No product planner ever asked for tighter passenger accommodations or a smaller trunk; no designer wants less sheet metal to serve as a canvas for his art; no engineer wants to take stuff out of a car -- he wants to add more.

Nobody ever questions this movement toward automotive giganticism because it is like the existence MORE]]> It is an invariable rule of auto design and engineering: Cars get bigger with age.

No product planner ever asked for tighter passenger accommodations or a smaller trunk; no designer wants less sheet metal to serve as a canvas for his art; no engineer wants to take stuff out of a car -- he wants to add more.

Nobody ever questions this movement toward automotive giganticism because it is like the existence of gravity: an incontestable law of nature.

For evidence, I offer the jury the Honda Accord, made by the company whose motto is "Maximum man, minimum machine." The first Accord to reach these shores in 1976 was classified as a compact and stretched out to all of 162 inches.

In time, the Accord went on to become the best-selling car in America. But that didn't stop Honda from making it larger and larger. The 2011 Accord is now classified as full-size. It is 194 inches from stem to stern -- nearly three feet longer than its prehistoric ancestor.

So why this gnashing of teeth over the 2011 MINI Cooper Countryman, which has grown two more doors and a mere 15 inches from the original MINI Cooper?

The Countryman is still immediately identifiable as a MINI, with its flat roof, friendly face, and extroverted paint job. There is nothing else like it on the road.

Although the Countryman has some crossover characteristics like a rear hatch and all-wheel-drive, the ground clearance is minimal, and the cargo space is laughable -- all traditional MINI traits.

And the Countryman still squelches bigger cars in stoplight drag races, and it corners like a motorized skateboard the way the original MINI did. It is a four-door sports car. The Countryman is a lot closer to an MX-5 Miata than it is a Ford Explorer. Throw in the turbocharged 1.6 liter 181-horsepower engine from the S version and you've got a pocket rocket capable of reaching 60 miles an hour in under eight seconds with a manual transmission.

That kind of heavy-footed driving doesn't do much for fuel economy, of course. The Countryman is rated at 25 miles per gallon city/31 highway, well below the new 40 mpg bogey for similarly-sized cars. Over a couple of hundred miles of mostly highway driving, I could only manage 28 mpg.

MINI fun comes at a price. My supercharged Light White test car carried an MSRP of $26,950. Throw in the garish red and black seat coverings, the sport package with in-your-face 18-inch alloy wheels the color of anthracite, and a few other geegaws and gimcracks, and you've run up the tab to $31,150.

I will like MINI a lot better once it updates its cheesy instrument panel and eccentric ergonomics. The plastic is of the same gauge and quality used in cookie-box dividers. The switches come in great variety, and what they boast in originality, they lack in functionality.

And I'd be remiss in not pointing out MINI's dismal record of reliability. In keeping with the fine tradition of British engineering and manufacturing, the MINI ranks at the very bottom of J.D. Power's three-year dependability rankings. It trails even that other paragon of English motoring, Land Rover, and represents a blemish on the reputation of its owner and operator BMW.

If Kate and Will are looking for a cause once they get back from their honeymoon, they could take on an upgrade of those few automobile brands that are still assembled within the confines of their kingdom -- lest MINI defect to Germany.

Last week's opening of the Shanghai auto show provided the latest data point as Buick MORE]]> The Cinderella story at the new General Motors continues to be Buick -- and this fairy tale has more glass slippers than simply a supply of new models. Repositioned as the luxury brand partner of Cadillac in the U.S. and smartly leveraging its status as a technology leader in China, Buick is piling triumph upon triumph.

Last week's opening of the Shanghai auto show provided the latest data point as Buick revealed a strikingly styled SUV concept with a carbon-fiber chassis and a plug-in hybrid powertrain. Named the Envision, the SUV's exotic specifications mean it would never see production in its current form, but its appearance sends a clear message to the rest of the auto world that Buick is not to be messed with any longer. Wrote one impressed blogger: "Wow, the Buick and age jokes are getting old, not to mention irrelevant."

Better Buick news for 2011 is still to come: The compact Verano reaches dealers later this year. Based on the Chevrolet Cruze, the Verano was developed in partnership with GM's China operations. That means it will not only display the high levels of craftsmanship that Chinese customers demand, it will also benefit from the richer profit margins that come from higher production volume.

As the price leader in the Buick lineup, Verano will put a supercharger behind Buick's already robust U.S. sales results. For the first three months for 2011, its volume is up 39%, despite a lineup of only four models, and it is nipping at the heels of slumping Lexus.

The Enclave seven passenger crossover, introduced in 2007, is now the oldest car in the Buick lineup and due for a makeover. Given its age, you would expect it to be a big drag on results, yet the opposite is true. Launched exactly four years ago, the Enclave has gotten stronger as it gets older; 2010 was a record year, and its sales so far in 2011 are even better. That's the kind of late-in-life performance that can produce promotions for product planners and development engineers.

The Enclave is considered the vehicle that ignited the Buick revival. Based on the successful Lamda platform, it swept away earlier efforts at utility vehicles that bore such forgettable names as Rendezvous, Ranier, and Terraza. The Enclave's voluptuous styling with its oversize fender arches, porthole-like hood markings, and prominent waterfall grille bordered on the baroque but attracted favorable attention.

Less applauded was its excessive weight – 4,780 pounds -- which produced mediocre gas mileage: 16 miles per gallon city/22 mpg highway with a 3.6 liter V-6. By comparison, a Honda Odyssey minivan, which can also carry seven passengers, weighs about 700 pounds less and gets 19 mpg city/28 highway.

All that additional mass, however, contributes to a quiet interior and smooth ride, which reinforces Buick's identity. In GM's new product positioning, Buick moves up to full top-shelf status as the "approachable" brand in contrast to Cadillac's edgy attitude and performance bent. With an as-tested price of nearly $50,000, my Cocoa Metallic Enclave test car certainly reflected upscale aspirations. The sticker reflected a $4,885 bump from the base MSRP due to the power sunroof, 20" aluminum wheels, and DVD system.

Inside, the instrument panel and surroundings were tastefully designed, just barely avoiding excessive use of wood-grained trim. Likewise, the center stack of switches and controls was blessedly lacking the chrome-finished accents festooned on newer Buicks, though their plain design seemed a bit dated.
Over the road, the Enclave processed more than 500 miles of holiday-weekend driving without a snarl. The suspension though, seemed tuned for older passengers, which made it a handful on random bumps and tighter-radius curves. And the 3.6 liter-V6 provided little relief from $4.25 per gallon gasoline.

The Enclave is due for a mid-cycle freshening, as a recent tour through the GM design center outside Detroit confirmed. Like other Buicks, it will likely benefit from a refined sensibility learned from China, to which Enclaves have been exported since 2008. A weight-reduction program, reflecting an American sensitivity to higher gas prices, will have to wait.

For evidence, consider the Chrysler minivan. The 2011 version is more than two feet longer, nine inches wider, and three quarters of a ton heavier than the original that was introduced 28 years ago

All MORE]]> Cars and trucks -- not just Detroit's but the imports' too -- are afflicted by a case of giantism. It is as if they are all juicing with growth hormones like a baseball player with 26-inch biceps.

For evidence, consider the Chrysler minivan. The 2011 version is more than two feet longer, nine inches wider, and three quarters of a ton heavier than the original that was introduced 28 years ago

All that new mass puts a strain on scarce natural resources. The 2011 maxi-van is powered by a 283 horsepower V-6 and is rated at just 12 miles per gallon city, 18 mpg highway. The 1984 model got along with just 101 horsepower, and managed to get 20 mpg city/23 mpg highway.

If your tastes run to extra-large, better get your orders in soon. The age of the dinosaurs is coming to an end, and you won't have to wait for a meteor to see it happen. In an era of $4 per gallon gas and looming government fuel economy regulations, manufacturers simply can't afford to make such inefficient vehicles.

For a view of what the future holds, take a look at the Mazda5 microvan. First introduced in the U.S. in 2005, it has gotten a makeover for 2011. The new version has gotten a standing "O" from Consumer Reports, which ranks it first in its eight-vehicle segment, above stalwarts like the Subaru Outback. With a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $23,805, it is also the least expensive; it is priced $19,000 less than its costliest competitor.

Mazda managed to take most of the minivan's best attributes and pack them into a smaller space. The 5 provides command seating in captain's chairs, easy access through two sliding doors, and comfortable accommodations for four adults and two smaller people.

The 5 hasn't entirely escaped the growth imperative. Despite its status as the smallest van on the market, it is actually five and a half inches longer and 700 pounds heavier than the original 1984 Chrysler. Thanks to advances in engine technology, however, the 5 is rated at 21 mpg city/28 mpg highway. That makes it relevant for the rest of this decade anyway.

My Liquid Silver test car arrived in Grand Touring trim, and the only options were satellite radio (free) and a rear bumper guard ($50), bringing the as-tested price to $24, 720. The list of standard equipment includes items like dynamic stability control, Bluetooth, and three-row side-curtain airbags that would have been unavailable at any price in a car of this class a few years ago.

Style is usually last of the attributes that buyers look for in a van but it too comes standard with the 5. Sliding-door tracks have been cleverly integrated with the taillamps, making them less obtrusive. The side-body panels have been stamped with a sophisticated process that leaves small channels or waves in the metal. The effect is subtle and timeless and enlivens what is typically a dead space.

The 5 has another important quality not traditionally found in minivans: sportiness. The 5 is a driver's van: light to the touch, sure on the curves, and easy to steer and brake. I didn't fill all four of the adult seats with adults, but it ran just fine with two aboard.

The 5 has something to offer value shoppers, too. In 1983, the base price of $8,700 brought you a Plymouth Caravan that was basically a breadbox on wheels. Even such fundamental features as a sliding door on the driver's side were omitted to improve structural rigidity and reduce cost. A driver-side airbag wasn't standard until 1991 and adjustable cupholders didn't come along until 1996.

In inflation-adjusted 2010 dollars, that primitive, stripped down vehicle cost $18,791. For another six thousand dollars today, you get a vehicle that is stylish, sporty, and safe. The Mazda5 demonstrates that good things come in small packages -- and you don't necessarily need a second mortgage to be able to afford them.

A pair of Audis showed up on my test drive schedule as winter morphed into spring in the Northeast. They weren't the newest models in the line -- the 2011 A6 is being replaced by MORE]]> Audi's A4 and A6 exemplify the automaker's best qualities: sophisticated design, excellent craftsmanship, and superb road manners. But the company has some catching up to do if it wants to win more American customers.

A pair of Audis showed up on my test drive schedule as winter morphed into spring in the Northeast. They weren't the newest models in the line -- the 2011 A6 is being replaced by the redesigned 2012 model as this is written, and the all-new A7 arrives this month. But they reminded me why I like Audis so much -- and helped me to gauge how close Audi has come to reaching top tier status in the U.S.

2011 Audi A4

Audi is the late arrival to the American market compared with Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and has been trying hard to catch up. So far this year, import luxury car sales have trailed the overall market, but Audi has been outperforming its German rivals, as well as Lexus. It takes more than velocity to compete in this arena, as we shall see.

Revamped a year ago, the compact A4 remains the core of the Audi lineup. Along with its sportier sibling, the S4, it accounts for nearly half of Audi's car sales. Audi has had less success establishing the larger A6 as a second core model; Audi sells only a quarter as many of this model as it sells A4s. That contrasts with Mercedes, where sales of its E-class nearly equal those of the smaller C-class, and BMW, where sales of the 5-series run at about half the rate of the 3-series.

Both the A4 and A6 exemplify Audi's best qualities: sophisticated (if a bit understated) design, excellent craftsmanship, and superb road manners. Except when the headlamps are on, exposing their beaded L.E.D. trim, Audis never advertise their presence; they are the stealthiest of top-shelf autos. And their long-established Quattro all-wheel drive systems give them unmatched driveability in difficult conditions.

Quattro was standard equipment on the Ibis White A4 test car I drove. Power was provided by a 2.0 liter engine with TFSI (TFSI stands for turbocharged fuel stratified injection). It produces an ample 211 horsepower for this 3,715 lb. car and hurries it to 60 miles per hour in 6.6 seconds. Fuel economy is a respectable 21 miles per gallon of premium gas city/29 miles per gallon highway.

The A4 felt light on its tires and held its own in the free-for-all afternoon traffic leaving New York City. With an manufacturer's suggested retail price of $34,140, it is a relatively inexpensive way to move into the world of import luxury sedans. Adding the sport and premium plus package brought the as-tested price to $39,995.

The biggest shortcoming of the A4 is size; the back seat is tight and the trunk compact. So for my next run, I moved one up one class in the Audi hierarchy to the A6.

It was a big step. The A6 is nine inches longer, nearly 400 lbs heavier, and came with 1000 cc. more engine capacity in its 3.0 liter V6, again with TFSI, that puts out 300 horsepower.

2011 Audi A6

All that extra stuff comes at a price, first at the dealer and then at the gas pump. The aventurine blue pearl test car carried a sticker price of $56,275, the prestige and sport packages boosting it north of the $50,200 manufacturer's suggested retail price. The bigger motor and heavier weight brought the fuel economy numbers down to 18 mpg city/26 highway.

It was money well-spent. Even at the end of its seven-year run, the current generation of the A6 is a no-compromise luxury car, with the presence, heft, and feel you would expect. It proved especially adept at absorbing the jolts from the broken pavement on Manhattan's West Side Highway, which is bumpier than usual this year. For sheer competence, combined with below-the-radar presence, it is hard to beat.

Audi has made no secret of its ambitions. It has announced its intention to boost its sales 50% over the next five years, volume that would be high enough for it to contemplate building cars in its own U.S. plant.

To establish itself in the top rank, however, Audi has to solve some quality and reliability problems that might be acceptable among larger brands, but not in one at Audi's price points. Audi ranks slightly below average in initial quality, and further below average in three-year dependability in the latest J.D. Power rankings. Consumer Reports complains that the V6's supercharged engine has been well below average, and it deems only the A4 in the entire Audi lineup as worthy of its recommended rating. (BMW also gets only one recommendation; Mercedes wins four).

Having been exposed to the near-impeccable quality of Japanese luxury cars, American buyers are less forgiving of imperfections than customers elsewhere. So Audi has more catching up to do. At a later date, we'll get a chance to see how the 2012 models do.

Also on Fortune.com:

• 6 U.S. cars that trounce the imports
• 2011 Lincoln MKZ hybrid: A sheep in sheep's clothing
• The 300: Can Chrysler really steal Bimmer and Caddy buyers?

Some shoppers, however, may feel diffident about the Prius. More than two million have been sold MORE]]> When gasoline prices start to rise, the thoughts of economy-minded buyers reliably turn to the Toyota Prius, the mileage champ. Edmunds.com reports consideration of the 50-miles-per-gallon Toyota Prius among its online shoppers is up more than 30% since the beginning of the year -- triple the increase for all hybrids and small cars in general.

Some shoppers, however, may feel diffident about the Prius. More than two million have been sold worldwide so it is hardly cutting-edge. And even if it didn't start out that way, the Prius has turned into a car for people who hate cars. In the quest for industry-leading fuel economy, ride and handling have been sacrificed. Sitting in its hyper-aerodynamic body, surrounded by unfamiliar controls and instruments, I feel like I am travelling in a space capsule -- a prisoner of advanced technology.

Driving a conventional car like the Camry with a hybrid powertrain didn't make much sense for many people either. The tradeoff with gasoline is uneconomic, and you don't get a chance to flaunt your eco-consciousness.

Now Toyota has created an alternative: the Lexus CT 200h.

The Lexus is about the same size as a Prius, carries the same number of people, and is powered by the same combination of 1.8 -liter gasoline engine and 80-horsepower electric motor.

But the Lexus overcomes two big shortcomings of the Prius: It doesn't look like it just landed from outer space, and it doesn't drive like a battery-powered sled. On the debit side, it also gets worse gas mileage and costs more.

The CT 200h has an MSRP of $30,900, but the premium audio, leather, and navigation packages drove up the as-tested price of my Premium edition loaner up to $36,725. That's about $2,500 more than a top-of-the-line Prius Five but still the lowest-price Lexus in the lineup. Mileage is rated at 43 mpg city/40 highway. The Prius is rated a good bit higher at 51 mpg city/48 highway.

For those willing to make the tradeoff (did somebody call my name?), the CT 200h (CT stands for "compact tourer") is a handsome piece that feels and drives better than you would expect -- and gets you access to Lexus's famously accommodating service at a bargain price.

The four-doors-and-liftback body style blend the practicality of a sport wagon with the go-fast dash of a hot hatch. It may be the sportiest looking production Lexus around. The interior, while not as cushy as in higher-end Lexuses, still makes you feel welcomed. The instrument panel is mostly familiar, accessible, and helpful (although, oddly, the data on instant and overall fuel economy is displayed on separate screens). The funky Prius gear selector that feels more like a joy stick returns in the CT 200h.

The biggest step forward for the CT 200h is in ride and handling. The suspension has been upgraded, the car is better balanced, and the steering has been made more precise. Gone are the rock-hard low rolling resistance tires; they are replaced by more pliant rubber. This is one dedicated hybrid that doesn't mind going around corners or punishing your backside on broken pavement.

Regrettably, the Lexus won't eliminate the Prius in a contest at your local drag strip. It is rated at an identical 9.8 seconds in getting to 60 miles per hour. Shift the transmission to the eco mode and it takes even longer -- nearly an eternity. The transmission's sport mode provided only slight relief but exacted no visible penalty in mileage. Over several hundred miles, I averaged 41.4 mpg.

A word from the color police: My test car was drenched in paint called "Daybreak Yellow Mica." "Mustard" would be an equally accurate description. Neighbors complained and dogs howled. Daybreak Yellow Mica would look fine on a hot dog but lacks the classiness I associate with Lexus.

Toyota planned to only sell about 1,000 CT 200h's a month before the earthquake disrupted its production, making this limited edition vehicle even more limited. A few million more of them on the roads and the U.S. could start reducing its dependence on foreign oil.

Sometimes you get lucky. In writing about cars for Fortune, I find myself competing with dozens of other journalists for first crack at the latest in automotive metal. What with the complications of scheduling and the near-constant stream of product launches, I am sometimes left with sun-loving convertibles in January and snow-chewing SUVs in July. Not that I expect any sympathy -- they are all fresh from the MORE]]>

2011 MazdaSpeed3

Sometimes you get lucky. In writing about cars for Fortune, I find myself competing with dozens of other journalists for first crack at the latest in automotive metal. What with the complications of scheduling and the near-constant stream of product launches, I am sometimes left with sun-loving convertibles in January and snow-chewing SUVs in July. Not that I expect any sympathy -- they are all fresh from the factory, after all -- but the disconnect makes it more difficult for car and driver to perform at their best.

Once in a while, the opportunity arises to match cars to conditions in a way that produces optimum results. That was the case two-times-over when an early spring weekend in the Berkshires followed a week in Southern California.

The MazdaSpeed 3 was just the ticket for slithering around potholes and dodging foraging deer in the tri-corner of New York State, Massachusetts, and northwest Connecticut. With the numbers of pesky speed limit enforcers seemingly occupied by more pressing duties elsewhere, there were plenty of opportunities to glimpse the Mazda's thrill potential.

With a turbocharged four-cylinder motor that produces 263-horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque, that potential is significant. The Speed3 can rocket you to 60 miles an hour in 6.3 seconds. Caution is advised, however, before lighting the fuse. Anything approaching the full application of power produces wicked, almost uncontrollable torque-steer. That's not uncommon in high-powered front-wheel-drive cars but not something you want to become overly familiar with.

Redesigned for the 2010 model year, the compact Speed3 follows the hot-hatch design formula with its bobbed-tail rear end. From the front, it is distinguished by a hood scoop and a gaping shark's mouth grille. The test car wore Velocity Red Mica paint, and combined with the expressive body work, it had no difficulty in attracting attention.

The Speed3 carries a reasonable MSRP of $23,340, but loading it up with the tech package (10-speaker sound system, bi-xenon headlights, keyless start), brought the as-tested price to a richer $26,605. One caveat: With its six-speed manual gearbox and high-performance tires wrapped around 18-inch wheels, the Speed3 clearly prefers the open road to the vicissitudes of workaday traffic, and smooth pavement to the chinks and chunks left over from winter's freezes. When in its element, however, the Speed3 delivered on the promise of its name.

2011 Mercedes-Benz E350A

The Mercedes E350 Cabriolet, on the other hand, is perfectly adapted to any road condition -- as long as the weather is warm and the sun is shining. This is the cruiser's convertible: powerful, rock-steady with the roof down, and comfortable for four. It was equipped with a silky seven-speed transmission directing power from its 3.5 liter, 268-horsepower V6 with 258 lb-ft of torque. The fact that those power numbers are almost identical to the MazdaSpeed 3 tells you that the E350 is no drag-racer, but it was perfectly suited to profiling on the Pacific Coast Highway. Driving from Huntington Beach south to San Clemente, passing Maseratis, Bentleys, and a Tesla dealership, the Benz always held its own.

In fact, it did better than that. So many German cars come in silver or black, but the press fleet loaner wore Arctic White on its flanks with a blue canvas top -- a striking color scheme that mimicked powerboats nearby in the Newport Beach harbor. I normally avoid white cars because they look as if they just came off the lot at Dollar Rent-A-Car, but not the Benz. The depth and sheen of its paint, combined with the bright chrome fittings on its rear deck, rivaled a Hatteras yacht.

New for 2011, the E350 Cabrio replaces the CLK in Mercedes' convertible lineup, and its refined design lends an air of dignity -- perfectly delivering on the Mercedes brand promise. With an MSRP of $56,850, the car is no bargain, and was even less-so when the usual array of options bumped the as-tested price to $69,475. That's a big number for a warm-weather car, but in this instance the fit between form and function was so complete that you wanted to overlook the unreality of it all.

So what are they doing in the same review? Well, they are both utility vehicles of a sort, designed to haul more stuff than a conventional coupe or sedan; both are aimed at moderately affluent buyers; and both are made by MORE]]> Crossovers are the hottest body styles to come along since pillarless hard-top convertibles. Station wagons, by contrast, are as dead as tailfins and wrap-around windshields. For more, see my epitath.

So what are they doing in the same review? Well, they are both utility vehicles of a sort, designed to haul more stuff than a conventional coupe or sedan; both are aimed at moderately affluent buyers; and both are made by Japanese manufacturers who could use a break after the triple threats of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.

Equally important, both would be on my shopping list for coping with the semi-rural environs of the Litchfield Hills in northwest Connecticut.

Nissan's Murano midsize crossover is the incumbent in this competition. On the market since 2002, it has adopted a more mature look for 2011 and has dropped its jack-o-lantern grille in favor of a slimmer, more sophisticated face.

The challenger is the TSX wagon, the first of its kind from Acura. Based on the European Accord wagon, it is a skosh longer and higher than the TSX sedan from which it is derived and exemplifies Honda's philosophy of trying to do a lot with a little.

Acura is testing the wagon market with the TSX and plans to offer buyers just 4,000 wagons this year. The Murano, by contrast, has been around since 2002, and Nissan sold 52,546 last year.

Considering their different segments -- crossover and wagon -- the two cars are remarkably similar in length and width. The big difference is found in the height: The Murano has two inches more ground clearance and stands a full foot taller than the TSX.

Extra room up top pays off in greater cargo space for the Murano, but less than you'd expect: a total of 64.3 cu. ft. when the rear seat is folded down vs. 60.5 cu. ft. for the Acura.

Space means weight, and the Murano uses some 300 pounds more of the world's limited resources than the Acura. It overcomes the inertia with a brawny engine: a 3.5 liter V-6 that puts out 260 horsepower and achieves a combined fuel economy rating of 20 mpg.

Lighter on its tires, the Acura feels as peppy as the Murano but makes do with a 201-horsepower 2.4 liter four-cylinder engine. Less weight and a smaller engine mean better fuel economy, and the Acura gets 25 mpg.

Both of my test cars performed flawlessly but nothing is cheap -- especially cars built in Japan with the yen at record strength. The Graphite Blue Murano carried an MSRP of $37,050. All-wheel-drive, a welcome feature in the unrelenting snows of 2011, is standard. But throw in a $1,850 navigation package, $185 for mats, and $800 in destination charges, and you get an as-tested price of $39,885.

In keeping with Acura's pricing policy, all the TSX's options, including the navi system, were rolled into the MSRP of $34,610 for the Vortex Blue Pearl test car. The inevitable $800 destination charge boosted the as-tested price to $35,470. Honda saves its AWD drive systems for is own crossovers like the Acura MDX, and doesn't make it available on the TSX.

Some of that price differential is likely to vanish on the showroom floor, where Nissan dealers are more likely to negotiate, but the TSX holds up better. Edmunds.com figures the TSX will retain 46% in a private owner sale after five years versus 41% for the Murano.

So, which to choose? I like the command seating of the Murano, the AWD, and the high roof -- just the ticket for hauling recylables to the transfer station. But the V-6 is more power than I need, and the Murano's personality is more extroverted than I like.

On the other hand, I'm attracted by the Acura's economical four-cylinder motor and the wagon's tailored looks - more refined than other Acuras I've seen and appropriate for duty on Saturday nights. I'm also impressed by Honda's consistent track record for reliability. The lack of AWD puts me off, though, and the low ground clearance would have kept the TSX in the garage on some wintery days where I live.

I realize it is an unsatisfying conclusion but I can't choose between the crossover and the wagon. The strengths and the weaknesses of each balance out. Guess I'll have to widen my search for a family car.

Lowly sub-compacts sparkle when recast as adorable playthings -- the Mini Cooper -- or hot hatches -- the MazdaSpeed3. Workaday pickup trucks can be easily linked to weekend recreation or made surrogates for Craftsman series racers.

But minivans remain forever tied to the iconic soccer mom and her world of child safety seats, juice box holders, and car pools. It MORE]]> Without doubt, the minivan has the least-malleable image of any product segment.

Lowly sub-compacts sparkle when recast as adorable playthings -- the Mini Cooper -- or hot hatches -- the MazdaSpeed3. Workaday pickup trucks can be easily linked to weekend recreation or made surrogates for Craftsman series racers.

But minivans remain forever tied to the iconic soccer mom and her world of child safety seats, juice box holders, and car pools. It is the ultimate life-stage vehicle; nobody wants another minivan after the kids grow up. Product planners call it a "need" car, not a "want" car.

It isn't that generations of marketers haven't tried to broaden the van's appeal. Pontiac tried advertising its Montana by showing cowboys instead of moms and their kids. You can judge its success by the fact that the Montana died a year before Pontiac did.

They keep trying. For 2011, Toyota produced a video showing a family of four rapping about the merits of their Sequoia "swagger wagon." One critic called it, "pretty much a reverse psychology admission of uncoolness."

Not to be outdone, Chrysler christened its 2011 Dodge Caravan R/T the "man van." "When you sit behind the steering wheel you will feel you are driving a sports car," the Wall Street Journal quoted a Chrysler rep as saying. "As long as you don't look behind you, you forget you are driving a minivan."

I beg to differ. Nobody ever confused a minivan with a sports car or forgot they were driving one.

Nissan has been down this road too. In 2004, it introduced an all-new Quest with a Star Trek instrument panel, swoopy roof, and even swoopier beltline that it called the "sexy mom" minivan. Though the interior was quickly cleaned up and the pillar-style center stack removed, the Quest was saddled with poor quality coming out of Nissan's new assembly plant in Mississippi, and sales sank throughout is production. Nissan sold only 8,564 Quests in 2009 and then put it on hiatus for 2010.

The new 2011 Quest is more sensible and straightforward. Instead of avoiding the stereotyped minivan image, Nissan embraced it. "Our research showed some buyers think of the minivan as a surrender to their youth and fun, but our feeling is it doesn't have to be that way," says a Nissan executive. "The other way of looking at it is that it's a commitment to family life and to being with them and having fun."

