Not everyone can survive owning an smaller economy car, but can’t afford something high-end. Nor can they use an impractical sports car for the everyday slog. That doesn’t mean that this increasing group suffer by driving something drab. So here are some cars that are priced right for their markets and offer some enjoyment of driving to the owner.

2010 Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ

The Fusion and MKZ brand new for 2010 to better compete with the offerings from Honda, Toyota, and Chevrolet for the Ford while the Lincoln goes after Infiniti, Lexus and Cadillac.

The Fusion is priced to compete and even undercut its rivals, with a base price of under $20,000. Most other competitors a few thousand more. The MKZ is a bit more expensive, with $34,600 buying you leather, wood and chrome accents on the exterior.

Both cars are all-new this year, riding on the new Mazda6 platform again. The Fusion retains the three-bar front grill to keep in line with the previous-gen car, but now has a more pronounced front-end and Terminator-like headlights. The rear gets more styling cues in the bumper and trunk lid while the LED taillights dip in one corner to give the rear more of an appeal. Continue Reading…

What?! ARRGH! In the words of Charlie Brown, ARRGH!

Mitsubishi recently announced that they have decided to pull the plug on their factory operations racing in the Dakar Rally as well as all other cross-country rally events. You know, the usual (for this period) reasons: economic downturn etc etc etc. Still, this is a blow.

Mitsubishi has run, and done very, very well in the Dakar rally on twenty-six occasions, winning a total of twelve times, including seven consecutive victories. So for them to drop out of the Dakar is sort of like the Yankees dropping out of baseball.

Then again …

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Ever since man began making cars for more than just getting from A to B, two-door coupes have been a sign of automotive enthusiasm and overall sportiness that a four-door sedan simply could not fulfill. A recent wave of sport sedans and four-door coupes have been introduced to the market, but for us sports car enthusiasts, they just aren’t good enough.

For the purposes of this article, we’re referring to a sedan as a car with four doors, and coupe as a car with two doors, even though the technical definition of the two terms are slightly different. Please see Coupe vs Sedan for more information regarding the technical differences.

So which new cars are produced as sedan-only, when they should be offered as coupes? Keep reading… Continue Reading…

Oh man, there goes another one. We can add Mitsubishi to the already alarmingly long list of automakers that are not going to the next Detroit International Auto Show. Currently, the list includes Porsche, Suzuki, Ferrari, Land Rover and Rolls-Royce, and Nissan, and now, add to that Mitsubishi.

Now, Mitsubishi isn’t the biggest player, actually, not even the player that it once was. At the moment, they have only 5 models (I believe) in the North American market. So Mitsu pulling out isn’t a really really huge blow, but still … it makes you wonder, doesn’t it. Especially when you notice that Nissan (!) has also pulled out.

Now, a lot of these companies aren’t ditching ALL US auto shows, just Detroit. Indeed, a lot of them are putting more emphasis on the Los Angeles Show. So to me, this isn’t a dis to the NA market as a whole, just more of a shot across the bow of the once proud USS Detroit; flagship of the U.S. auto industry.

If the past few weeks haven’t pointed out just how shaky the ground that GM, Ford and Chrysler is standing on (the begging to congress, the plummeting sales figures, the idling of plants etc. etc. and sadly, etc.), then the fact that Porsche, Suzuki, Ferrari, Land Rover and Rolls-Royce, and Nissan, and Mitsubishi announcements just punctuates the instability.

OK guys, you SAY that you make the best cars in the world; you SAY that the American auto worker is the best in the world … well dammit, you better start making good on those statements, and right fast.

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For those of you out there that have not seen any coverage of the Paris to Dakar race, you really should check it, it’s flat out amazing

It’s like a round from the World Rally Championship, only more insane, and somehow deadlier. This years running was canceled because of “terrorist fears”. Most of the time, that’s a BS spin on a situation but for Paris Dakar, it’s a serious worry. I remember a few years back, one crew drifted off course in the desert, stumbled upon some separatists, and were SHOT right then and there. BANG!

I know the crowd can get kind of rowdy at a NASCAR race, but when was the last time you heard of someone from the infield and Darlington snatching up Jimmy Johnson from the middle of the race and shooting him?

So clearly, you’re going to need a special kind of racing car to handle an event like this.

Here’s Mitsubishi’s answer:

The Mitsubishi Racing Lancer, equipped with a 3.0-liter, turbocharged, V6 diesel engine putting out 254 HP and a stump pulling 480 lb-ft of torque. all that grunt goes to the ground via a Ricardo-designed sequential six speed transmission driving all four wheels.

Bitchin’!

Paris to Dakar will be back next year (a safer, less terrorist infected route is promised), so we’ll have to bide our time until January of ‘09, but when it does roll around, I’ll be watching.

Source: Jalopnik

Recently, my brother moved from the Big Apple back to Pittsburgh for a new job. Since he would walk, take the subway, or catch a cab if he needed to go anywhere, he never needed a vehicle in Manhattan. However, the sprawling suburbs of the Steel City have not been blessed with an adequate public transportation system. So he is in the market for a new car.

The ideal car for him would be something small, four-door, and frugal on gas, but at the same time, fun to drive. There are plenty of vehicles that fit this niche, but after some initial searching and brand preferences, he narrowed it down to three choices: the 2008 Mazda3s Touring, 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS, and the 2009 Toyota Corolla XRS. Each car was similarly equipped, with power everything, manual transmission, sunroof, upgraded stereo, sport-appearance packages, etc.

As my family’s resident car guru, I was invited along as a second opinion and to make sure he knew what to look for and how to feel each vehicle. So, I thought I would do a little comparison of each vehicle for you all to enjoy.

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