Producing an agile kind of crossover SUV that's easy to drive and capable of multiple uses is the big idea behind MDX. Its name drives home the multi-task nature, with the initials meaning Multi-Dimensional Cross-Trainer, in the image of a toned athlete accomplished in various sports. Acura works it as a refined luxury vehicle with cushy appointments and fancy features, yet the three rows of flexible seats permit different uses as a workhorse hauler and the powerful engine enables the MDX to tow a trailer up to 5000 pounds. Read More »

Stretching more than 13 feet long and decorated with a bulbous face featuring round rally-style headlamps and curvaceous fender blisters capped by frog-eye amber running lights, Nissan's streamlined little wagon has the elevated stance and cargo capacity of a small-scale SUV with four flank doors for passengers and a liftgate at the tail for accessing the rear cargo bay. Read More »

The four-door Passat, Volkswagen's mid-size family sedan, scores a re-do for the seventh generation on an expanded unibody structure with choice of three fuel-thrifty powertrains and the metal shell honed to a smooth new shape. Read More »

Virtually silent at start-up with only the electric motor switching on, the Escape Hybrid leaps forward on command with help from the electric motor, which can propel the wagon up to 44 mph. When more power is needed, a generator cranks up the gasoline engine in only a fraction of a second. Read More »

This new rendition of the SRT8 Challenger carries the formidable credentials of a street-legal racer: A lowered chassis with taut suspension tweaked for performance, massive 20-inch rear wheels wrapped in 255/45ZR20 Goodyear Eagle RSA speed-rated performance tires, big four-piston Brembo-brand brake calipers and a humongous 6.4-liter V8 engine that's a high-tech rendition of Chrysler's fabled HEMI plant with hemispheric combustion chambers. Read More »

This Generation 2.0 rendition of the 300 SRT8 carries the formidable credentials of a street-legal racer: A lowered chassis with taut suspension tweaked for performance, massive 20-inch rear wheels wrapped in 255/45ZR20 Goodyear Eagle RSA speed-rated performance tires, big four-piston Brembo-brand brake calipers and a humongous 6.4-liter V8 engine that's a high-tech rendition of Chrysler's fabled HEMI plant with hemispheric combustion chambers. Read More »

These behemoth trucks, built on a strong structure that's modular in design to allow multiple configurations for cabin size and box length, bulge from chiseled sheetmetal styling and ripple with enthused strength due to heavy-duty powertrains that muscle up to the head of the heavy class in terms of raw horsepower, engine torque and efficiency for towing and toting hefty loads. Read More »

Our wagon -- the 2012 Navigator L, Lincoln's long-stretched and luxuriously outfitted full-size SUV -- executes each bend in the curvy mountain road with a pavement-hugging poise rarely found on such a jumbo-size hulk of a wagon, much less one whose roots trace directly to a humongous pickup truck. To our surprise it feels almost sporty, so agile the posture and smooth the ride quality, yet the Navigator L has a wheelbase nearly 12 feet long and a high-rise body structure which smothers some 18 feet of pavement and its vast passenger compartment provides three tiers of seats for as many as eight riders. Read More »

Sheetmetal styling for Colorado employs design elements from the Trailblazer SUV and projects a powerful face dominated by the horizontal strip of chrome splitting in half the grille and corner headlamp clusters. Overall shape of the truck is rather cubistic with squarish corners but aerodynamic concessions like a sloping front hood and canted windshield. Read More »

A Jeep -- long-time synonym for go-anywhere four-wheel-drive traction in rugged mud-loving and trail-crawling off-road machines -- can muster fast-track times like a high-performance sports car? New Grand Cherokee SRT8, swiftest and strongest vehicle ever to wear that chrome-coated J-E-E-P badge, performs like a raucous sports car but carries a boxy back bay under the thin disguise of a practical sport utility wagon. Read More »