Car Reviews

The Toyota Land Cruiser is dead. Long live the Lexus LX570. Should anybody miss America’s Most Expensive Toyota? Should we rightfully be singing hosannas because this snazzy Lexus version only costs $995 more to start (or even $1,335 less than the last Land Cruiser Heritage Edition we sampled)? Maybe not. Is the Lexus LX570 Luxurious Enough? Luxury has been liberally applied to this gussied Toyota Land Cruiser in the form of shiny zebrano-like walnut wood veneers, red perforated semi-aniline leather seats, and lovely stitched materials adorning the dash, door uppers, and center console. And yet the legacy architecture hamstrings the LX570 with old-fashioned artifacts like the small, low-resolution info screen between the analog dials and the generations-old infotainment display that ...

Bentley Continental GT Full Overview The limited-edition 2021 Bentley Mulliner Bacalar was intended to be one of the stars of the 2020 Geneva Motor Show. But COVID-19 had other ideas, and with Geneva’s sudden cancellation, Bentley was forced to forgo the pomp and circumstance of launching the Bacalar at an event that has in the past hosted the debuts of style icons such as the Jaguar E-Type and Lamborghini Countach. Instead, Bentley’s first two-seat car in 90 years was revealed via a direct data dump into media inboxes around the globe. In the end, it didn’t matter. All 12 Bacalars were quickly snapped up without a single customer having seen an actual car, and not one canceled their order even as the pandemic threw the global economy into chaos. Anxious Bentley boss Adri...

We’ve been told that our cars must change, that they pollute and maim … and this can no longer be; Congress and DOT have decreed it. Some believe that this is only a phase we’re going through, that it, like all things, must pass. In our hearts, though, we know that it’s true and it really will happen. Still, those of us who love cars hope and work toward the end that there will somehow remain some trace of the excitement that we cherish in the breed of antiseptic transport modules that is to follow—vehicles conceived without emotion like test-tube babies in sterile laboratories. The Safety Cars are coming; we’ve already seen their ESV vanguard. Padding, periscopes, and airbags: the wave of the Future. “The present-day concept of the automobile is outmode...

Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross Full Overview Mitsubishi is picking up speed. Not dramatically—think a brisk walk compared to its prior shamble—but the Japanese automaker is on a bit of a roll with its new products. We were duly impressed with the all-new, ground-up redesign of the 2022 Outlander, a three-row SUV that bodes well for the company’s direction. Conversely, the Outlander drive program also slotted us behind the wheel of the refreshed 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, a compact SUV that reminds us the brand still has work to do. That’s not to say the 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is a bad compact crossover. But the old—and new—Eclipse Cross isn’t at the top of our list of favorite small SUVs. The refreshed model somewhat relegates the old version to memory, but it’...

Ford Mustang Full Overview Rest in thunder, 2016 to 2020 Shelby GT350. Your ethereal 5.2-liter Voodoo V-8 was too good for this low-redline world; not even the recently introduced, supercar-baiting GT500’s 7,500-rpm cutoff can match your 8,250-rpm supernova scream. Your loss is so profoundly felt, we’ve been casting about for some car—any car—to fill the hole in our heart. But that car won’t be the new 2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1. Not because it’s not great, but because it’s not supposed to be. Conceptually, Ford asks you to consider the Mach 1 as an heir to the 2012 to 2013 Boss 302, as they’re both hopped-up, handling-focused evolutions of the contemporary Mustang GT. We partially agree, but that’s because the old, hardcore Boss is best lined up wit...

Jeep Wrangler Full Overview If we told you there’s a new vehicle on the block with an output of 470 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque from a 392-cubic-inch V-8, a zero-to-60-mph time of 4.5 seconds, a quarter-mile time of 13 seconds, and that it’s an all-wheel-drive convertible, would you guess we’re talking about a Jeep Wrangler? Maybe—if we also told you the doors come off, the windshield folds down, and it still has a crawl ratio of 48:1. Meet the 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392. What Even Is the 2021 Jeep Wrangler 392?  After years of customer requests, the wait is over and Jeep has finally put a factory V-8 in the Wrangler for the first time, and, boy, is this one worth the wait. But before we get into driving details, we should tell you what the 392’s eng...