Auto News 5

If you have a pulse and access to the Internet these days (the latter doesn't always require the former), you've probably been exposed quite a bit to the Ford Fiesta. The little Ford has been all over Youtube, Twitter, and (shameless plug alert) our own web site. But the Fiesta isn't the only hot subcompact launching this summer. No, we're also being introduced to its cute older sibling, the Mazda 2. Back in 2007, Mazda introduced its slick-looking, youth-friendly hatchback on the same B-segment platform that would spawn the Fiesta. It proved a huge hit in Europe, surpassing 100,000 sales in its first year on the market, and was named World Car of the Year for 2008. We liked it enough to conduct a rare European Four Seasons test on one, and called it a "great car for tough times." But until recently, there were no plans for the car to make it to our market, despite the steadily growing demand for budget-friendly subcompacts. Now Mazda, all but cut off from its sugar daddy in Dearborn (Ford still retains an 13.8 percent share), has decided to crash the Fiesta's party by launching the 2 here this summer.

Having made its entrance in the rarefied environs of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and its worldwide public debut at last fall's Frankfurt auto show, the Bentley Mulsanne is now ready to hit the streets. We've had a chance to do just that, but in this case the streets were the narrow village lanes, undulating country byways, and wide-open dual carriageways (divided highways) of Bentley's home turf in the U.K. The car won't be rolling onto U.S. roads until sometime this fall.

It's rare to have an Audi without Quattro pass through our garage. As all-wheel drive has become synonymous with the brand, it seems a front-wheel example of any Audi is an oddity. I happened to take this front-wheel-drive A3 TDI home on the night of Michigan's biggest winter storm. With a set of Michelin winter tires on, though, I hardly noticed that I had only two wheels to power through the slippery spots. Aside from the torquey engine occasionally spinning the front wheels, the A3 was composed and stable through thick city slush and at highway speeds.inline_mediumwraptextright27080960/green/reviews/1003_2010_audi_a3_tdi_fwd_s_tronic_premium1003_01_z+2010_audi_a4_tDI_fWD_s-Tronic_premium+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue