The Demo Site

It won't turn heads, but it will reward its owner for his savvy.

The Elantra Touring is the reincarnation of the old Elantra GT, a five-door hatchback that disappeared at the end of the 2006 model year in the transition from generation three to gen four of the sedan. It's back for 2009, and, as with the old GT, it's supposed to satisfy the needs of drivers who grow morose without big daily doses of lateral g.

Sorry, no sale on that part of the deal. The Touring edition has pleasant road manners, good steering feel, adequate power, respectable grip, and forward sightlines worthy of a Honda, but the chassis feels a little flexy when pressed, and the suspension runs out of travel on rough roads. If you're looking for athleticism in a small five-door, the Honda Fit is a better, although slightly smaller, bet.

Keep Reading: 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring - Short Take Road Test

Fueling up a fuel cell is simple. Fueling up the infrastructure is another thing entirely.

We've been hearing a lot about hydrogen-powered fuel cells as a viable power source for everyday vehicles, and we've even seen and driven a few early examples, including the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell and the Honda FCX Clarity, the latter being the world's first fuel-cell-equipped retail automobile. But one of the most common questions people end up asking is one that few people—journalists included—have the answer to: what is it like to "gas" up one of those things?

We decided, then, to ask Chevrolet to lend us one of the 100 or so Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles it has dedicated to its three-year "Project Driveway" market test, specifically in order to learn and practice the process of refueling the thing. We wanted to see how closely the process mirrors that of filling up a normal car, as well as what sort of adjustments are required.

Training Required

Chevrolet agreed, but only after submitting us to a two-hour, engineer-led training session in West Los Angeles at one of a handful of hydrogen refueling stations currently on line in Southern California. The course focused on the location of all such stations in Southern California, the pump pressure offered at each (which determines how much H2 it can cram into the tanks), a briefing on the Project Driveway program in general, and a walk-around of the Equinox Fuel Cell itself, which we recently covered in detail after driving it in New York. And of course, eventually they showed us how to actually connect all the hoses and fill 'er up. First, here's how to get hydrogen from pump to tank.

Keep Reading: Pump It Up: We Refuel a Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicle

The Steering Column

As I sit at my desk, pondering this column in late October, hot and heavy rumors are flying about Detroit's auto industry. There's talk of a merger between General Motors and Chrysler. Carlos Ghosn and the Nissan-Renault group that he leads are also sniffing around Chrysler. There's even talk that Cerberus Capital Management, the private-equity firm that bought Chrysler last year, might sell the company to the Chinese or part it out. Anything seems possible in this year of economic turmoil that is on track to produce the lowest automotive sales since 1993.

The year started out soft for automakers as the slowing economy and falling home prices made people feel decidedly less wealthy than they did last year. Then came the April spike in oil prices that drove gasoline over four bucks a gallon. Companies whose sales and profits came predominantly from trucks—namely all three Detroit manufacturers—saw sales crater. The third blow came with September's financial crisis, which caused vehicle sales to fall further as buyers decided to stop coming into dealerships and instead hold on to their cash. This particularly added to the woes of the already hurting Detroit companies. And no one expects any improvement for 2009.

Making matters worse, none of the Big Three entered 2008 with tons of cash on hand. Since 2005, Ford has lost $21 billion. GM has made a staggering $74 billion disappear. And Chrysler is bleeding $2 billion to $3 billion per year, though we don't know exactly how much because, as a privately held company, it is no longer required to release financial information. Through these depressed sales, the companies continue to invest in new, fuel-efficient models, but the cash is flowing so quickly that it has turned into a race between the arrival of a business turnaround and the depletion of the companies' bank accounts.

Keep Reading: After Three Decades of Decline, Is This the End for Detroit Automakers? - Column

Audi's wild, winged R8 heads for the track, and for public consumption.

All shall return from whence it came: ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and race cars to race cars. Audi first affixed the R8 nameplate to a race car and used that car to dominate the 24 Hours of Le Mans early this century, with outright wins in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005. Then the R8 came to showrooms as a sexy, curvaceous, mid-engine exotic with which Audi unseated the Porsche 911 Turbo in its first comparison test. Now, the production version of the R8 is headed back to the track, intent on expanding the R8's dominion into the GT3 class of endurance racing.

Keep Reading: Audi R8 GT3 - Car News

Big? Yes. Beautiful? No. Porsche tests the mettle of its loyal fans once again.

 

After years of waiting and dozens of sightings by car spies, we've finally gotten our first non-grainy, camouflage-free official look at the first performance sedan in Porsche's history, the Panamera. And, well, let's put it this way: if you can handle the Cayenne SUV, you can probably handle the Panamera.

Not that we love it. Indeed, we're not going to sugar-coat things here: some of us flat-out hate the look of this big, flat-nosed, bustle-backed five-door. The more diplomatic among us are cautiously optimistic that the Panamera will merely take some getting used to. It's the same swirl of controversy that surrounded the introduction of the Cayenne, which initially all but sent Porsche purists to the psych ward, but has ultimately become respected, if not loved.

The 500-hp Hatchback

"The symbiosis of sports-car DNA derived from the looks of a coupe, the unique interpretation of the classical sedan body and the benefits of a variable space concept give the new Porsche a truly unmistakable appearance." That's how Porsche describes the Panamera, and we probably couldn't come up with a more flattering choice of words ourselves. Certainly, it couldn't have been easy for Porsche to translate trademark 911 elements onto a front-engine, four-door body without giving it a nose as tall and blunt as that of the BMW 7-Series, and for that, we think Porsche deserves some credit. We also enjoy the fact that the Panamera's high level of performance will be coupled with the innate practicality of a hatchback.

 

Keep Reading: 2010 Porsche Panamera – Official Photos and Info - Car News

What would Bruce Wayne drive? For those times when you absolutely, positively have to get to the Bat Cave, may we suggest the tenacious traction of the SH-AWD.

"Drat!" we imagine them saying around the Cadillac water cooler."Acura beat us to the 2012 CTS!"

Where did this come from? Since the pert little RSX of 2002, Honda's Acura division has been shoveling ever deeper into the styling mush of confused grilles and flabby flanks (doubters, please see the RDX, MDX, and TSX). Just when we stopped caring where this sequence would lead, we get this fascinating TL, decisively carved to appeal to your inner Batman.

Bruce Wayne, your car is ready.

Finally, an Acura sculpted front to back with a single theme in mind, rakish, ominous, one step short of menacing. If ever there was a car meant to look sinister in the images transmitted from a Predator drone circling overhead, it's the 2009 Acura TL. This is brave, and the more we look, the more we see a breakthrough design.

Judging from hisoff-duty ride, Mr. Wayne's taste runs more toward all-weather sure-footedness than pure performance. And he has high expectations for quality and comfort.

Keep Reading: 2009 Acura TL SH-AWD - Road Test

Away from the spotlight, Toyota shows this natural-gas-fired take on its mid-size hybrid sedan.

Toyota reserved its official L.A. auto show press conference for the new Lexus RX350 and RX450h crossovers, but the company also quietly showed off this twist on the Camry hybrid.

As you may have surmised, this concept replaces the Camry hybrid's gasoline fuel system with one designed to deliver compressed natural gas to the 2.4-liter inline-four. Two carbon-fiber-wrapped tanks hold the natural-gas equivalent of 8 gallons of gasoline at a maximum of 3600 psi, giving the CNG concept a 250-mile range. The tanks live in the spare-tire well, so the fancy 19-inch wheels wear run-flat Bridgestone rubber. Toyota estimates fuel economy of 32 mpg city and 34 mpg highway, a sacrifice of just a single city mpg against a standard Camry hybrid. The mileage may not be much different, but combusting CNG results in fewer particulate emissions versus burning regular gas, so the CNG concept is cleaner.