In design, the new Quest is the polar opposite of the old one. Straight lines and right-angled corners have replaced curves, and elegant colors like my dark mahogany test vehicle have succeeded the pastels of the old one. The only drawbacks are the flat roof and a rear hatch area that bears a close resemblance to that of the underachieving Ford Flex.

Since style, performance and status aren't on the minivan shopping list, they have to shine in less glamorous areas: safety, utility, and options. Here the 2011 Quest is smartly competitive.

It has eliminated the bench seat for the second row, which improves seating comfort. The second and third row seats can't be removed, which is fine with me -- as anyone who has tried to remove heavy, bulky minivan seats will understand. Nor do they fold into the floor, but they do fold flat, and the Quest can accommodate a four-foot by eight-foot plywood sheet, albeit with the tailgate ajar.
Helpful new options include door handles that open with the touch of a button, great for those with a lot of dunnage. Difficult rear-seat passengers can be observed through the conversation mirror and accessed via the removable second-row console.

Safety features include frontal, side impact, and side curtain airbags. No crash data is yet available. Power is provided by a 3.5 liter six-cylinder engine with CVT transmission producing 260 horsepower. Fuel economy is an unimpressive 19 miles per gallon city/24 mpg highway.

There are a few oddities. As tested, the Quest stickered at $43,740, a price that included so-called "manufacturer options," such as a moon roof and floor mats. Idle thought: If manufacturer options are automatically included, why doesn't that make them the same as standard equipment? The price tag for the cargo net was $60. At that price, it must have been made out of spun gold.

The 2011 Quest doesn't set many new benchmarks, but at least it gets Nissan back in the minivan mainstream. And give it credit for honesty in advertising. Minivans for families -- what a concept!

Ford Motor is feeling pretty comfortable these days. Its cars are selling, its debt is shrinking, and its executives are treated with the kind of reverence and adulation usually reserved for the likes of Mark Zuckerberg or Justin Bieber.

So if Ford is comfortable, how should it be afflicted? Did I hear somebody say Lincoln?

With MORE]]> One of the foundation principles of journalism is to comfort the afflicted -- and afflict the comfortable.

Ford Motor is feeling pretty comfortable these days. Its cars are selling, its debt is shrinking, and its executives are treated with the kind of reverence and adulation usually reserved for the likes of Mark Zuckerberg or Justin Bieber.

So if Ford is comfortable, how should it be afflicted? Did I hear somebody say Lincoln?

With Mercury gone, former Lincoln-Mercury dealers have gone into a cold sweat. They have been asked to upgrade their service, replace their old L-M signage, and hope they aren't among the 200 or so L-M dealers that Ford wants to close.

The squeeze is coming because Ford sells fewer than half as many Lincolns as it did a decade ago. From its peak as the best-selling luxury brand of 1998, Lincoln has fallen to near the bottom of the ranking.

Due to a lack of funds, or imagination, or both, Ford failed to invest in Lincoln when it was still feeding those fancy European marques: Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo, and Aston Martin.

Those marques have all been dispatched to foreign owners, and their departure has exposed the shortcomings of Lincoln for all to see.

Today, Lincoln sells two vehicles with actual names -- Town Car and Navigator -- and four with initials that only Ford's advertising agency can recognize: MKS, MKT, MKX, and MKZ. All six have one thing in common: They share their architecture with a car from the Ford model lineup. The Town Car is twinned with the old Ford Crown Victoria, the Navigator with the Ford Expedition, and so on.

There's nothing inherently wrong with sharing platforms across car lines; economies of scale are how you make money in the car business. Audi and Lexus have made a fine art of it of turning ordinary Volkswagens and Toyotas into desirable purchases.

The secret is to disguise the relationship between the cheap brand and the expensive and convince buyers they are getting something special at the higher price point.

That's a skill that historically has eluded Ford. In its heyday, GM pulled up to five vehicles off a single platform (or could until Fortune's famous 1983 cover of the lookalike cars) but Ford has always had trouble with Lincoln, and before that Mercury, and way before that, Edsel.

Fixing Lincoln was always one of those things -- like closing the federal deficit or calling your mother in law -- that was easy to postpone. About once a decade, Ford decides that this time it is really going to do something. Then there is a change at the top or the economy goes south, and fixing Lincoln gets kicked down the road.

Now the jungle drums are beating again. Executives promise that this time they really mean it. Future product plans are leaked, revealing upgrades and design changes. What's lacking so far is the home run, the one feature or car that will set Lincoln apart from the pack.

Which brings us to the MKZ, Lincoln's version of the Ford Fusion. Their profiles are identical. Most of the differentiation is seen in the rear tail lamps and Lincoln's signature bow-wave grille up front. The interior feels more Lincolnesque -- refined and functional.

MKZ's come in two flavors: standard and gas-electric hybrid. Both carry the same base price of $34,330. The standard MKZ is powered by a 3.5 liter V-6 that puts out 263 horsepower. It's EPA-rated at 18 mpg city/27 mpg highway.

Those aren't bad numbers, but they can't put a patch on the hybrid. Its 2.5 liter inline four-cylinder engine combined with electric motor produces 191 horsepower and carries an EPA rating of 41 mpg city/36 highway. I averaged 36.7 over a 100-mile stretch of country roads and fast-moving highways on a run from New York City to northwestern Connecticut. With the average price for a gallon of gas north of $3.25, those are nice numbers.

Thanks to Lincoln's aggressive pricing, the additional fuel economy costs you nothing. The standard and the hybrid carry the same base sticker price of $34,330. What you give up is performance. With more weight and less motor, the hybrid can't come close to matching the standard's 7.1 second zero-to-sixty time.

In truth, neither car is going to help return Lincoln to luxury leadership. Both are ending the end of their lifespan in their current configuration; a major redesign is due next year.

More importantly, they don't tell you what kind of person drives a Lincoln. Is it someone special who aims for the peak of American luxury? Or is it just an ordinary person who doesn't want to be seen in a Ford?

That's what a Mercury was and we've seen what happened to Mercury.

That's right, Toyota's Avalon gets no respect. Ever since it was introduced in 1994, it has been derided as a "Japanese Buick" -- and that was long before Buicks became fashionable.

Many auto writers, perhaps subconsciously recalling their pre-teen years as Go-Kart racers, joked about the obvious efforts made to appeal to mature buyers, like simplified, oversized controls and a suspension more tuned for comfort MORE]]> It's the Rodney Dangerfield of passenger cars.

That's right, Toyota's Avalon gets no respect. Ever since it was introduced in 1994, it has been derided as a "Japanese Buick" -- and that was long before Buicks became fashionable.

Many auto writers, perhaps subconsciously recalling their pre-teen years as Go-Kart racers, joked about the obvious efforts made to appeal to mature buyers, like simplified, oversized controls and a suspension more tuned for comfort than control.

That ignores the fact that Avalon has been a huge commercial success. It is based on a stretched Camry platform and is built alongside the Camry at Toyota's manufacturing complex in Georgetown, Ky.

It has also been a strong seller, even passing the 100,000 mark in 2000. All told, Toyota has sold more than 700,000 Avalons.

The third-generation Avalon first appeared in 2005 and is now well past its salad days. Both the interior and exterior are due for an update.

But the basic ingredients that make the full-size Camry the flagship of the Toyota line remain intact: traditional passenger car styling, ultra-comfortable seating for four, and a bulletproof 3.5 liter V-6 that provides seamless power and phenomenal fuel economy for a car this size: 20 mpg city/29 mpg highway.

For 2011, the Avalon got some electronic updates. A backup camera is now standard, the navigation system has real-time traffic information, and a brake override system is added. No unintended acceleration for this car.

The zephyr blue metallic test car carried the appealing sticker price of $35,984. The lower of two trim levels, it was still well equipped, with leather-trimmed seats, power moonroof, and heated outdoor mirrors.

The price included $2,989 worth of optional equipment, including navigation system, 12 speaker audio system, and heated front seats.

Driving the Avalon inspires a great feeling of confidence. This is a car that waits to do what it is told -- and then does it with dispatch and without fuss. Its steering and handling are worlds apart from Buicks of yore, and the compliant suspension was much appreciated on the lumpy roads of the late-winter Northeast.

Despite its passive personality, the Avalon can hurry when it has to. Acceleration from zero to 60 mph has been measured at a brisk 6.6 seconds.

Competition in the full-size sedan segment has been heating up lately. The Avalon competes with three popular models that are all newer -- and have gotten better press lately: Buick's LaCrosse, Ford's Taurus, and the Hyundai Genesis. They also happen to be less expensive. But none matches the comfort and cosseting.

The average age of an Avalon buyer is 64. That used to be considered old, but now that the first baby-boomers have turned 65, Avalon may be coming into its own.

One of these days, it might start getting the respect it deserves.

The German automaker has made clear its intentions to nearly triple its U.S. sales from this year's 286,775 to 800,000 by 2018.

In pursuit of that goal, it has recently produced two slimmed-down models, the Jetta and the Passat, which have been redesigned and repriced for the U.S. market. Both are high volume cars and both will sell for MORE]]> Volkswagen finds itself in a funny place these days with the Touareg SUV.

The German automaker has made clear its intentions to nearly triple its U.S. sales from this year's 286,775 to 800,000 by 2018.

