Auto News 5

As soon as the narrow English country road opens up, Ulrich Eichhorn releases the little Michael Schumacher inside him. Although the pavement is still slippery from the morning rain, Bentley's R&D chief lets the mighty, camouflage-gray coupe fly as if this were his final qualifying lap for the pole position at Monaco. All the while, he delivers a real-time monologue: "Turn-in is much crisper now, see? A lot crisper, in fact. Can you feel the car hug the road? Can you feel the extra grip? The wider rear track does make a difference. And so do the new twenty-inch Pirelli UHP tires. Now watch the tail. It'll slide just a bit through the next left-hander. Just a bit - there! But catching it is the easiest trick in the book. Even when I switch off stability control . . . " Sure enough, he does, just in time for a traffic circle. The car dives deep, then Eichhorn lifts, and as the rear end swings around, the nicely balanced all-wheel-drive system waltzes the Supersports - all 4940 pounds of it - gracefully toward the third exit.inline_mediumwraptextright30986271/reviews/driven/0912_2010_bentley_continental_supersports0912_01_z+2010_bentley_continental_supersports+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

The 2010 BMW X6 M is a wild ride, but who is going to buy it? The X6, which already doesn't sell very well, offers great performance with the 400-hp V-8 in the X6 50i model, which starts at $67,475. BMW demands $89,725 for the X6 M, making it an expensive track toy.inline_mediumwraptextright27047575/reviews/editors_notebook/0911_2010_bmw_x6_m0911_05_z+2010_bMW_x6_m+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

When the 2010 Mustang gallops into Ford showrooms in the spring, it will face more competition than it has seen in decades. The Dodge Challenger, which arrived in SRT8 form last year, now has a three-model lineup, and the hotly anticipated new Chevrolet Camaro starts production in February.

The SHO represents a nice all-around effort by Ford, but it hardly feels like a true high-performance sedan.inline_mediumwraptextright25881128/reviews/editors_notebook/0911_2010_ford_taurus_sho0911_02_z+2010_ford_taurus_sHO+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

The Forte Koup is a great little package. Like many Korean designs, the Forte's exterior styling is derivative but the Koup, more than its sedan sibling, is really crisp and attractive and should appeal to the under-25 demographic Kia has set its sights on with this new compact. I'm not a big fan of the two-tone wheels but as standard wheels go on an $18,000 car, they are distinctive, and more importantly, made of alloy, not steel, a rarity for this class.

Remember when enthusiasts all decried the imposition of regulations on emissions, saying that government regulation would make our cars pale shadows of what they had been? And they all believed that, never imagining that we would arrive at the present situation, with luxury limousines like BMW's Active Hybrid 7 - to use the official nomenclature - accelerating to 60 mph in less than five seconds, running to 155 mph (an artificially restrained Gentleman's agreement figure), while being both more economical and cleaner.inline_mediumwraptextright27094561/green/reviews/0911_2010_bmw_activehybrid_70911_06_z+2010_bMW_activeHybrid_7+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

I have long loved Range Rovers-for three decades, to be exact. Range Rovers have taken me over some of the world's harshest terrain: Along the Continental Divide. Down the three-point cliff-crumbling turns of Black Bear Pass above Telluride, Colorado. Through the Belizean rain forest and the stark Little Karoo desert of South Africa. I trained with the American team and several European teams for the grueling Camel Trophy, the year it passed through Madagascar. The Range Rover is unquestionably the toughest off-road companion I have ever known.

The Camry is a very refined vehicle, but it's not a sport sedan by any means. Very smooth powertrain. The six-speed automatic's manual shift function works pretty well; move the gearshift lever to the left, into the S for Sport gate, then upshift by pushing forward and downshift by pulling the lever back toward you. Your gear is indicated by a digital readout in the tachometer.inline_mediumwraptextright31253190/reviews/editors_notebook/0911_2009_toyota_camry_xle0911_01_z+2009_toyota_camry_xLE+side_view.jpgTrue

I'm generally a fan of small SUVs -- like the Ford Escape and numerous others -- that have enough ground clearance to handle most Michigan snowfalls, enough people-and-cargo space for a long weekend trip or a big shopping hoist, and enough substance to tow a smallish trailer. The problem with such vehicles is that they're usually poor on gas compared with traditional mid-size sedans (which many of the cute-utes are based on).inline_mediumwraptextright25807970/green/reviews/0911_2010_ford_escape_hybrid0911_02_z+2010_ford_escape_hybrid+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue