Auto News 5

Months in Fleet: Nine
Miles to date: 24,017

Miles to date: 11,455
Months in service: 3

Months in Fleet: Seven
Miles to Date: 22,572

Infiniti's current advertising spots begin with a Shodo brush stroke of a car silhouette, the designer's first representation of how a new car will look. With the IPL -- Infiniti Performance Line -- the brand puts figurative pen to paper and begins to sketch out a new, high-performance sub-brand. In creating the IPL, Infiniti is following well-established practice in the luxury-car arena. All of its major rivals already have a family of extra-sporty variants: M for BMW, AMG for Mercedes-Benz, S and RS for Audi, the V-series for Cadillac, and the nascent F models for Lexus. Given its comparatively small global sales footprint, however, Infiniti is starting small -- as a package, the IPL G Coupe is a considerably more modest effort than any of those specialty machines.

"America," Henry Ford once said, "is a gorgeous, vast, and monumentally impressive kind of place. Now hold my beer while I build an industry that'll let us crap it all up."

It's obvious that the Tundra is well-built, both from outward appearances (precise exterior panel fits and finishes) and from the way it feels once you're inside (the rigid body structure is transmitted through the steering wheel). And the mechanical specs are impressive. That said, taken as a whole, it's not as satisfying as the Dodge Ram. It doesn't ride nearly as well as the Ram, it has more body roll, and the 4.6-liter engine revs too much in everyday driving. Plenty of power here for a 2000-pound loaded trailer, though.

When pump prices soar and the economy dives, full-sized pickup truck sales plummet. With jobs and mortgages in jeopardy, who needs an expensive gas guzzler's fat monthly payments? This calamity and the bankruptcy experienced by two out of Detroit's (formerly) Big Three would normally send truck engineers straight to early retirement. Ford, however, never got that memo. A thorough overall for the 2011 F-150 pickups kept right on truckin'. In the teeth of troubled times, the class leader kept its head high and prospects bright for the post apocalypse.

I'm somewhat taken aback that this Sportage runs right up against the $30,000 mark, but I'm still very impressed with it. The exterior styling is a vast improvement over the previous Sportage; I parked next to an older model in the parking garage and the two vehicles didn't look related in any way. The interior is also a huge upgrade, with nicely designed instruments and much better materials. Our test car had pretty much every amenity that a crossover buyer would want, including 4WD, a very nice navigation system, satellite radio, heated seats and outside mirrors, and more. This Sportage is just the latest sign that Kia is producing vehicles that can compete against the best vehicles in the segment.