In pursuit of that goal, it has recently produced two slimmed-down models, the Jetta and the Passat, which have been redesigned and repriced for the U.S. market. Both are high volume cars and both will sell for well under $30,000.

Yet VW is also marketing the Touareg, which sells in tiny quantities at much higher prices. Last year, VW moved just 4,713 of them.

The availability of the premium-priced Touareg, VW's de facto flagship, sends out conflicting signals about the price points for the more economical entries in the product line. It's not likely to appeal to typical VW buyers, while better-heeled shoppers are more oriented to upscale brands.

This year, the problem is exacerbated by the arrival of the Touareg hybrid. VW's first hybrid, it is a miraculous piece of engineering (with one exception; see below), but it carries a base sticker price of $60,565.

That's $20,000 more even than the base Touareg with a standard V-6 engine. To be fair, VW has loaded up the hybrid with standard equipment like 19" wheels and a navigation system. All of the extra goodies, including the hybrid batteries, add an extra 424 pounds to the already overweight standard model's 4,711 lbs.

The new vehicle is a full hybrid, making it theoretically capable of traveling one mile -- at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour -- on batteries alone. In practice, the gasoline engine takes over much earlier in a seamless handoff that helps the Touareg to 60 miles per hour in 6.2 seconds.

The Touareg hybrid also comes with a start-stop system that shuts the engine down when the vehicle stops, plus a coasting feature that disengages the engine from the transmission when the driver lifts off the gas pedal while traveling at high speed. German engineers call it "sailing."

The Tungsten Silver Metallic test car arrived in the midst of the Great Blizzard of 2011 and performed with aplomb in all kinds of conditions. The 4Motion permanent all-wheel-drive system provided traction on the slipperiest surfaces, the front and rear wipers handled accumulated snow and ice, and the various heaters and defrosters responded robustly.

The big disappointment came with the mileage, which is, after all, one of the major reasons to buy a hybrid. While it took 250 miles of driving for the fuel gauge needle to drop to half a tank, the onboard computer indicated I was only getting 17.7 miles per gallon. That's well below the 20 mpg/city, 24 mpg/highway indicated by the EPA.

VW has been criticized for imitating Toyota in its transparent ambition to become the largest auto company in the world. But it could do worse than following Toyota's example when it comes to hybrid SUV positioning.

The Toyota Highlander hybrid is dimensionally similar to the Touareg, though it is lighter and has a smaller engine. But the Highlander gets far better mileage -- 28 mpg -- and its starting price of $37,490 doesn't leave the rest of the Toyota range in its shadow.

One more thing: Toyota sold 92,191 Highlanders in 2010. Those are the kind of numbers VW is going to have to put up to reach its 2018 goal.

It is not going to get there with the Touareg.

That capped an impressive year in which Nissan's upscale brand moved 103,411 cars and trucks, a 28% increase. One German luxury car manufacturer reports that while it has been stealing customers from its other European competitors, it has been losing some buyers to MORE]]> Infiniti finished 2010 with a flurry of sales, upping its December results 37% from a year ago -- three times as much as the industry's overall 11% climb.

That capped an impressive year in which Nissan's upscale brand moved 103,411 cars and trucks, a 28% increase. One German luxury car manufacturer reports that while it has been stealing customers from its other European competitors, it has been losing some buyers to Infiniti.

Infiniti's recent success is due to its developing identity as a sporty upscale brand that combines performance and innovative styling with Infiniti's traditional quality.

That image is epitomized by the G series -- which accounts for more than half of Infiniti's sales -- and its flagship car, the G37 sedan.

Since the G37's arrival on the market two years ago, Infiniti has been trying to extend the G series down-market with a smaller-engine version called the G25.

It's a sales tactic perfected over the years by German manufacturers. Launch the flagship first and then introduce lesser variants with different engine sizes later on. Thus a Mercedes S550, launched with a 5.5 liter engine might be complimented a few years later by an S430 at a lower price point. The aim is to give customers a new reason to shop the brand.

The G25 ought to do that. To outward appearances, it is identical to the G37. The differences are under the hood -- and on the window sticker.

The G37 with all wheel drive is powered by a 3.7 liter V6 putting out 328 horsepower. Its price starts at $36,650.

By comparison, the G25 makes do with a 2.5 liter V6 putting out 218 horsepower. Base price is $33,950 -- $2,700 less.

In order to further hold down the price, Infiniti doesn't offer a six-speed manual transmission or navigation system for the G25.

So for a little less money, you get a little less car. Sound like a reasonable tradeoff?

On the plus side, the smaller engine gives the G25 a weight saving of 62 pounds versus the G37. The lower weight and smaller engine pay off in fuel economy. The G25 is rated at 19 mpg city/27 highway versus 18/25 for the G37.

That's all good, but it has to be weighed against the deterioration of performance in the G25.

While the G37's admirable dynamic characteristics remain intact with the smaller engine, the G25 seemed surprisingly sluggish by comparison. A sport sedan should respond with enthusiasm when you depress the accelerator; the G25 seemed uncomfortable doing so. It really misses the extra oomph of the G37's larger engine.

Other reviewers observe no such shortcomings, but I couldn't get over the feeling that I was driving a pale imitation of the real thing in the G25.

The problem may not lie with the car but with the abbreviated nature of the Infiniti product line. Besides the G series, it consists of only one other sedan, the more expensive M series.

With cars in only two sizes, Infiniti is going up against more amply supplied rivals like Audi, which sells slightly fewer units but offers many more models, including the A4, A6, and A8.

So Infiniti's two lines have to cover more of the market. The midsize G25 becomes the brand's entry point, rather than a smaller car in the same class as the A4.

Infiniti may also want to investigate the practices of the Detroit Three, who typically initiate a product line with a lower-priced version and then introduce higher-horsepower variants later on.

Cadillac, for example, waited two years before showing off the V high-performance addition to the CTS line.

The G25 might have been more appealing had it appeared ahead of the G37 instead of behind it.

Hyundai exceeded 500,000 unit sales in the U.S. in 2010 and established itself among the industry's top seven sellers.

Equally important for the long-term future of the brand, it created, right out of the box, a premium luxury car in the Equus that is the equal of the Mercedes S-class and MORE]]> The year just ended was a sensational one for Hyundai, and the Korean automaker begins 2011 by introducing a sensational car.

Hyundai exceeded 500,000 unit sales in the U.S. in 2010 and established itself among the industry's top seven sellers.

Equally important for the long-term future of the brand, it created, right out of the box, a premium luxury car in the Equus that is the equal of the Mercedes S-class and Lexus LS 600 in everything except profile and price. The former will grow in time; careful shoppers who don't believe that luxury pleasure comes with price-tag pain should hope the latter never grows.

In the events surrounding its creation, the Equus has been widely compared with the Lexus and the Volkswagen Phaeton and appropriately so. They are the last two cars to make a try at cracking the premium pantheon of Mercedes, BMW, and Audi.

Lexus succeeded in joining the Germanic club despite the evident discomfort of its incumbent members, who continue to disparage the brand to this day. "Did you know that the best-selling Lexus model is an SUV?" one CEO whispered to me over lunch the other day.

Lexus demonstrated some dramatic competitive advantages when it was introduced in 1989. It was quiet and highly reliable, and fussed over by some of the best dealers in the business. And it was priced at the very appealing, if artificial, level of $35,000 -- a bargain even back then.

The Phaeton, on the other hand, was a failure. It was built on the shaky base of Volkswagen's declining fortunes, dodgy quality, and even dodgier dealer network. Class-leading features were hard to identify. What the Phaeton resembled more than anything was a watered-down version of the Audi A8, on which it was based.

That made it difficult to justify the $75,000 price, which was expensive even back then. VW pulled Phaeton from the U.S. market in 2006 after four underperforming years.

Now comes Equus. Hyundai is being appropriately modest about the car. It will only be bringing a few thousand in from Korea annually and hasn't created a second luxury channel to bestow upon it some ersatz exclusivity.

But in classic passive-aggressive Hyundai fashion, it has posted a chart on its website comparing the Equus with the Lexus and the Mercedes S550.

The chart contains a couple of surprises. The Mercedes is the longest of the trio by a couple of inches; the Lexus is the lightest; the Equus is the widest and highest. All three have engines that put out about 380 horsepower; the Lexus has an eight-speed transmission, the Mercedes seven, and the Equus six.

When it comes to features, Hyundai has check-marked the ones it considers exclusive, like second row side airbag, exterior mirrors with turn signals, and windshield wiper deicer.

The punch line is the price. Hyundai has made its name by offering superior value, and the Equus is no exception. While the similarly-equipped Mercedes checks in at $93,875 and the Lexus at $70,205, the Equus can be had for $65,400.

Is the Equus worth it? In a word, yes. There is nothing particularly distinguished about it, but it refines everything to a high degree. To my eye, it is closer to today's Lexus than the 1990 Lexus was to the Mercedes of that era.

Standouts include the instrument panel graphics and easy-to-use navigation system. The powertrain delivers seamless torque, and if performance suffers by the absence of two gears, it isn't evident.

Some reviewers have complained about excessive isolation in the passenger side and the absence of road feel for the driver. But with the suspension adjusted to "sport" I felt as much of the road as I wanted to.

In sum, the Hyundai is a complete premium luxury car at a bargain price. I wouldn't be surprised to see a new ethos develop among customers who ignore the status conveyed by hood ornament in favor of value.

When the Lexus arrived, an import car executive confidently told me that as good as it was, Toyota would never be able to build a Jaguar. Only Jaguar could do that.

