Fleet manager Brandon Turkus was the lucky duck that got the first Winding Road ride in the Shelby GT350 this time around. He drove down to Ford HQ in Dearborn, Michigan to pick the monster convertible up, and returned to Ypsilanti with a face-bursting smile on his mug.
Since our very first go-round with this most recent Buick Regal, we’ve been fans of the car. Regal’s crisp and clean interior/exterior styling and competent handling have seemed to us to make it a very reasonable competitor for other entry-level luxury products. Priced below name-brand small...
The BMW 6-Series is an oddly seductive car. Back in the day (the late ‘70s and ‘80s), BMW shipped the first E24 edition of the 6, and a beauty it was. BMW understood that many a driver wanted something more svelte and mature than a sports car. And BMW understood that such drivers wanted a car...
BMW, the self-proclaimed maker of “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” has set some tough standards for their new 2.0-liter engine. That’s good because, frankly, a four-banger replacing one of the most revered sixes in history needs some credibility-building. We have our own standards, so we set off...
It was a relief to see the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle in person, and to see that it, in fact, lived up to its name, forsaking the cartoonish architecture of the last-gen “New” Beetle. With its flatter, longer roof, lowered stance, and upright windshield, we actually felt the instinctual urge to slug...
As a small car, the Nissan Versa does everything it needs to do. It features oodles of room for three people in the back, is exceptionally affordable (base cars start at $10,990), and delivers admirable fuel economy (38 highway and 30 in the city). Opt for the SL trim (which is what we’ve been...
If we had to hand out an all-star award for best brand to come out of the Chrysler bankruptcy, it would more than likely go to Jeep. The venerable off-road brand went from having a portfolio of lackluster vehicles (SRT8 being a notable exception), with shoddy interiors a few years back to being...
For Toyota, it doesn’t get any more important. The Camry has been America’s best selling car for the past nine years (and 13 of the last 14), and Toyota expects almost 50 percent of 2012 Camry buyers to have been previous owners, so there is an expectation of what the car will deliver. The...
Those familiar with the BMW 3-Series, 5-Series, or even X5 will feel right at home in the X3. The materials are the sort of high-quality fare that we’ve come to expect from the premium German brand. Even though the X3 is less expensive and smaller than the X5, we felt like we had plenty of room...
What Audi has done with the new A6 is take a car that was always highly competent in a highly competitive class, and made every little thing markedly better with added technology, better looks, and excellent driving dynamics. Vorsprung durch Technik indeed.
We reported briefly on Infiniti’s entry-class G sedan last fall, when Rex Roy drove the rear-drive G25 in close proximity to the range-topping IPL G Coupe. As is often the case when two similar, yet critically different, cars are driven back to back, we found the G25 to be lacking in urge, if...
Mazda has embarked on a program of technological advancement that is pretty remarkable, and a bit exhausting to take in all in one sitting. The company is nearing the endpoint of a project it started some five years ago, one whose overarching goals were to make its vehicles cleaner and more...
On the road, the new Charger leaves the old one behind in a few key areas. For a start, the ride feels more balanced between involvement and comfort. Whereas the old car had a tendency to float along, oblivious to the goings on between it and the road, this new model feels decidedly more planted...
If you ever needed proof that crossovers are the next big thing in luxury, than here it is: as of 2010 the crossover segment constitutes almost 25 percent of the sales of the luxury market. It should come as no surprise then, that every manufacturer that styles itself with luxury pretensions...
Delivering an unrepentant 455 pound-feet of torque up for the asking, it’s easy to understand how we found ourselves just a little bit north of the posted 75-mile-per-hour limit, through Anaconda Deer-Lodge County on the back end of our test drive.
The Angeles Crest Highway was a beautiful way to get from Los Angeles to Willow Springs raceway, and a great venue to display the handling prowess of the all-new 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. The scenic mountain curves tested the grip of the P295 Pirellis, and no matter how hard we pushed it...
Jeep has gotten a number of things right with this new Compass. For a start, a Grand Cherokee-inspired front fascia has replaced the cutesy, on-road-only looks of the last-generation model. We heard more than one passerby mention just how handsome the new front end looks on this small Jeep. From...
Like a lot of the Winding Road staff, I have had mixed emotions about the Camaro. I like the idea of a more modern challenger (sorry, Dodge) to the Mustang’s semi-monopoly on the intersection of inexpensive and powerful. I like the basic design of the car, though I could tweak a few details to...
At the launch of the new Jetta, we were able to go out and try the gasoline-powered versions. What we found was a car that seemed to fit the bill as far as the marketplace was concerned, but wasn’t quite ready for the enthusiast seal of approval. Still, we managed to have some fun in it, despite...