Auto News & New car review

The Dodge Viper ranks among the fiercest, most raw, visceral machines sold in showrooms anywhere. Only a few cars come as close as the Viper to a street-legal race car: Ferrari F430 Scuderia, Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, Porsche 911 GT3RS, Chevrolet Corvette ZO6, Honda S2000CR. Only two of these cost less, and none come within 95 hp of the Viper.

For most automotive tasks the Viper is overkill, like using a six-pound sledgehammer to swat a fly. Ridiculously fast and able to slosh your eyeballs about in their orbit rounding a bend or under heavy braking, it didn’t really need any more power. But with archrival Corvette Z06 at 505 hp, that’s just what Dodge did for 2008. They made the engine just 0.1 liter bigger but added 95 horses to make a nice round 600. The fly would still be dead, but now you have a bigger hammer. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s easy to understand the appeal of the Volkswagen Jetta. Designed and engineered in Germany, the Jetta offers some of the same strengths and design values as much more expensive European luxury sedans yet its base price falls into what we used to call economy car territory.

For 2007, the Jetta’s appeal should increase substantially. In addition to minor updates such as a new tire pressure monitoring system and an auxiliary audio input jack for iPods and the like, Volkswagen has dropped the price of its most popular car by $1,400. The new Jetta sedan starts at $16,490, without a significant reduction in standard equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

The Nissan Titan gets two noteworthy additions and a host of detail improvements for 2008, delivering more of the truck capability while taking off just enough of the tough-guy truck image to appeal to a broader range of drivers and occupants.

New long-bed models have been added, and are longer than most competitors, along with more bed space, payload, and fuel capacity. Read the rest of this entry »

It is official. The all-new 2009 FX50 will not share the showroom floor with a rumored “FX37.” Instead, Infiniti has chosen to keep the less-powerful sibling designated as the “FX35.” That means the engine is the award-winning VQ35HR right out of the Infiniti G35 sedan — not the sweet 3.7-liter 330-hp gem from the G37 Coupe. Under the hood of the FX, the slightly smaller six-cylinder is rated at 303 hp (down just a few horses from the sedan’s rating of 306 hp). Read the rest of this entry »

The Lexus SC 430 switches from luxury hardtop coupe to open roadster with the press of a button. It’s quiet and secure with the top up, perfect for two people dressed for an evening on the town. Dropping the power hardtop converts it into an open roadster, enjoyable on those perfect spring days. Read the rest of this entry »

Kia Rio was setting new standards for subcompacts even before last year’s complete makeover. Now this roomy little car is better than ever. Rio has received Autobytel’s “Editor’s Choice for Most Improved New Car,” and ranked highest for initial quality in the subcompact segment in the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Initial Quality Study. Rio has also been recognized as one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the market by both the Environmental Protection Agency and by J.D. Power. Read the rest of this entry »