Hyundai will never be able to build a Lexus or a Mercedes. But it has built an awfully good Hyundai. In a couple of years, that may be enough to raise it to the reputational level of the German trio.

Playing it safe is not Nissan's way. In addition to its aggressive leap into electrification with the Leaf, Nissan is developing a reputation for out-there car designs.

For every Altima or Maxima, sleek though conventional in look, there is a Cube or Murano with MORE]]> Nissan has been on a tear lately. Its sales for 2010 (including Infiniti) rose 18% (vs. 11% for the industry), and in December they jumped a sparkling 28%.

Playing it safe is not Nissan's way. In addition to its aggressive leap into electrification with the Leaf, Nissan is developing a reputation for out-there car designs.

For every Altima or Maxima, sleek though conventional in look, there is a Cube or Murano with a body shape and styling details you won't see anywhere else.

CEO Carlos Ghosn has stated his belief that when Nissan enters a new segment, it must be able to offer something different. The most immediate way of showing that you are different is with an unconventional appearance.

Much of the differentiation comes from head designer Shiro Nakamura, who has unconventional ideas about how cars should look. Instead of "form follows function," his philosophy is "design follows emotion." He wants to understand "what emotional value is desired from the customer, and then translate [it] into forms by standing in their viewpoint."

All of that makes you wonder what kind of "emotional value" the Juke customer is looking for.

By its specifications, the Juke is a subcompact crossover of the sporty persuasion. The key ingredients are body style -- four doors plus a hatch -- all-wheel-drive, and a new turbocharged 1.6 liter four-cylinder engine that puts out a mighty 188 horses.

Nissan tells us that the Juke is designed for "aggressive attention-seekers," and the unusual combination of bulges, creases, and components gets the job done.

Looked at head-on, the Juke flies in the face of 60 years of automotive design. There are two round headlights and a grille, but any concessions to convention end there.

Rather than being integrated with the grille, the headlights are attached to the bottom of it with long tubes, creating a frog-eyed look. The headlights are accompanied by a pair fog lamps lower down on the fascia and two lightning bolt turn-signals etched into the top of the bulbous front fenders.

The multiple lamp-look topped by the fender-mounted turn signals is very reminiscent of -- dare I say it -- the frightening front end of the late Pontiac Aztek. The Juke omits the plastic lower body cladding and narrow opening under the hood that pushed the Aztek over the top, but the entire effect is more startling because it jams more discordant elements into a smaller area.

While less attention-getting, the rest of the Juke is no less radical. All four fenders are raised to cartoon-like heights that nearly reach the beltline at the base of the windows. The roof slants sharply toward the rear, and the windows narrow, creating a scrunched look.

Ditto for the back of the car, where a steeply raked rear window dives into a lumpy tail gate.

Inch for inch, the Juke has more emotional content (to use Nakamura's terminology) packed into its tiny exterior than any vehicle outside of John Lasseter's Pixar creations in "Cars" from a few years back.

The interior is more conventional, save for the body-colored painted metal on the lower doors and gear-shift tunnel. It looked great in my Cayenne Red test car, but I worry about its ability to absorb scratches and scuffs.

With its short wheelbase, sharp steering, and easily-available turbo power, the Juke is a gas to drive. Weighing under 3,000 lbs, its combination of light weight and high horsepower is a win-win proposition for brisk performance. The turbo engages almost immediately and you are on your way. Zero to 60 miles per hour has been estimated at under eight seconds, while fuel economy in the all-wheel-drive configuration is an exemplary 25 mpg city/30 mpg highway. Wind noise is a problem though, and the ride is less than cosseting.

Emotional value aside, the Juke is aimed young singles -- or couples, as long as both parties are equally attention-seeking. The skimpy back seat and minimal carrying capacity make it unsuitable for most families.

That creates the usual conundrum, since most young people don't have the income needed to support the cost of a new car plus insurance.

My all-wheel-drive model carried a base sticker price of $24,550, but the sport package with the 17-inch gunmetal wheels brought the total to $27,180. That's not a problem if you are friends and family of Mark Zuckerberg, but it is for most others of that age.

Still, Jukes are selling well for a vehicle that fills a narrow niche. Nissan dealers moved more than 3,000 in each of the last two months. That's triple the rate of the Cube or double the rate of the older Pathfinder.

I'm just not sure it is all that comforting to know that there are so many aggressive attention seekers out there on our roads and highways.

The rise of online car shopping has thankfully given customers the ability to investigate exactly what vehicles a local dealer has in stock along with the window stickers for each offering.

That reduces the opportunity for the ancient bait-and-switch scam of a dealer who advertises MORE]]> Ford's latest Explorer leaves behind its predecessor's somewhat unsteady platform and delivers superior handling . But is the top-of-the-line LTD model really worth its $50K price tag?

The rise of online car shopping has thankfully given customers the ability to investigate exactly what vehicles a local dealer has in stock along with the window stickers for each offering.

That reduces the opportunity for the ancient bait-and-switch scam of a dealer who advertises a deal that's simply too-good-to-be-true. When you show up to claim this bargain, you are told it has just been sold but a similar model is available -- though at a much higher price.

While investigating the local availability of the 2011 Explorer one month after the start of production at Ford's (F) Chicago plant, I found several mid-level XLTs available with sticker prices of $37, 585.

Our family's first Explorer in 1990 cost around $25,000, so that sounded about right.

Then I ran across a loaded top-of-the-line LTD Explorer with a price of $50, 570. That's nearly double the advertised bare-bones price of $28,190. It also gets you into the neighborhood of some German SUVs with fancier name plates like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, both of which have somewhat comparable models starting at around $47,000.

Ford, I thought, must think very highly of the new Explorer. I'm happy to report that I do too, though probably not $50,000 worth.

Of course, the 2011 Explorer has almost nothing in common with the 1991 model. Aside from the electronics, safety gear, and advanced powertrain, the new Explorer leaves behind its somewhat unsteady platform on the old Ranger pickup and instead has a car chassis that it shares with the Ford Taurus.

The result is not just greater stability but superior handling and the finest ride I have ever experienced in an SUV or a crossover. The Explorer cossets you with minutely-controlled vibrations while it absorbs lumps and bumps with no jostle or sway.

Despite its car-like origins and demeanor, Ford will continue to market the three-seat row Explorer as an SUV and not a crossover, even though most of its owners will never take it off-road. I suspect Ford's intention is to differentiate it from the two-seat-row Edge, which I reviewed last week, and the three-seat-row Flex, both of which fall into the less-rugged crossover category.

The Explorer does have a few Jeep-fighting characteristics. Its chief engineer worked on the current Land Rover Range Rover in an earlier assignment, and the vehicle has off-road features like hill-descent control, hill-ascent assist, and terrain management.

Potential buyers will likely be more interested in the push-button start, dual-headrest DVD system, power lift gate, and active park assist. I found the electronic nannies helpful: blind-spot detection and collision alert

A second week's practice has made me more comfortable with the MyFord Touch electronic control system (standard on all Limited models). While the touch screen is as touchy as ever, the voice command setup picked up my speech pattern in record time, allowing me to adjust the audio system and direct the navigation system efficiently by following the prompts.

Now that such a sophisticated system is available from a full-line producer, I suspect other manufacturers will have to develop their own. The system still needs substantial refinement, though. In its February issue, Consumer Reports calls it "a complicated distraction" and early adopters have reported software problems.

The Explorer isn't for everyone. Although 200 pounds lighter than its predecessor, it still weighs in at a hefty 4,500 pounds, which limits the in-town fuel economy to 17 miles per gallon (highway is 25 mpg). Over a couple of hundred miles of not so vigorous driving, I was only able to nudge that to 17.7 mpg. And, as noted, the high-line versions aren't suitable for families on a budget.

But for those who need a vehicle with this kind of size and capability, the 2011 Explorer is exceptionally well executed.

In 2010, the Hyundai Sonata came out of nowhere to break into the ranks of the 10-best selling vehicles for the first time. Don't be surprised to see it challenge for the top five in MORE]]> Despite a steep price tag and less than stellar drivability, the 2011 Sonata puts Hyundai in the hybrid game, giving shoppers another reason to consider a brand they might have snubbed a few years ago.

In 2010, the Hyundai Sonata came out of nowhere to break into the ranks of the 10-best selling vehicles for the first time. Don't be surprised to see it challenge for the top five in 2011. In addition to natural momentum, the plain vanilla Sonata Sedan is getting two new toppings: the Sonata Turbo and now the Sonata Hybrid.

Hyundai is late to the hybrid party but has come up with some original ideas that compensate for its tardiness.

I will leave it to the engineers to explain the technical details. To keep things simple: The Sonata hybrid is biased toward highway driving -- unlike most hybrids that get better mileage in city driving. It uses advanced lithium-polymer batteries, which are lighter and more compact than conventional zinc metal-hydride cells. And a novel transmission setup that utilizes the same six-speed automatic transmission used in the sedan allows the electric engine and gasoline motor to work independently from each other. Hyundai calls it Hybrid Blue Drive.

In appearance, the Sonata hybrid is similar to the sedan, which means it tiptoes just this side of "overwrought." A new feature is a gaping front grille that rivals Audi's and Mazda's in scale, and threatens to cross over the taste line. The interior is up-to-date, though without seeming as segment-leading as it did when the sedan was introduced.

