Monthly entrepot deadlines still statement for a good portion of my workday. Here, for your Thanksgiving weekend leisure, are a few issues that have come along in the past few weeks while I concentrated on the stuff that goes into print. Speaking of which, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @MT_Lassa: Poetry in car [...]

What’s the difference between a car you love and car you can’t live without? Answer: 30 horsepower and 22 lb-ft. Such is the case for the Volkswagen Passat TDI and me. If you missed our recent comparison test, Vee-Dub’s fresh oil-burner outclassed two of the segment’s newest gas-electrics, the Toyota Camry Hybrid and the Hyundai [...]

What’s the difference between a car you love and car you can’t live without? Answer: 30 horsepower and 22 lb-ft. Such is the case for the Volkswagen Passat TDI and me. If you missed our recent comparison test, Vee-Dub’s fresh oil-burner outclassed two of the segment’s newest gas-electrics, the Toyota Camry Hybrid and the Hyundai [...]

I almost didn’t write this blog. After all, what hasn’t already been written about ad nauseum by dozens of other auto journalists, many more seasoned and influential than I, about their picks and pans of the show? I thought, “Does anyone really care about what I think?” But I figured posting this blog doesn’t kill any [...]

If you’re like me, your “normal” friends and family never know what to get you, and hence they tend to guess badly wrong. They know you like cars and techie stuff but know nothing about either. Solution: Drop hints. Here are four good ones. Livio Radio: So your car is a few years old and [...]

When he drove the new to our shores Mercedes-Benz S350 4Matic BlueTec (diesel), former bossman Angus MacKenzie seemed pretty bowled over. How far bowled over? He said this, “The 2012 Mercedes-Benz S350 4MATIC BlueTEC is the best long-distance cruiser money can buy in America. Period.” In this business, that’s what we call high praise. It’s [...]

For some time now, new domestic-brand vehicles in California have usually one of two things: a pickup truck or a rental car. Detroit is trying to change that, however, and Ford in particular has had success in California in recent years, and not just with F-150s and the Mustang convertibles that are favourite rental options [...]

When we first arrived at the Jaguar Land Rover display, there were four vehicles hidden under drapes. It was quite clear which were the Jaguars and which were the Land Rovers. The two sleek, low-slung models were definitely not Landies. The other two, however, had much taller, boxier shapes. Further reducing the mystery was the [...]

I went on the first drive launch of the new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle this past summer and wrote a generally positive review. Nice car, drives well, fun, much better than what it replaces. And despite this blog’s title, I still stand by all that. Because it’s true. But, and this is the most important part, [...]

We are all well aware of Lotus Cars, but the Lotus umbrella also shades a motorsports group and an engineering consultancy that is responsible for handling the design/development of many systems or entire vehicle lines of cars, trucks, military vehicles, etc. that are marketed by myriad other companies without attribution. The engineering group recently invited [...]