Keep Reading: Toyota Camry CNG Hybrid Concept - Auto Shows

Hybrids, electrics, and 500-hp exotics: L.A. looks ahead without forgetting what really matters.

November in Michigan brings the beginning of deer season, meaning our woods are stocked with camo-clad hunters patiently waiting for that big trophy buck to wander past. Out in L.A., it's a different story. The camo here is finally coming off dozens of new production and concept cars, and their makers are hoping the cars might be their next big meal ticket. We've stalked the show floor, sat through the press conferences, and here present to you the 10 biggest finds of the 2008 L.A. auto show.

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2010 Ford Fusion / Mercury Milan hybrids

The first hybrid car from the first company to bring a hybrid SUV to market, the Fusion and its Milan twin are the first hybrids to use an animation of leaves budding and dying on a tree branch to coax owners to drive in a more environmentally friendly manner. Ford's claims of a 47-mph top speed on battery alone and a 700-mile city range are pretty impressive, too. Ford also says that the Fusion and Milan—using Toyota's own technology under license—will better the Camry hybrid by five mpg in the city.

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2010 Ford Mustang

Ford's redesign of the Mustang didn't bring about any hefty mechanical change, but it updates the car in the area that needed it most. While the fifth-generation Mustang is an unquestionable performance bargain, the interior has always felt conspicuously bargain basement. No more, as the car is filled with plush new materials and—gasp!—real aluminum. Also included in the facelift is new sheetmetal that blends touches of early fourth-gen Mustang into the existing shape for a fresher look.

Keep Reading: Most Significant Debuts at the 2008 L.A. Auto Show

Though it's been around in one form or another for decades, Bentley's huge flagship Arnage/Azure is soon to be retired. The 2009 Bentley Azure T, launched at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show, is the model line's swan song—and with a 5.2-second 0-to-60-mph time and a 179-mph top speed, the three-ton ragtop represents a helluva way to go out.

But Bentley won't be without a flagship for long. The ultra-lux market "is our heartland," said Stuart McCullough, board member for sales and marketing, during an interview at the L.A. show. He went on to say that the Arnage replacement will have an "attitude toward craftsmanship and longevity." We take that to mean it will have classic styling and a palatial, extremely lavish interior that does not strive so hard to look modern as its market rival, the Rolls-Royce Phantom.

At the same time, we should also expect the new car to utilize more space-age materials such as the advanced lightweight-polymer seat tracks rendered through rapid prototyping that are found in the $400K Brooklands coupe and the new Azure T.

Finally, the new flagship will also be a torque monster, just like its predecessors. McCullough said that the company focuses on "performance delivery"—i.e. forceful acceleration through extremely high low-end torque. "Our engineers are obsessed with low-end torque." Good. So are we.

Keep Reading: Bentley's Best Yet to Come? - Auto Shows

 

Alongside a lineup of refreshed Ford Fusions and Mercury Milans, the Blue Oval has revealed details on the hybrid versions of the mid-size pair.

The hybrid system is similar to that used in the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids—which themselves use licensed technology from Toyota—although some significant improvements have been made. The gas-powered side of the equation is the same 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder, which produces 155 hp and 136 lb-ft of torque on its own. Several packaging improvements have been made, most notable being a revised nickel-metal-hydride battery that takes up 30 percent less space while also providing 20 percent more power. The cars' regenerative brakes, a staple technology for hybrids, are said to reclaim up to 94 percent of available kinetic energy.

These new hybrids also claim to reach up to 47 mph using electric power alone, which is pretty unbelievable; most hybrids on sale today, including Toyota's Prius, cap EV-mode speed at 25 mph or so. What's more, Ford expects the new hybrids to beat the Toyota Camry hybrid by 5 mpg in the city, while also bettering its highway numbers. (The Camry hybrid is rated at 33 city and 34 highway.) All of this fuel aversion will allow a 700-mile city range for the hybrid duo, says Ford.

Keep Reading: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid / Mercury Milan Hybrid - Car News