On drivability, the hybrid fails to live up to the standards of its gas-powered predecessor. Notably, the weight penalty imposed by the batteries and the horsepower deficit imposed by the smaller 166 hp internal engine together limit the Sonata's zero-to-60 acceleration to the mid-nine seconds -- pokey for a mid-size sedan. The Sonata feels sluggish.

But nobody buys a hybrid for its looks or its performance; fuel economy is everything. Here, the Sonata hybrid gets an incomplete.

Much as Hollywood puts movies into limited release before New Years Day to qualify them for Oscars, Hyundai put pre-production hybrids in the hands of journalists for limited test drives in late December to build support for North American Car of the Year voting.

In this case, "limited" meant 24 hours. I had barely enough time to put 70 miles on the hybrid during a run to the Berkshires from northwestern Connecticut.

Despite an average speed of 37 miles per hour, and several stretches where I managed to crack 60 mph, I was only able to manage 34.7 miles per gallon. That's well below the 36 mpg city/40 mpg highway/38 mpg combined rating Hyundai expects to get from the EPA.

Those numbers compare unfavorably with the 50 mpg/combined of the Toyota (TM) Prius. And they even look a bit shabby next to the 24 mpg city/35 mpg highway of the plain vanilla Sonata.

I'd like to test the hybrid for a more extended period to see if I can boost those mileage numbers. But the bottom line comes up the same for most every vehicle that combines electricity with gasoline power: Buying a hybrid is not an economic decision but an act of faith and a vote for the future of the planet.

In Hyundai's case, the numbers are stark. In theory, you can get a barebones sedan for $19,995. But the entry level hybrid comes in at $25,795 while the up-market version will set you back $30,795. Until gasoline goes past $4 per gallon, that's not a compelling proposition.

Still, the Sonata hybrid gets Hyundai squarely in the game, and gives car shoppers another reason to consider a brand they might have snubbed a few years ago.

As CEO of Ford since 2006, aeronautical engineer Alan Mulally has adapted some airplane design ideas for automobiles. One of his first was standardizing the placement of controls on all Ford vehicles. You can find the windshield wiper switch in the MORE]]> Sporting a glass cockpit with programmable touch screens, the Ford Edge offers space-age theatricality to the driving experience. But it may face some stiff internal competition when the Explorer is relaunched.

As CEO of Ford since 2006, aeronautical engineer Alan Mulally has adapted some airplane design ideas for automobiles. One of his first was standardizing the placement of controls on all Ford vehicles. You can find the windshield wiper switch in the same place on the Fiesta and the Taurus.

Relocating controls is child's play compared to Mulally's latest airborne adaption: Adapting the glass cockpit for drivers of vehicles like the 2011 Edge.

In an airplane's glass cockpit, as many as seven programmable computer screens replace dozens of mechanical gauges to display fight information for pilots as needed. The Boeing (BA) 777, which Mulally was the chief engineer on, is often described as the first airplane with a fully glass cockpit.

Both in theory and in practice, the glass cockpit makes a lot of sense. German luxury carmakers have struggled to reduce instrument complexity, resorting to combining controls for individual functions into a single knob that must be tilted and twirled in a complicated series of movements that defy intuition.

Ford's (F) glass cockpit, which it calls "MyFord Touch," is simpler and more straightforward. It also adds a welcome touch of space-age theatricality to the driving experience. The screen displays are bright, attractive, legible, and informative.

Like an airplane, MyTouch employs redundant controls: mechanical, touch-screen, and voice-recognition.

The mechanical switches are the most original and best thought-out. There are two sets, one on each end of the steering wheel spoke, and they correspond to the functions displayed directly above them. So instead of having to search the console or manipulate a knob, the driver merely manipulates four-way controllers to customize the screens in front of him.

Over the center console, the touch screen is rational, approachable, and fairly useful. But it suffers from the shortcomings endemic to such devices: It doesn't always respond to the first touch; it can confuse instructions from touches that are imprecise or fingers that are gloved; and the screen quickly develops a scrim of oily finger prints.

As for the voice controls, I have been suspicious of their effectiveness and dislike the sound of my own voice talking to an inanimate object -- much less having to frequently repeat instructions when misunderstood. Ford's system, however, can recognize 10,000 commands and is relatively responsive. It can come in handy when changing audio sources instead of taking your eyes off the road to fumble with the touch screen

Enough about MyTouch. What about the Edge? Based on the popular Ford Fusion, it seemed like an afterthought when it was introduced in 2007. Since then, however, it has become Ford's second most popular utility vehicle (after the smaller Escape). It handily outsold the old Explorer and demolishes the love-it or hate-it Flex.

The Edge is an SUV for people who hate SUVs. With its flat roof, prominent rear spoiler, and chiseled features, it presents itself as much as a sport wagon as it does a utility vehicle. Think of it has the high-fashion alternative, which perhaps explains its popularity with women.

It is a handsome piece, effectively updated for 2011 with a lower hood, narrower headlights, and a chrome grille. The instrument panel is trim and modern, and the rest of the interior is well executed.

Except for its looks, though, it is difficult to say where the Edge stands out. The Edge has great brakes but weighs more than 4,000 pounds and drives as heavy as it is. Its fuel economy is decent at 19 mpg city/27 mpg highway, but cargo capacity is mediocre.

Bargain hunters should look elsewhere. My candy apple metallic Limited tester with its 3.5-liter V-6 engine carried a base sticker price of $34,220, and the addition of the extra-large sunroof and a few other options (though not all-wheel-drive) pushed the price up to an aggressive $40,390. MyTouch is standard equipment at this level; it is a $1,000 option when packaged with other options at less expensive trim levels.

Years ago, Ford dominated the high-fashion carryall market with wagons like the Country Squire, notable for its wood-grained body panels. Then the Explorer came along and changed everything with its command seating position, cavernous cargo capacity, and four-wheel-drive.

Edge may find itself in the Country Squire's position; the Explorer will be relaunched as a crossover this year and will also offer MyTouch as an option. Edge built up a loyal following in those years when it had less competition in the Ford lineup, but the fashion-conscious can be fickle shoppers.

Saab has been wandering off by itself in the automotive wilderness MORE]]> Like Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of Steig Larson's best-selling trilogy of thrillers, Sweden's Saab has been abused and neglected, and more than once left for dead. But despite having lost money for much of its existence, the automaker has survived. Now the first new Saab in eight years has been released. Will it be the start of a better life?

Saab has been wandering off by itself in the automotive wilderness for decades. Founded after World War II by an airplane company, it has always gone its own idiosyncratic way with greater (front-wheel drive) or lesser (two-cycle engines) success.

After getting some traction as a two-car-line manufacturer yet fearful of its future, Saab sold a half interest of itself to General Motors in 1989. GM seemed confused about what to do with it from the outset. Bob Eaton, the head of GM Europe who engineered the purchase, went off to run Chrysler shortly thereafter and apparently took the business plan with him.

One problem was that GM, which had too many of its own domestic brands, couldn't cope with a sub-luxury Swedish marque that had always been described by the adjective "quirky" and whose target customer seemed to be an Earth-shoe wearing English professor at a small New England private college.

Another problem was that out of ideas, and all but out of money, GM allowed Saab's product cycles to stretch out to forever. Under GM, Saab's core car, the 9-3 was updated only once since 1994.

Nor was there any serious effort to broaden the product line and develop some critical mass. Unaccountably for a car company in Sweden, Saab never got around to developing an SUV. Instead, it rebadged older vehicles from the GM group: the 9-2X, based on the Subaru Impreza and quickly nicknamed the "Saabaru;" and the Saab 9-7X, based on the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, with the equally unfortunate nickname of "Trollblazer."

As company histories point out, GM also delayed the 9-3 wagon by three years, canceled a 9-5 replacement in 2005, and announced a planned shift of production away from Saab's historic home in Trollhättan to Opel's factory in Russelsheim, Germany.

As GM was sliding into bankruptcy at the end of 2008, it put Saab up for sale. After several potential deals collapsed, GM announced Saab would cease operations in 2010. But two-and-a-half weeks after a self-imposed deadline, a second bid arrived from Spyker, a Dutch company that had previously been rebuffed. A deal was completed, and after a two-month hiatus, Saab began to produce cars again.

The first new car from Saab-Spyker, the 9-5, is entirely a GM-Opel creation. Beneath its skin are the same mechanical underpinnings you would find on the Buick LaCrosse and Opel Insignia. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it means this is the biggest Saab ever: 197.2 inches overall or 6.8 inches longer than the old 9-5.

Design is a subjective matter, but to my eye, the 9-5, never a particularly attractive car, hasn't been improved in the current iteration. A beltline that rises sharply from the front fender to the trunklid, combined with the clamshell-flat roof from a Saab concept car of a few years ago, gives the 9-5 an unusual but not particularly appealing squashed look. Its side panels drop straight from the windows to the rocker panel and are devoid of any interesting bulges or creases. The integration of the hockey-stick rear pillar, a heritage design cue, is awkward.

The 9-5's interior is functional without being particularly distinctive or eye-catching. Saab has thankfully avoided the mind-bending control complexity of other European cars and included some of its own unique features, like the black-out panel for night driving. A longtime Saab fetish, the console mounted ignition switch, has been cleverly replaced by a stop/start button.

My carbon gray metallic test car was powered by the smallest engine in the 9-5 family: the 2.0 liter L4 turbo that puts out 220 horsepower. It is a variation of GM's global Ecotec engine whose presence Saab unaccountably advertises on the rear deck lid. The engine is designed to produce more torque at lower rpms than a typical turbo four though I would never mistake it for a six-cylinder. Fuel economy is a commendable 18 mpg city/28 highway.

