Auto News 5

The day of reckoning has arrived: Chevy's new Camaro has left the assembly line keen to butt heads with the Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang, Hyundai Genesis Coupe, and other pretenders to the pony car throne. We tested two SS V-8s to find if the long wait has been worthwhile.

Our meteorologists were calling for four to six inches of snow last weekend, but I wasn't worried - I had the Audi TTS with Quattro. However, our example arrived with its nineteen-inch wheels wrapped in summer rubber, and no matter how valiantly the ESP fought to keep the car in check, the car proved virtually impossible to drive.

I know what you're thinking: "Oh no, he didn't." Well, oh yes, I did. But not so you could giggle at the absurdity of a quarter-million-dollar Lamborghini with a lighted pizza delivery sign on its roof. Fact is, you've probably read pages of prose explaining how fast modern exotics are, but it's difficult to describe their performance in mere words. Every supercar passenger thinks he knows what to expect, but when pedal hits metal, it's always the same: first they're paralyzed with fear, and then they let loose with cursing and screaming. If our words can't prepare you for what it feels like to be slung to 60 mph in four seconds, we won't bother trying. Instead, we'll prove that you could actually drive one of these supercars every day, and you can do it with no oil slicks, no tow trucks on retainer, and no explosions of the cooling-system, the kinds of problems we traditionally associate with exotic-car ownership.

I forgot just how quiet hybrids are. Like, silent. As in, so silent when you start one, you turn it off and try again because you think nothing happened. So silent that it's like a party trick I perform for Lovely Rita and Ali at the parking garage downtown. Check this out! It's RUNNING. No, really!!

Miles to date: 31,819
Months in fleet: eight

Although Nissan has promised to offer battery/electric vehicles by next year, it's still found time to occasionally tinker with gasoline/electric hybrids. That's a good thing, as the 2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid is one of the most enjoyable hybrid sedans on the market.

After two months and 4318 miles, has our fondness for Automobile Magazine's Four Seasons Honda Fit dwindled? Not a chance. "I finally had a chance to get into our Fit," said copy editor Rusty Blackwell, "and its 2009 All-Star selection has been reaffirmed in my mind."

With all the attention Toyota and Honda are getting for their hybrid programs, it's worth reminding you that Ford introduced the first hybrid SUV, the 2005 Escape Hybrid, and that the hybrid Escape won the prestigious North American Truck of the Year award in 2005. Ford used knowledge gained from the Escape Hybrid project to construct a hybrid-powertrain Fusion sedan with class-leading fuel economy and refinement.