , Volkswagen , Compact , News The GTI made a welcome return to the Polo line-up at Geneva. The diminutive hot hatch gets the same 1.4 TSI twincharger under the bonnet as the Seat Ibiza Cupra. The engine combines a supercharger and...

Geneva Motor Show: Volk...

Filed under: Geneva Motor Show , Minivans/MPVs , Volkswagen , Mid-range , News The new Sharan is the replacement for the longest-running VW since the Beetle: the original model is now an amazing 15 years old – and it will carry on for a little longer as the Seat Alhambra. The Mark...

2010 Volkswagen Sharan ...

VW polishes its Euro-market vanlet for a Geneva debut. Volkswagen is unveiling the 2010 Sharan, its third-gen small minivan, at the Geneva auto show . The revised VeeDub bolsters the compact vanlet segment in Europe following the recent debuts of the new Ford Grand C-Max , Mazda 5 , and...

Porsche 918 Spyder Plug...

Stuttgart debuts a do-all, mean, green machine. With four other debuts planned for this year’s Geneva auto show , Porsche saved one surprise for just before the show opened. Behold the 918 Spyder concept, a radical Carrera GT–like supercar that employs Porsche’s latest take on...

2010 Alfa Romeo Giuliet...

Even with a base motor, this Alfa still qualifies as a hot hatch. Alfa Romeo will be introducing the most important model in its history at the Geneva auto show . Alfa has been in a tailspin for the last decade or so, and Fiat—and Chrysler—head honcho Sergio Marchionne has made it...

2011 Jaguar XJ – Firs...

Alloy-ed and alluring, the new XJ transports Jaguar to an altogether different place. Above all things, Jaguar desires to be different. That’s why the new 2011 XJ flagship has the flamboyant lines of an Italian torpedo, the driving manners of a German autobahn cruiser, and is tuned for...

2010 Mazda 3: One Slick...

As an enthusiast, there’s nothing like the connection between man and machine with a smooth-shifting manual transmission. I’ll gladly give up a few tenths in the performance column for that gratifying experience of rowing through the gears. Porsche cars tend to do it best, but in the...