Automotive Reviews
Posts tagged luxury
2011 Hyundai Equus
Apr 11th
All those old adages about it being good to exceed your perceived limits are true. Going above and beyond what you’ve done before adds a zest to life that can’t be found in less ambitious pursuits.
Just ask Hyundai. The Korean manufacturer, once known for selling the cheapest cars in North America, has just thrown down a challenge to Mercedes and Lexus…and the truly amazing thing is that it’s not a hollow threat. The Hyundai Equus is here, and it’s a bona fide competitor to the ultra-luxurious executive transporters by the German and Japanese marques that have controlled the market since they pushed Cadillac and Lincoln out of the nest a few decades back. More >
2011 BMW X5 XDrive 35d
Mar 27th
When BMW introduced its first SUV, the X5, in 1999, it seemed like a pointless departure for the brand, a bit of bandwagon-jumping that was at best superfluous and at worst ridiculous. BMW proved everyone wrong, though; the X5 combined BMW’s automotive handling expertise with just enough towing capacity and off-road ability to take the sport-utility class to the next level. Other high-end SUVs have followed the X5′s lead.
These days, the X5 is more of a large, wide station wagon that can go anywhere than it is a truck of any sort. It’s still got the ability to tow and haul, of course, but with a fresh redesign that adds more painted surfaces in place of utilitarian plastic, the X5 is unlikely to be anyone’s workhorse no matter what its towing capacity is. After spending a week with the diesel-powered X5 XDrive 35d, it’s clear that this sport-ute is more about a comfortable ride and a high-style arrival than it is about tackling muddy ditches. More >
2011 Mercedes SLS AMG
Feb 17th
It seems like an opportunity too good to be true: I am at a multi-vehicle drive event, and the Mercedes SLS AMG is sitting in the paddock unattended. Getting a moment alone with an exotic car when there are sixty-five other automotive journalists present is akin to getting an audience with the Pope on Easter Sunday. These things just don’t happen.
Without hesitating or breaking into a run, I approach the SLS AMG, whose driver’s door stands invitingly open. Nobody challenges me, or jumps into the driver’s seat before I can. I take the chance. I slip inside and pull the gullwing door shut behind me, blocking out the sounds from the track. I find myself wrapped instantly in taut red leather. I’ve sat in the Italian hypercars–Lamborghini Murcielago and Gallardo, Ferrari 599 GTB and Scaglietti—and they’ve never done all that much for me. The Mercedes SLS AMG feels different. It feels like a place that I want to be in. Where the Ferrari and Lamborghini seem to be trying to intimidate their passengers into leaving, the SLS AMG is a chamber of awesome secrets and adventures, just waiting to be activated. I feel instantly at home, in a car-guy-connecting-to-a-car way that doesn’t happen every day. This feels like the first time I sat in a Miata. This is fated. This car WANTS me to drive it, and if anybody tries to keep it from happening, they’re going to have a fight on their hands. More >