The Detroit News’ Scott Burgess just brutalized the Kia Borrego:
The V-6 Borrego wouldn’t compare very well to a 10-year-old Ford Explorer, which, according to Kelley Blue Book, you can pick up for $3,300.
There’s some more carnage after the jump. Click for more
As The New York Times reports today, it’s a very good time to be in the market for a car:
Cash and financing incentives are at unprecedented levels; interest rates are at near-record lows; and most dealers have a wide selection available…
She’s built for comfort, not for speed, but still scorches past previous test subjects like 1985′s 6,000,000-lb. NASA shuttle transport (a 1-mph top speed, reached in 22.0 sec.) or 1981′s Budweiser Clydesdale 8-Horse Hitch (108.3 sec. in the quarter)
That’s Road & Track, expanding its horizons with a road test of the Zeppelin NT. [photo via]
(It’s still early, but it looks like it’s going to score as well as its big brother.)
This is nice. Guy Kawasaki’s handy aggregator, Alltop, just added the MotorMouths blog to their Autos page. (Amusingly, we’re at the bottom of Alltop.) What this means is that you now have another spot to nab news about car reviews from us. Also, we now have to blog more quickly. Ah, progress.
The word this morning is that Eddie Alterman, a longtime car critic and editor of the nifty Motivemag.com, has been named editor in chief of Car and Driver. That’s good for Alterman, who’s a canny and entertaining critic. It’s also good for Car and Driver, since Alterman’s credibility rating is actually several percentage points higher than that of his new magazine.
As the penny-pinching WalletPop.com points out, sales of Certified Pre-Owned luxury cars are rising, even as new car sales are falling. (Pre-owned Lexus sales are up almost 20 percent.) Here’s a tip. MotorMouths helps you find reviews and scores for every new car, and we define as “new” any model year within an 18-month window. So if you’re eyeballing a pre-owned 2008 Lexus ES, for instance, we’ve got the numbers.
Just buy a Pontiac GT, the best-reviewed American-made sedan. Here’s a typical tout, courtesy Eddie Alterman:
This car is a class-jumper, a $32,240 four-door with the power and grace to hang with luxury-sport titans like BMW’s 5 Series. [via The New York Times.]
When is a rave equal parts rant? When the critic — The Wall Street Journal‘s Jeff Sabatini, in this case — loves how a car handles but hates handling the car.
Where to start? How about the steering wheel, your most important point of contact with the ZR1? It’s a big, ugly, rubbery piece of junk…
The offender is the Corvette ZR-1, which is actually pretty beloved by critics.
The BMW X3 got a bit of a smackdown this week from Edmunds.com:
Each Thursday I post my deal of the week, a vehicle that represents a great value for the consumer…. Today, though, I want to make note of a vehicle that is just the opposite.
Buck up little X3. The rest of the motoring press still likes you.
With Saab preparing for its dirt nap, and Chrysler and GM whistling past the graveyard, The New York Times offers a helpful guide explaining what happens to your new car warranty if your car’s maker goes bankrupt. Here’s the short version: “There are no guarantees, but it is likely — if the automaker desires — that warranties will be honored. But there are several legal twists and turns.”
[photo via Shorpy]
