Car and Driver

Car and Driver Blog

• 2012 BMW 328i Sedan Manual First Drive: Stick + Turbo Four = Lively Base 3er
  BMW won’t say how many manual-transmission 3-series it sells in the United States for “competitive reasons.” It’s not as many as in Europe, where 3-series sedans are sold in great numbers with small gasoline and turbo-diesel engines paired with manuals, but  enough are moved here to keep a six-speed manual on the order sheet as [...]
  
  
• Marchionne: Chrysler C-Segment Hatch Back On, Could Be Called 100 [Updated with Spy Photos]
  Update 2/6: We’ve now captured spy photos of the new hatchback undergoing testing; note the familiar Chrysler grille behind the front camo. The car is wearing stretched and widened Alfa Giulietta bodywork—similar to that seen on early prototypes for the Dodge Dart—but it will wear unique sheetmetal when it is finally produced. The article below [...]
  
  
• 2013 Mazda CX-5 Crossover Priced from $21,490
  We’ve already driven the 2013 CX-5 (and liked it), covered its technical specs and fuel economy, and now Mazda has released complete pricing info for its all-new crossover: $21,490 to start. A fully loaded, all-wheel-drive model should just top $30,000. The CX-5 is the first vehicle from Mazda designed from the ground up to include the company’s efficiency-aiding Skyactiv technologies [...]
  
  
• Name That Shifter, No. 62
  It’s Monday, and that means it’s time to present this week’s shifter. You’ll have until mid-day Wednesday to identify the make and model of the vehicle from whence this shifter came. The first person to respond correctly in the Backfires section below will win a Save the Manuals button and sticker*. Good luck! (* Offer [...]
  
  
• Long-Term Wrap: 2011 BMW 535i
  The 535i’s spartan mien did not stop it from becoming an instant long-haul favorite, however. Never mind the car’s shortcomings—numb steering, disappointing handling composure, and a hefty curb weight—that left it behind the Audi A6 and an Infiniti M37 in a ­comparison test [August 2010]; its odometer rolled past 20,000 miles in less than five [...]
  
  
• Aaron Robinson: Bolting Together Cars Used to be a Middle-Class Job. That’s Changing
  Some sympathy is in order for United Auto Workers president Bob King. Here he was last March, about to enter negotiations with the Big Three on labor contracts that were certain to be crap sandwiches for his brothers and sisters on the line, and Ford announces that it’s paying CEO Alan Mulally an extra $56.5 [...]
  
  
• Kia Track’ster Concept Headed for Chicago, Topless Soul’ster Concept May Be Built [UPDATED]
  The Kia Soul has been a big hit for the company, and it’s an even better drive than before thanks to improvements made for 2012. To sustain the momentum, the Korean automaker is showing a Soul concept at the 2012 Chicago auto show called Track’ster. Born at Kia’s California design studio, this box is intended [...]
  
  
• Car Commercialism: The Making of OK Go’s “Needing/Getting” Music Video – Feature
  Damian Kulash Jr. sits in one of the editing suites of a media-production house in downtown San Francisco, watching clips on a computer screen of a silver Chevy Sonic doing hand-brake turns in a dust cloud. The car is festooned with what looks like forks, hockey sticks, TV antennas, railroad horns, shark spears, and a [...]
  
  
• Tested: 2012 Mitsubishi i Electric Vehicle
  It’s easy to confuse weird with bad. The Mitsubishi i is weird. It looks like a computer mouse. It has windshield wipers that resemble Ultraman’s arms in attack mode. It is powered by a 66-hp electric motor mounted under the rear seats. It carries onboard the energy equivalent of less than half a gallon of [...]
  
  
• Tested: Pentastar-Powered 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
  At 7.6 seconds, the 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon is 3.9 seconds quicker to 60 mph than the SUV it replaces, thanks to its new 285-hp, 3.6-liter V-6 and five-speed automatic. To put that in perspective: You could run a BMW M3 sedan to 60 mph and then, very immediately  thereafter, run the new  ute [...]