Auto News 5

When it comes to service and maintenance with our long-term 2012 Dodge Charger, it's starting to feel a bit like Groundhog Day. In both June and July we dealt with a corroded airbag harness that was causing the instrument panel to show a malfunction. In October we were again thrown back to June, having picked up on a shimmy in the steering wheel indicative of another bent wheel.

Lexus has been offering hybrids since way back when, but for the most part they have been what you might call performance hybrids, in which the gasoline engine is not downsized but is supplemented by the battery-electric system. The result usually is performance that beats the standard, non-hybrid version and fuel economy that is only slightly better. Two more recent efforts were smaller, hybrid-only models: the CT200h and the HS250h. Both were designed for maximum fuel economy -- which strikes us as exactly what hybrid shoppers are looking for. However, the driving experience in the CT and, particularly, the HS fails to live up to the expectations one has of a Lexus, and the HS250h has since been dropped.