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Room for one more
Honda seems to have the crossover market pretty well covered with the compact CR-V and the eight-seat Pilot, yet the company sees room for one more. The Honda Accord Crosstour looks to slot in between the two in terms of functionality, yet will stand at the top from a pricing perspective. By packaging, pricing, and marketing this vehicle on the high-end of the five-passenger crossover segment, Honda is targeting both empty nesters and young couples moving from either a smaller or larger vehicle into this growing segment. Competitors for the Crosstour include the Ford Edge, Nissan Murano, and Toyota Venza.

As Lufthansa flight 4532 skimmed the hills of Lisbon on its landing approach, we reflected on the five-year journey that had brought us to Portugal to drive the newest BMW, the 5-series GT. It was back in the March 2004 issue that our European bureau chief, Georg Kacher, provided the scoop: BMW was planning an unusual new type of vehicle, one that was known within the company as the “space-functional concept” or RFK (for, in German, Raum-funktionales Konzept). Two models, one based on 3-series components and the other drawing from the 5-series, would differ substantially from BMW’s existing wagons and SUVs and provide seating arrangements akin to - don’t say it - a minivan’s. By our June 2008 issue, we were able to report that this not-quite-a-sedan, not-quite-an-SUV, not-quite-a-wagon concept, which had become known as the V-series, had evolved into a four- or five-seat hatchback sedan called the V5. (BMW’s second-generation, seven-passenger X5 apparently met the company’s needs for a people mover.) We were wrong about the name but right about everything else, and we observed that, like the X6, the new vehicle would attempt to “tap into a niche that you didn’t even know existed.” Fast forward to September 2009: As we arrived in Lisbon, the 5-series Gran Turismo still seemed to us as unlikely a vehicle to wear a BMW badge as it did back when our man Kacher first reported its conception.inline_mediumwraptextright31059330/reviews/driven/0912_2010_bmw_535i_gran_turismo0912_10_z+2010_bMW_535i_gran_turismo+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

I'm having a bit of difficulty finding the right context for the E-class coupe. Its name says I should be looking at the BMW 6-series, while its price tag and its C-class underpinnings say I should seek out comparisons with the Audi A5.inline_mediumwraptextright30985329/reviews/editors_notebook/0910_2010_mercedes_benz_e3500910_03_z+2010_mercedes-Benz_e350+side_view.jpgTrue

2010 Mazda3 s Sport 5-Doorinline_mediumwraptextright25452041/reviews/12_month_car_reviews/0911_2010_mazda3_s_sport_5_door_october_update0910_01_z+2010_mazda3_s_sport+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

There goes another one -- a Mercedes-Benz S-class, doing at least 100 mph, shoulders aside my Volkswagen Golf TDI on a rain-lashed German autobahn.inline_mediumwraptextright25746371/green/reviews/0910_2010_volkswagen_golf_tdi0910_09_z+2010_volkswagen_golf+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

In 1962, Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov initiated a program to develop a lightweight racer to compete against Carroll Shelby's Cobras on the track. The Grand Sport Corvettes would weigh about 2000 pounds and draw power from a 377-cubic-inch V-8 with aluminum-block-and-head construction. A 1963 General Motors edict to end all racing involvement derailed the plan, but not before a handful of the Grand Sports were built. The prototype Vettes were delivered to private parties, who raced the cars with mixed success until 1967, but plans to homologate the car with a total production run of 125 copies were abandoned.inline_mediumwraptextright26338120/reviews/driven/0911_2010_chevrolet_corvette_grand_sport0911_01_z+2010_chevrolet_corvette_grand_sport+front_three_quarter_view.jpgTrue

2010 Lotus Exige 260 Sinline_mediumwraptextright25667702/reviews/editors_notebook/0910_2010_lotus_exige_260_s0910_14_z+2010_lotus_exige_260_s+rear_three_quarters_view.jpgTrue