Auto News 5

As associate editor David Zenlea parked our Charger on the streets of southern Florida, part of a 3000-mile trip that would take nine days, he felt out of place. Well, he himself didn't feel out of place -- a short Jewish man hardly stands out in southern Florida -- but he felt that the Charger was. Here's a very big, very brash, very black sedan wading in a pool of brightly colored, high-dollar imports. "People acted as if they had been walking along the beach on a hot day and stumbled upon a fat north woods hick wearing a flannel shirt and snow boots," he says. "And you know what? I loved it."

Shortly after the Four Seasons 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI returned from a brief visit to New York in late November, we sent it back to the empire state -- this time for an extended stay.

It's no secret that Land Rovers have a bad reputation for reliability. Automobile Magazine's past experiences unfortunately bear witness to this. Our last Four Seasons Land Rover, a 2005 LR3, lit up its instrument panel like a Christmas tree and needed no fewer than seven warranty repairs. A more recent test of the 2009 Jaguar XF (Jaguar is Land Rover's sister brand) likewise involved many frustrating days at the dealer. You can't blame us then, for being wary of the Range Rover Evoque even as we've heaped praise upon its styling, refinement, and performance.

It's been a long time since a Dodge was at the top of the compact-car heap. We named the original Neon our Automobile of the Year back in 1994, but later versions of the Neon and its successor, the Caliber, lagged far behind the competition. The new 2013 Dart, however, appears poised to change Dodge's fortune in the small-car segment.