First Drive Reviews

The task automakers face when they have to update established sporty coupes or roadsters, like the Audi TT, is nothing to be envied. As much as we like seeing the result, it calls for a series of tough decisions: Do you evolve the design, the technology, and the driving experience, as you usually...

At some point in the early 2000s, Lexus approached peak grandma. Cars like the SC convertible and the ES sedan were arguably its best efforts, just when Cadillac was brewing up a revival and BMW putting out some of its best machinery before electronic controls became a generation's voodoo curse. A...

What do you do when Chevy hands you the keys to a 2015 Corvette Stingray and an open run at the Milford Road Course? You flog it for all you’re worth, whether you know the track or not. That’s just what we did yesterday. Of course, this wasn’t your usual 7-speed manual Stingray...

As much as General Motors has been in the news for getting things wrong of late, Cadillac deserves notice for how much it’s been getting right over the past decade, too. From the CTS sedan that kicked off the brand’s revival as a world-class marque, to the ATS sedan that helped cement...

Both the Aston Martin Rapide S and the Vanquish have a handful of things in common. As they should, considering they're both from the same automaker: styling cues can be traced between each machine; the guttural growl of the 6.0-liter V-12 engine cuts through traffic as quickly as the cars...

Muscle cars, like those of the 2015 Dodge Challenger lineup—and yes, that includes the 707-horsepower SRT Hellcat—have long been emblematic of all that’s American. They’ve always been about cramming a V-8—a very large, lusty sounding V-8, preferably—under the...

Cruising at a cool mile of altitude over a carpet of lush green Scottish turf—Highlands to the left, Lowlands to the right—our seaplane bobbles over some ripples in the wake of Ben Lomond. In a few minutes, we top out at something like 165 miles per hour, not bad for an airborne mutt...

Life is good. Life is especially good when you’re in Tuscany behind the wheel of the 2015 Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG Coupe. Life gets downright magical when threading your way through hills dotted with castellos, pointing the S63 two-door down a picturesque winding two-lane and loosing the horses...

Even in today’s supercar-rich automotive landscape, Ferrari stands out as special and awe-inspiring. Look at the critical numbers for the 2014 458 Spider that we just drove, and it’s in an elite tier among just a few of the world’s top performance machines. The high-revving...

Quick--ignore these unabashedly erotic images, pretend you never saw a thing...and name this car. It’s a mid-engined two-seater not from Germany or Japan. It flaunts a supercar monocoque and a humbler suspension. It cauterizes corners courtesy a dual-clutch gearbox and turbocharged power...

Al Oppenheiser can rattle off from memory the Chevy Camaro's many brushes with doom. Let's not even count the one that threatens overhead--a blanket of thick, low clouds intensifying from light to dark. No, the pony car's chief engineer can rattle off the times and ways the Camaro skated through...

The Nissan GT-R is outrageous. Even if your exposure to seeing one has been limited to watching one race by on the street, or to choosing it in Gran Turismo, you know that it's larger than life in some respects. There's no surprise it continues to carry the nickname 'Godzilla' from the enthusiast...

With the 2015 MKC, Lincoln finally has a model that's going to play well in California. Let’s face it: Those in Dearborn focus so much on doing the right thing for Lincoln, the Brand. But outside of the Midwest, for the most part, Town Cars are Town Cars; Navigators are Navigators; and...

There are those who harp on the 650S, somehow deriding it for being an updated, more P1-like version of the 12C. Those people are missing the point entirely. The 650S isn’t just an updated 12C with a new face; it’s a better 12C. And that makes it a very good car. With the 12C already...

The Volvo V60 Polestar, we were told before getting behind the wheel for the first time, should not be judged against traditional competitors. Instead, says Volvo, it should be judged on the smile it leaves on your face after a drive. DON'T MISS: Mercedes-Benz 300SL Wrecked After Mille Miglia...

When last we left the Jaguar F-Type, it was hustling substantial ass somewhere on some choice, shall-remain-unnamed mountain roads of north Georgia. Locked in close competition for our hearts and minds with the Porsche Cayman S, Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG, and Chevy Corvette Stingray, the F-Type was a...

The 2015 BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports coupe is a striking design that draws attention wherever it goes. Park it on the street, and you'll be swarmed by pedestrians with cellphones, taking pictures in reverent silence. MUST WATCH: Big Block Smart Car Defies All Stereotypes: Video Tell them that it's...

The Hyundai Genesis arrived more than five years ago, true to its name, at the genesis of a new era for luxury. At the time, the luxury market only had what amounted to a collective hiccup; but the recession that ensued gave many who could afford a luxury vehicle just a little more pause about...

It’s not often you’re behind a professional race car driver who’s pushing flat out in a Porsche 911 Turbo S, and you think to yourself, “I wish this guy would pick up the pace a bit.” But that’s exactly what you find yourself thinking when you’re chasing...

The essence of the classic Mini Cooper is easy to define: it's endearingly small. What happens when you mess with the "small" part? In more than a decade since Mini transformed into MINI, its makers have laid progressively larger patches on the road with models like the Clubman, the Paceman and the...