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http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=131557 --- Think about the quickest road car you've ever driven. No, wait, scratch that. Think about the quickest road car you've ever heard of. No, wait. That won't do, either. Think about the quickest road car that's ever been. That's more like it. Now you're in the right area code. Here's why: This highly modified 2005 Ariel Atom with its supercharged, 375-horsepower, 2.0-liter Honda engine hits 60 mph from a standstill in 2.8 seconds. Two-point-eight seconds! With an exclamation point! (And we never use an exclamation point.) Measure its time to 60 mph with 1 foot of rollout like they do on a drag strip, and the Ariel gets to the mark in a scant 2.6 seconds — less time than we require to decide between paper and plastic. For those of you keeping score at home, this makes this 2005 Ariel Atom quicker than any car we've ever tested — any Porsche, any Viper, any Vette and any other specialty marque like the Noble M400. But it gets better. The little Atom goes on to further embarrass the big names by punching its way through the quarter-mile in 10.6 seconds at 128.4 mph. It's the hardest accelerating car we've ever driven.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=125172 --- "The 2009 Nissan GT-R is strapped to the floor, but it's tugging at its leashes with all the power its twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 can muster, moaning to itself in the way a car does when it's at full power. We can feel the air vibrating. Only a few engineers at Nissan know what the true output of the 2009 Nissan GT-R's engine really is, and so far they're not telling. So we're inside a futuristic dynamometer cell at Harman Motive in Torrance, California, to find out. It's part NASA space lab and part Dr. Frankenstein's lab, as a huge intake duct blows air across the car and two big fans in the ceiling suck the engine exhaust out of the room. A rack of computerized hardware is poised next to the driver-side door, reading the GT-R's vital signs. We can hear the hollow rasp of the twin-turbo V6's intake, the low resonance of the exhaust, the rush of the big tires on the dyno's rollers. Finally the long, hard pull from the engine is done, and for an instant we can feel a bubble of heat against our skin as the GT-R seems to exhale in exhaustion. Through the window in the silver, soundproof wall of the dyno cell we can see the anxious faces of a small crowd. They're peering in at the computer as it processes the power curve from the first 2009 Nissan GT-R in the United States. "

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=125063 --- "It's Hour 9 of our big driving day in the big Mini, the 2008 Mini Cooper S Clubman, and daylight is fading. Weekend wine enthusiasts escaping to Paso Robles jam us up on California Highway 46, but this Mini Clubman has the optional automatic transmission, so we relax. Eventually we come to the turnoff for California Highway 41, and none of the civilians are going with us. We've never driven the southernmost stretch of Highway 41 before. But with the Cooper S Clubman's responsive chassis and useful bi-xenons, it's point-and-shoot through the tight turns and we brim with confidence. Instead of holding us up, the six-speed Aisin-built automatic is playing along. It swaps gears as quickly as any dual-clutch gearbox and even matches revs when we call for a downshift. Sometimes we ask for a double and still it quickly obliges. The 2008 Mini Cooper S Clubman doesn't feel any different than it did when the sun was out. Certainly, it's not any less fun. But we realize there's something to this stretched Mini's 3.2-inch-longer wheelbase and 200 extra pounds. And it's not just extra room. It's extra comfort."

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/autoshows/newyork/2008/kiakoupconceptnews.html --- The Koup is the work of Kia Motors America's Irvine, California, design center. The exterior design is in a wedge shape that Kia calls "uncomplicated, yet dynamic." It's notable for a "swoosh" along the sides. There's a set of prominent wheel flares and LED headlamps with carbon fiber and black chrome trim, as well as tuner-style additions including a chin spoiler and carbon-fiber inserts in the wheel spokes.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=125063 --- It's Hour 9 of our big driving day in the big Mini, the 2008 Mini Cooper S Clubman, and daylight is fading. Weekend wine enthusiasts escaping to Paso Robles jam us up on California Highway 46, but this Mini Clubman has the optional automatic transmission, so we relax. Eventually we come to the turnoff for California Highway 41, and none of the civilians are going with us. We've never driven the southernmost stretch of Highway 41 before. But with the Cooper S Clubman's responsive chassis and useful bi-xenons, it's point-and-shoot through the tight turns and we brim with confidence. Instead of holding us up, the six-speed Aisin-built automatic is playing along. It swaps gears as quickly as any dual-clutch gearbox and even matches revs when we call for a downshift. Sometimes we ask for a double and still it quickly obliges. The 2008 Mini Cooper S Clubman doesn't feel any different than it did when the sun was out. Certainly, it's not any less fun. But we realize there's something to this stretched Mini's 3.2-inch-longer wheelbase and 200 extra pounds. And it's not just extra room. It's extra comfort. Author: InsideLineVideo Tags: 2008 Mini Cooper S Clubman Full Test Edmunds Insideline Cars Automotive Posted: 25 July 2008 Rating: 0.0 Votes: 0

