Compact Car

The British are an anachronistic sort. When it comes to automotive brands, they let Jaguar linger with designs that dated back decades until Ford, and subsequently Tata, acquired the storied luxury make. Same with Land Rover. Same with a number of other brands you may or may not have ever ...    Read more

It's amazing what a sex change can do for car brand. The Volkswagen Beetle, along with the Mazda (Miata) MX-5 and the Mercedes-Benz SLK, have been considered by mainstream male buyers as "women's cars." Men forced to drive any of these vehicles—or even worse, actually admit they're the owner—usually reply in ...    Read more

When BMW switched from an inline six-cylinder engine to a turbocharged four-cylinder for the 2012 BMW 328i sedan, there seemed to be a positive tradeoff in that the new, smaller engine would be able to deliver just as much power as the outgoing model, yet offer an astounding 36 mpg ...    Read more

One thing you learn quickly about Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn is that when he invests in something, he fully expects the result to be a return of profits many times over. That said, Ghosn has officially green-lighted a revival of the Datsun nameplate, and he's planning to use it to ...    Read more

While the Toyota GT 86 (known in the U.S. as the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ) has been getting a ton of buzz from the automotive press, it's the Toyota FT-Bh concept which hints to Toyota's future directions. The Toyota FT-Bh, which stands for "Future Toyota B-segment", ...    Read more

Details on the upcoming Chevrolet Spark subcompact hatchback continue to emerge. The latest is pricing. Automotive News reports the 2013 Chevy Spark will start around $14,660. This base Chevrolet Spark will most likely be equipped with the 1.2-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a five-speed manual transmission. More expensive models of the ...    Read more

What does it say about an automotive manufacturer that commissions a DJ to commission an avant garde art party at Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art with which to unveil its newest concept? What more does it say about that vehicle, or at least what the manufacturer thinks about that ...    Read more

Rivals must be envious of Toyota at the moment. The automaker is struggling to fill demand of its all-new Toyota Prius c which went on sale this month. The 2012 Toyota Prius c is the second vehicle to join the original Prius in Toyota's hybrid sub-brand, following the larger ...    Read more

It only took three days this week for the hot new 2013 Toyota Prius c, the five-door hatchback hybrid, to catch up to and surpass the combined February sales of the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf. With 1,201 Prius c sold, beginning March 12, the compact Toyota hybrid is one ...    Read more

Seeing Heather Peters' crusade firsthand as she took on Honda as a former lawyer looking for some parity for her 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid's lackluster fuel economy looked inspiring. As it came out, she was awarded $9,867 in damages for her car's subpar 29 mpg observed average versus its original ...    Read more

When it comes to changing the styling prowess of their sedans, Volkswagen is as timid as a hydrophobic stepping onto the log flume at Splash Mountain. Witness the off-shoot CC, a curvier Passat for those who want their German-engineered sedan to actually look good but not actually replace it outright. ...    Read more

Fiat says it's poised to have a big year in 2012,  after sales of the Fiat 500 missed the Italian automaker's expectations when the cinquento was reintroduced into the U.S. market last year. The 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth is set to hit dealership studio showroom floors next month, ...    Read more

Were you worried about Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne going hungry after not collecting a paycheck from Chrysler in 2011? Well, you can breathe a sigh of relief. It turns out that while Marchionne didn't collect on his 2011 salary ...    Read more

Could a smaller version of Chrysler's 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine be on its way? That seems to be the case. Two sources familiar with plans of a new 3.2-liter version of Chrysler's award-winning Pentastar V-6 engine told Automotive News it's less than a year away from becoming a reality. The ...    Read more

Would-be buyers of the 2013 Subaru BRZ sports car had better rush (virtually) to the company's website. Subaru dealerships they'll only have 6000 of the hot coupes available to sell for model year 2013. The Subaru BRZ is a front-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car. The Subaru BRZ is the first ...    Read more

As the first full week of March comes to a close, we take a few minutes to reflect on everything that happened over the last five days in the automotive world. This past week brought a whole bunch of new or redesigned vehicles into the world, using the Geneva Motor ...    Read more

For the second straight year, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has declined his annual salary and bonus as the Detroit-based automaker works to nurse itself back to full-strength once again. Don't worry about Marchionne. He's also in charge of running Fiat S.p.A.—Chrysler's parent company—and as head of the Italian automaker he ...    Read more

General Motors has issued details on the full engine lineup for the upcoming 2013 Chevrolet Malibu sedan. We already know about the maximum fuel economy offered by the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco model, which gets an EPA-estimated 25 mpg city and 37 mpg. The Chevy Malibu achieves these figures due to ...    Read more

The redesigned 2012 Nissan Versa sedan is very safe, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The IIHS awarded the subcompact its best rating in all crash categories, including front, rear, side, and rollover tests, earning the Versa the coveted "Top Safety Pick" designation. Not that the 2011 Nissan Versa ...    Read more

In the latest installment of Motor Trend's Ignition series the 2012 Volkswagen Golf R is put through its pacing to see if the hot hatch deserves the "R" badge. The 2012 Volkswagen Golf R is a step above the GTI, with a 256-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged four cylinder engine mated to ...    Read more

Chrysler has big plans for the 2013 Ram 1500. As revealed in papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the next Ram will get the award-winning Pentastar V-6 as the base engine, along with an eight-speed automatic transmission. The addition of the Pentastar V-6 engine comes as a welcome sign ...    Read more

There's lots of talk about natural gas these days, with increased demand for the cheaper, cleaner fuel. Honda sees this as an opportunity, keeping an eye on the fuel's recent popularity boom to get more people into its 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas models. The only problem is that compressed natural ...    Read more

The all-new Dodge Dart sedan has been garnering strong, positive reaction from the usually cynical press since its debut at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Since then, Chrysler has been whetting the press and public's appetite for all things 2013 Dodge Dart from engine information (2.0 and 2.4-liter four-cylinder); ...    Read more

Manabu Nishimae, President of Honda Europe, announced the automaker's plans for the European automotive market at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show this week, and dropped a few other tidbits of the company's future engine plans that could make their way Stateside as well. The major jaw-dropping news is the ...    Read more

Hyundai dips its toes into the European-market pool more often than we think. The grossly underrated Elantra Touring is corporate-speak for the Hyundai i30, sold in Europe with a dizzying array of diesel engines—but in America, it is bunny-hopping on a more familiar nameplate. Likewise, right now at the Geneva Motor ...    Read more