Automobile Magazine Blog

After a year of driving lots of different cars, I’ve decided to cobble together a list of highs and lows. Rather than sticking just with new models, which would likely create a roster much like other Best lists, I thought of this instead as a recounting of cars that surprised ...    Read more

We received our first serious snow dump in Ann Arbor last week, but the Automobile Magazine fleet of Four Seasons test vehicles was ready for the cold, since we had fitted each car with a set of winter tires from various manufacturers well before Thanksgiving with the assistance of the ...    Read more

Honda EV-STER After far too many years of clumsily styled cars, Honda popped up with a really agreeable concept car in the all-electric EV-Ster. It has a nice looking, if totally unneeded, grille shape, makes nice use of blue plastic around the headlamps integrated into that grille, and has a space ...    Read more

For only the third time in my life, Mercedes-Benz is debuting a new SL roadster. Three times in almost four decades isn’t much. In fact, the R107 SL went on sale before I was born, and by the time it was replaced, I owned a car myself. The car that replaced ...    Read more

I have distinct memories of our Four Seasons 2009 Jaguar XF Supercharged, from the good, to the bad, to the ugly. The leader in the good camp was no doubt the class leading steering and chassis. The XF had a magnificent (and rare) balance of body control, ride quality, and ...    Read more

What is Skyactiv? Marketing speak, of course. It is the single word Mazda has invented to represent a diverse spread of technologies and strategies aimed at improving efficiency. As such, Skyactiv has a different meaning depending on whether you’re talking about engines, transmissions, chassis, or ...    Read more

Until spending some time behind the wheel of a bus-driving simulator, I’d never rolled a vehicle . Apparently eighteen-ton buses don’t like to take interstate exit ramps at high speeds, even onscreen. The Minnesota Valley Transit Authority’s bus simulator in Burnsville, Minnesota, is used to train bus drivers to operate the ...    Read more

Last year, Shelby SuperCars was nice enough to take me out for a spin in their world-record-setting SSC Ultimate Aero supercar. It was perfect timing because I was just two days from hopping into a Bugatti Veyron for the first time—the car the SSC stole the Top Speed trophy from. I ...    Read more

Our editors have been plenty busy scouring the show floor of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show — but in between running to and from press conferences and battling spotty Wi-Fi connections, they picked their three favorite concept and production cars at the show. Robert Cumberford, Automotive Design Editor CONCEPT CARS ...    Read more

Our editors have been plenty busy scouring the show floor of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show -- but in between running to and from press conferences and battling spotty Wi-Fi connections, they picked their three favorite concept and production cars at the show. Donny Nordlicht, Associate Web Editor CONCEPT CARS ...    Read more