By EPA measurements of interior space, the 9-5 is full-size and it drives like a large car, though not a particularly heavy one at 4,156 pounds. It handles well, yet the ride can be skittery over broken surfaces. Saab seems to have finally banished the turbo-induced torque steer that had infected earlier models.

With an as tested price of $43,435, the 9-5 is inexpensive for its size but pricey for its engine displacement. A BMW 335i with a six-cylinder, 300-hp engine starts about $2,000 less.

Like Lisbeth, Saab seems destined to remain an automotive outlier, the car for people who want something different. Whether there are enough of those people in this era of brand proliferation to provide Spyker with a better return on its investment than GM achieved will remain an open question.

After 15 months of uncertainty, Ford sold Volvo to Zhejiang Geely Holdings, the parent of Chinese automaker Geely, for the bargain price of $1.5 billion.

It was a humiliating comedown for the 83-year-old company whose competitive advantage from its strong safety reputation eroded under Ford's 11-year ownership by unimaginative product development, inroads MORE]]> 2010 was an annus horribilis for Volvo cars, and whether the future will be any brighter remains an open question.

After 15 months of uncertainty, Ford sold Volvo to Zhejiang Geely Holdings, the parent of Chinese automaker Geely, for the bargain price of $1.5 billion.

It was a humiliating comedown for the 83-year-old company whose competitive advantage from its strong safety reputation eroded under Ford's 11-year ownership by unimaginative product development, inroads by competitors, and the high costs of Swedish manufacturing.

Almost immediately after the sale closed on August 2, 2010, bickering broke out in the automotive trade press about the virtues of Chinese manufacturing and Volvo's future product strategy.

Should Volvo, now considered a sub-luxury brand like Acura, try to move upscale and compete with Mercedes-Benz and BMW? How would it cope with stricter fuel economy regulations -- by building smaller cars, developing hybrids and electrics, or both? And how quickly should it move its manufacturing out of Sweden?

Into this maelstrom, the new S60 made its debut with a deafening silence.

The lack of buzz wasn't surprising. With uncertainty about its ownership, Volvo sales have shriveled. Through November, dealers had moved only 49,192 vehicles. In an overall market up 11% from a year ago, Volvo sales are down 12%.

Besides, the S60 is a sedan, and passenger cars have all but become an afterthought at Volvo. Formerly known as a station wagon company, Volvo has now become the crossover SUV company. The XC70 is its top seller, ranking just ahead of the ten-year-old XC90

The S60 deserved better. It is Volvo's answer to the BMW 3-series and the Audi A4 and is priced aggressively to compete against them.

The suggested list price for my turbocharged six with all-wheel drive was $37,700. That's an attractive number for a car half of whose parts come from the high-wage countries of Sweden and Germany -- and that's not even counting the British engine or Japanese transmission.

Somebody, however, forgot to make heated front seats part of the standard equipment, a major failing for a car some of whose customers live north of the Arctic Circle.

When the seats are added to other uplevel equipment in the premium, technology, climate, and multimedia packages, the S60s as-tested price rose to $46,200.

That's still a good number for what is without question the most exciting-looking Volvo ever. With its coupe-like profile, dramatically drooping front end, and aggressive bumper cutouts, this is a Volvo that can draw a crowd.

Who knows? It may give all those defiant Volvo owners of their old 240s an excuse to trade in their 20-year-old cars.

Given the attention that has been lavished on its exterior appearance however, the interior design of the S60 is a disappointment. Volvo wins praise for its waterfall center stack, but to me it seems plain and is not particularly functional. The dials and switches look as if they have been lifted from an older model and are hardly appropriate for a car that is advertised as the "naughty" Volvo.

The test car came equipped with Volvo's new pedestrian detection with auto brake system. Using radar and cameras, the system detects foot traffic in front of the car, warns the driver, and automatically activates full braking power. It can stop the car at speeds up to 22 mph.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pedestrians with which to evaluate the new system. I can see where the system would be helpful in school zones or parking lots, but I wouldn't want to activate it in a city like New York, where pedestrians enjoy constantly challenging drivers for right-of-way. The alarm would be sounding non-stop.

This is a Volvo that is fun to drive. It is a lean 3,900 pounds, and zero to 60 miles per hour is estimated at a brisk 5.8 seconds. Unlike earlier Volvos, whose truck-like dynamics made then feel like they were exacting a price in exchange for their political correctness, the S60 invites you to take it for a spin. The in-line turbo-six delivers 300 horsepower quickly and smoothly -- if not particularly efficiently. Fuel economy is an average 18 miles per gallon city/26 mpg highway.

What awaits Volvo under Chinese ownership is still a bit of a mystery. Geely had the good sense to hire hard-driving Stefan Jacoby away from Volkswagen to run the company, and he will likely have the resources he needs to redefine brand for the 21st century -- as long as the new owners stay out of his way.

Jacoby will have one particularly strong selling point: In a country with 1.6 billion people and some of the world's worst traffic jams, Volvo's pedestrian detection system should come in very handy.

VW better hope it can channel that emotion and use MORE]]> Rare, indeed is the $20,000 car that incites as much controversy as the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. It is just another indication of the depth and duration of feeling evoked by the VW brand -- especially when you consider that it stems from some clever advertising from 40 years ago, and a car model, the Beetle, which had a 68-year production run.

VW better hope it can channel that emotion and use it to positive use as it attempts the all-but-impossible feat of quadrupling its U.S. sales by 2018.

The betting here is that the Jetta will give the automaker a decent head-start toward meeting that goal but won't do much to win more adherents to the VW brand.

First, some background: In its drive to pass Toyota and become the world's largest automaker by 2018, VW has penciled in a contribution of 800,000 sales for the VW brand in the U.S.

That's going to be a stretch, considering that through November, VW had sold just 232,963 vehicles in the U.S. It didn't help that hard-driving U.S. boss Stefan Jacoby decamped to China to run Volvo for its new owners.

Jacoby was replaced by a seasoned GM and Ford executive named Jonathan Browning, who makes up in polish what he lacks in push.

Browning addressed the Jetta controversy at a meeting of the International Motor Press Association in New York last week.

"Sometimes I think we are penalized for making changes simply because people like how things had been done in the past," Browning said. "I would simply urge you to compare us against what our customers are looking for and what our competitors do, rather than against a narrower, car enthusiast's ideal."

What those car enthusiasts are complaining about is the Americanization -- read "cheapening" -- of the Jetta.

In seeking to post bigger sales numbers, VW brought the all-new 2011 Jetta to market at a base of $15,995 -- $1,740 less than the 2011 model -- allowing it to compete with the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, and Chevy Cruze.

To do so, VW made some changes to save money -- and the enthusiasts erupted.

Wrote Dan Neil in the Wall Street Journal: "Our Jetta SEL with Sport package was saddled with some of the cruelest, cheapest plastic dash and door materials I've seen in years. What an awful way for petrochemicals to die! The innards of this thing make a Chevy Cruze look like a Maybach."

The Detroit News weighed in with another pan. "All of that ultra cool V-Dub mojo has been replaced with a washing machine," said Scott Burgess. "Germans, whose culture is known for its appreciation of excellent engineering and pounded pork chops, wouldn't give two schnitzels for this particular sedan."

Tough talk. But it overlooks two salient facts.

VW's ability to hit its U.S. sales targets depends as much on the quality and reliability of its products and the competence of its dealers as it does customers' perceptions of its vehicles.

And on both those points, VW has been failing for years. On product quality, it has repeatedly been one of the worst performers, and currently ranks third from the bottom in J.D. Power's 2010 Initial Quality Survey.

In Power's less well-known Sales Satisfaction Study, which measures customer reaction to the salesperson, the dealership, and the deal, VW ranks as one of the worst as well.

In his IMPA speech, Browning promised to address both those areas with faster analysis of customer complaints and tougher standards for dealers.

As for the products themselves, Browning vowed to deliver both on the science of the auto business -- quality and value -- as well as the art -- style and performance.

On the quality and value side of the equation, Jetta gets an incomplete until Power's 2011 IQS study is published.

On style and performance, the car is only average. The shape of the body and the contours of the sheet metal are generic. Opportunities to show some flair in the treatment of the headlamps, where manufacturers like Nissan are experimenting with new shapes and lighting, were ignored, and the rear facia is unrecognizable as a VW.

The Jetta's interior does deserve better press. The instrument panel is neat, well-arranged, and pleasing to the eye. It avoids the chrome-colored plastic with which designers at General Motors and Ford have become so enamored. And if the plastic on the dashboard isn't as soft to the touch as it used to be, well, how often do you touch the dashboard?

Under way, the new Jetta drives like the old Jetta. Changes to the suspension and the brakes haven't impacted the ride and handling, which remains best in class.

Performance is on the mild side. The engine is a carryover 2.5 liter that produces 170 horsepower. Acceleration to 60 miles per hour has been measured at 8.5 seconds. Fuel economy is a respectable 24 miles per gallon city/31 mpg highway.

VW did get the price right. My Reflex Silver Metallic test car with sunroof stickered at $24,165.

Volkswagen's new slogan is "Great. For the price of good." It understands the importance of affordability in the compact segment. But price is not the same as value, and until VW learns that lesson, its ability to hit its 2018 sales targets will be in question.