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Comparos/articleId=125009 --- What's the best car? It's a question that often comes up in casual conversation with people we've just met. Normally, we'll respond with something along the lines of, It depends on what you use your car for. But the question had us thinking. What is the best choice for most people? You know, a typical family doing typical things like home improvement projects, picking up relatives and all their holiday gear at the airport, transporting the kids to kung-fu class.... Once we ruled out off-roading and towing as specialized activities, we settled on a framework. The vehicle had to accommodate at least seven typical adults and still fit in a normal garage. This still didn't narrow the field much, as you can find dozens of full-size SUVs, crossovers and minivans that all fit the bill. So here we have assembled the best and most sizable examples of their respective classes of full-size SUV, crossover and minivan to determine if bigger is better, or if crossing over truly hits the sweet spot, or if the lowly minivan has enough capability. Among full-size SUVs, we settled on a 2008 Toyota Sequoia SR5 4x4 packing $5,545 in options including navigation, a towing package, parking sonar, power-adjustable driver seat, running boards, cold-weather package, cargo mats and a roof rack. Total bill: $43,605. GM's Lambda crossovers have quickly made a name for themselves as front-runners among crossovers, and so we threw into the mix a 2008 GMC Acadia SLT-2 AWD equipped with goodies totaling $3,165. A panoramic sunroof, 19-inch wheels, a towing package, fancy paint and a head-up instrument display bring the Acadia's total to $42,180...Author: InsideLineVideo Tags: 2008 Toyota Sequoia GMC Acadia SLT-2 Honda Odyssey Touring Crossover Minivan SUV Comparison Edmunds Insideline Automotive Car Posted: 25 July 2008 Rating: 0.0 Votes: 0

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=125459 --- The 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 is a muscle car, right? An American muscle car. So naturally, the first thing I want to do when I jump behind the wheel is a big American smoky burnout. "Not here," says Pete Gladysz, the Dodge guy babysitting our test car and riding shotgun, as he looks around the leafy, tranquil residential street we're on in the middle of Pasadena. "Wait 'till we get to the track." Gladysz, powertrain senior manager for Chrysler LLC's SRT Group, sounds serious. So I wait.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Comparos/articleId=125645 --- No one's talking about it, but the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid and 2008 Mercedes-Benz GL320 CDI are the two most fuel-efficient full-size SUVs on the market. We guess that makes Paris Hilton, proud owner of a 2008 GMC Yukon Hybrid, the hybrid Tahoe's twin, a forward-thinking early adopter at the vanguard of the green car movement. Truthfully, calling either of these SUVs "green" might border on an insult to the color, not to mention the movement. These are still large, comfortable vehicles with more torque than the average commuter needs and more seats than most families will use, perfect for vacations but decadent in daily life. But these vehicles are more reasonable when you consider that the four-wheel-drive 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid earns an EPA rating of 20 mpg city/20 mpg highway, and the all-wheel-drive 2008 Mercedes-Benz GL320 CDI rates 18 mpg city/24 mpg highway. This works out to a combined rating of 20 mpg for both SUVs — a big achievement for a full-size sport-utility. When it comes to large sport-utilities, think of this as a practicality test for hybrid and diesel. In other words, if you want to drive something big without feeling bad, this is what it's all about.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=125955 --- Bruised and bloodied, Jaguar's fate now rests in the hands of Indian automaker Tata. The only certainty of its future is that it is uncertain. Now forget about all that. Turn your attention to the product, which is ultimately the most critical aspect of an automaker's success. Here we have the 2009 Jaguar XF Supercharged, purportedly ready to do battle with the big German sedans like the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, cars that know the luxury sedan game. Only time will tell the story of Jaguar as it enters the next phase of its existence, but we can peek a few pages forward simply by testing the fruits of its labor.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=125573 --- Honda knows the difference between revision and improvement, and you can see the evidence in the 2009 Honda Pilot. It looks different, only the same. Or maybe it's the same, only different. But what you can't see are the dozens and dozens of places within this utility package where the Honda engineers have fiddled with the details. It's easy to imagine the Honda engineers swarming over the 2009 Honda Pilot, relentlessly improving space-efficiency, utility, fuel economy and performance. It is the Honda Way, the thorough refinement of a mechanical device into a form that is supremely functional, pure and simple. Only these particular Honda engineers are a bunch of guys from Ohio at Honda R&D Americas, and they've tried to make the 2009 Honda Pilot into the right kind of crossover for Americans.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Comparos/articleId=125908 --- It's not until late in our cross-country test bash that the defining differences between the 2008 BMW 135i, 2008 BMW 335i and our long-term 2002 BMW M3 become crucial. We're vectoring along California State Highway 190 approaching Death Valley and climbing to the 4,963-foot summit of Towne Pass, and then the turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-6 engines of these 1 Series and 3 Series BMWs begin to carve out a decided advantage over the normally aspirated mill of the brilliant but aging M3. The less frenetic acceleration of the current-generation cars becomes their most profound strength on this long, steep climb above 3,000 feet. Fewer gearshifts, more accessible power and a less demanding load on the driver are good when ripping across straight sections of desert road at barely sub-mach velocity. But only a few hundred miles back, where the road was smooth and winding and the air was far denser, the M3 had been in its element. The question, then, is which is the better machine? To find out, we drove these three cars on back roads and byways. We headed to the hills and to the desert and then on to the track — the 1.5-mile, 10-turn Radical Loop at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada, to be exact. In between, we hit our usual test facility to gather standardized data for acceleration, braking and handling. We also ran the 2002 BMW M3, 2008 BMW 135i and 2008 BMW 335i through our 28-point testing evaluation, quizzed each participating editor about his personal favorite and weighed the features of each carefully to determine a victor. May the best BMW win.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=125650 --- "I'll never be able to face my muscle-car friends if I don't ask you for a ride around the block," Brooks reminds me. "Sure, get in." It's not like I'm going to turn him down. This 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 in all its Hemi Orange splendor has been illegally parked in front of motorhead bookstore Autobooks in Burbank, California, for an hour, so I'd be totally cold to just drive off without giving one of the guys a ride. Dropping the keys into the cupholder, I press the start button. It's plastic rather than some kind of pretentious metal, yet it wakes up the 6.1-liter Hemi V8 all the same. It's a hot afternoon in Burbank, but I put the windows down so Brooks can get the full aural effect. "It idles quieter than I thought it would," he says. "I was expecting it to grumble and snort like the old cars that my friends have." I pull onto Magnolia Boulevard, take a quick right down a side street scanning for children and pets, and go for maybe two-thirds throttle. "That's more like it," says Brooks, bracing himself a little. "The exhaust note gets all loud and old-school as the revs build, and even though it's an automatic, the car feels fast." A minute later, we roll up to Autobooks and my only Challenger ride-along of the weekend seems to be over. But Brooks knows better. "Wait here a second. I'm going to see if my manager Hiram wants to ride with you."

