Auto News 5

Chevrolet says that four-cylinder engines power roughly 60 percent of its models sold here. With its 2014 redesign, the Impala joins the ranks of four-banger Chevys. The Impala's 2.5-liter four, which is the car's base engine, is related to the 2.5-liter four in the Malibu and the 2.0-liter turbo-four in the Cadillac ATS. It is rated at 196 hp and 186 lb-ft of torque, which is not a lot given the sedan's estimated 3800-lb curb weight. And indeed, the engine often sounds strained and quite vocal despite the engineers' attempts to quell NVH. In the quest to keep the racket to a minimum, Chevy has employed active noise cancelation, which nets the added bonus of a subwoofer for the stereo. The bow-tie brand has also taken a page from Buick and used copious amounts of liquid-applied sound deadener, sound-absorbing carpet, an isolated engine cradle, and an acoustically laminated windshield and front-door glass -- all of which are a first for any Chevrolet sedan. The six-speed automatic is good at keeping the four-cylinder within its power band, but with peak horsepower at 6300 rpm and peak torque coming in at 4400 rpm, that means keeping the revs up. The six-speed often needs to shuffle gears to stay in the meat of the power curve, and its shifts are less than smooth.

We've been waiting for some time to get a BMW X1 crossover for a Four Seasons test. It's not that our order was lost in the mail or that we picked a long list of zany special-order options. We've simply been waiting for the X1 with the rest of North America. The X1 has been on sale abroad since 2009, and it's been a hit -- so much so that BMW delayed bringing the X1 to the United States until manufacturing capacity could be increased.

We've been waiting for some time to get a BMW X1 crossover for a Four Seasons test. It's not that our order was lost in the mail or that we picked a long list of zany special-order options. We've simply been waiting for the X1 with the rest of North America. The X1 has been on sale abroad since 2009, and it's been a hit -- so much so that BMW delayed bringing the X1 to the United States until manufacturing capacity could be increased.