First Drive Reviews

The 2011 Saab 9-5 sedan is quite possibly one of the best new efforts of the model year, with a great mix of supreme isolation, driver involvement, and uniquely Saab character throughout.

A mid-engined masterpiece of chassis design now gets the thrust it needs to become world-class.

Fighting for a top spot in the affordable sports coupe market means one thing: measuring up the BMW M3. That's been the game for decades now, and it hasn't changed with the latest iteration, despite the newest model's departure from much of the past M3's formula. In fact, the departure has been so...

You may have already read reviews of the 2011 BMW 1-Series M Coupe (aka 1M), but if you have, you've likely suffered through strained historical analogies, detailed comparisons to previous M cars, and sheets of performance data. You'll find a minimum of that here. Instead, I offer you a fellow...

While we have truly unique vehicles like the next-generation 2013 Saab 9-3 to look forward to—or at least hope for, given the current uncertain state of Saab's future—in the meantime the Swedish automaker is subsisting on designs directly shared with its former owner, General Motors...

If you've never been to the Los Cabos region of the southern Baja California peninsula, you should start making plans now. While you're at it, try to find a way to secure a 2012 BMW 650i Convertible to drive while you're there. I make the recommendation based on my recent trip to drive the car at...

When it was launched as a 2009 model, the Acura TL was the most extreme definition of Acura's new styling direction. It was a polarizing design, with a brash front end and beak-like silver grille surround. According to Acura marketers, buyers in Miami and New York loved it, but Californians and...

No one needs an Aston Martin in their lives, but life is a damn sight better when you have one. This is what all the great philosophers--Deepak Chopra, Dr. Andrew Weil, Paul John Teutel--meant by enlightenment. I'm cruising some little Spanish town with my own senior-citizen section cheering me on...

The Geneva Motor Show is over, but the craptastic weather's following the whiny, overly privileged herd of automotive journos stampeding south for assorted first drives. Porsche's Cayman R drive meets up with pouring rain in Mallorca; by the time we're in the Canary Islands for a two-parter with...

The 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK still may be the least honed, least intense of the trio of pricey German roadsters, but it's ripened over its 15 years and three generations. New for 2012, the latest SLK has pretty much steamrolled over any trace of its dainty past and hot-paved it with real...

High Gear Media Editorial Director Marty Padgett spent part of last week in Monterey, California driving the 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 (ah, the perks of sitting in the big chair), and he has reported back to us. His first drive can be found on HGM's luxury/performance site Motor Authority, and...

By the time you've settled into lap three around Laguna Seca, the Boss is shouting at you and you don't even care. This isn't your office, so revel in it. This Boss hammers your tympani with a proprietary blend of pleasure and pain--sound familiar?--but none of the kvetching over expense reports or...

We'll have a first-drive review for you in the next day or so, but in order to whet your appetite further, here's a photo gallery of the 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302. If you'd like to see the Boss in action, click here for the video. The 2012 Boss 302 will have 440 horsepower from its 302 cubic-inch...

A history that includes Parnelli Jones, Trans-Am racing, and one of the largest escalations in the muscle car arms race is just the tip of the iceberg with the 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302. This gallery will give you a sample of what it's like in person. A top speed of 155 mph, over 1.0g of lateral...

Your humble editor will be heading to sunny Southern California to drive the 2011 Camaro Convertible this week, and I'd like to know if any of you in readerland have any questions for myself or the Camaro engineers, PR folks, and designers, regarding the upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible...

Press launches are odd things, especially when you're dealing with a 556-horsepower super-wagon on a track you've never driven before. Limited time, restricted driving conditions, and unfamiliarity can conspire to put more noise in the signal you're getting from the car than you can filter out. But...

We just spent a day driving the 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Wagon around the foggy, ridiculously gorgeous Monterey Peninsula, topped with a couple dozen laps at Laguna Seca. We can't tell you what we think about the driving characterstics of the car for a few days yet, but this teaser video of some of the...

This past weekend, while most of you were enjoying a first real taste of fall, High Gear Media spent a Saturday drilling around the mountains above Cannes in the 2012 Ford C-Max. That's in both versions--the "Grand" C-Max coming to the American market in about 14 months, and the shorter...

I've just threaded through a tightly banked turn called the Half Pipe, on the way toward another area called the Pucker Factor. And I'm behind the wheel of a VOLVO. Truth be told, there's a lot more to Volvo than there used to be: This time, Volvo is looking beyond just those who want style and...

On the surface, the 2011 Subaru WRX doesn't sound all that exciting. Sure, it's got a turbo 2.5-liter Boxer four, but only 265 horsepower? The Honda Accord makes more than that. Yeah, it has all-wheel drive, but so does the Lincoln MKS. It wears the widebody treatment of the WRX STI, but it's about...