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Comparos/articleId=125968 --- The rebirth of the American muscle car is about a lot more than retro. It's about pride. It's about recalling a time when Americans looked down the road to the future with confidence, and they wanted a great big V8 engine to get them there as soon as possible. It's no wonder the 2008 Ford Mustang Bullitt has our respect. It's the best version yet of the 2005 Ford Mustang, the car that set Detroit on fire again with enthusiasm for good old American muscle. Maybe the fuel-guzzling muscle car won't save Detroit from the challenge to build cars that people need, but it's surely restored the domestic car industry's confidence in its ability to do so. And it's shown that Americans can build cars that are utterly unlike anything you'll find in Stuttgart, Shanghai, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur or any of those other places that economists think they're so clever to know about. Now that the 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 is here, Chrysler is cracking the seal on its own Mopar-branded can of muscle-car whoop-ass to show that it understands what's at stake in the muscle-car sweepstakes. The Bullitt and the Challenger are the two coolest cars in America, and it's only natural to bring them together.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=125571 --- GT-R. GT-R. GT-R. It's all anybody can talk about. "Hi, Mom. What's for dinner?" "The 2009 Nissan GT-R." "Who's going to win the Democratic presidential nomination?" "The 2009 Nissan GT-R." "What's the land speed of the cheetah?" "The 2009 Nissan GT-R." "Where do babies come from?" "The 2009 Nissan GT-R." And to perpetuate the discussion, we took a white 2009 Nissan GT-R on the ultimate road trip. In three days we drove that GT-R 2,000 miles across three states, with stops at one drag strip, one racetrack and one dry lake. It was the trip of a lifetime. The world's newest supercar, flat out across the American West. Did we speed? Well, to quote the great Dan Gurney after his famous drive in the 1971 Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, "At no time did we exceed 175 mph." The best part? We took pictures and video of the entire trip. Enjoy the ride.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Followup/articleId=125372 br Improving the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X is no easy task. It hits 60 mph in 4.9 seconds and blasts through the quarter-mile in 13.6 seconds at 101 mph. It performs even more amazing feats when its steering wheel is turned. Physics-defying electronics and magic all-wheel-drive torque distribution help rotate this sport sedan about its axis with brilliant control and consistency. It produces a 0.99g performance on the skid pad, and that's enough grip to match the Dodge Viper and trounce no less than the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 Turbo. In other words, the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is a lot of car for $33 grand. But for another thousand bucks it can be a lot better. All it takes are a few electronic modifications. That's where the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution by Vishnu Performance systems comes in.

Grade Road and East Grade Road aren't the sort of evocative names you'd expect from the best driving roads to be found anywhere. But these smooth, flowing ribbons of asphalt, known locally in San Diego County as S6 and S7, are as good as anything we see on press junkets to Spain or Italy or Germany. No, really. Best of all, they're part of a nearby network of roads in the mountains above San Diego that make this region a weekend stomping ground for the car clubs, enthusiasts of high-strung Italian motorcycles (who have about six months to live, we figure) and the kind of drivers who can appreciate the supercharged 2008 Lotus Elise SC.