2014 Toyota Corolla

When we first saw photos of the 11th-generation Toyota Corolla, it got us thinking about the AE86. To drifters and import hot-rodders, the twin-cam, rear-drive AE86 Corollas of the 1980s are venerated icons. Given the aggressive (for Toyota) styling of the new Corolla we felt a twinge of hope because when the Corolla went front-drive in the late 1980s, it also went to sleep. There's nothing wrong with a good afternoon nap, of course, and the 39-plus-million Corollas sold thus far have provided countless reliable miles to their owners. But few have been fun.
Three trim levels (L, LE, and S) carry over from last year’s model, and Toyota adds a new high-mileage variant, dubbed LE Eco. There's no denying the new Corolla is a visual step up from the current version that blends into the background so quickly as to be darn near invisible. With design cues shared with the recent Furia concept, the face has more character, aided by sculpted LED headlamps that are now standard on all Corollas. There are token fender flares and the rear design seems rather upmarket for the compact segment, if a bit generic. Wind-tunnel work yielded a flatter underbody, the S and LE Eco getting closeout panels underneath for better aero-efficiency.
The Old Smooth and Stretch
In the process of crafting the new Corolla’s sheetmetal, Toyota stretched it as well. Although width and height remain within an inch of the last-gen model’s, both the wheelbase and overall length are up by 3.9 inches, and that’s a big plus for rear-seat space. Toyota shifted the rear seat hip point back nearly three inches. Slimming the front seatbacks added more legroom for those in the second row, while Toyota claims
denser pads and foam inserts in the rear seats add comfort. The rear seatbacks fold and are split 60/40.

The longer, sleeker shape looks best, of course, on the S version with its 17-inch aluminum wheels that give the car a proper stance, not the running-on-tiptoes demeanor of the base model with 15-inch steel wheels and hubcaps.
Upgraded Equipment
There is no stripper model per se, with even the base trim offering standard air conditioning, power windows, power door locks, eight airbags and today's requisite Bluetooth connectivity. Just as expected are the options, from an info/nav screen to heated seats to various sound systems and SofTex faux leather on the seats.
Where the current Corolla has an instrument pod and vertical center stack for controls, the redesign creates a more horizontal form. There are two gauge packages: the S models have two dials flanking a digital 3.5-inch readout panel, while the other models get three gauges, with the central speedometer featuring a small readout. The new horizontal one-knob-and-five-button control panel for the climate-control system doesn’t look as handy as the old three-knob layout, but it thankfully avoids the multiple menus of more elaborate setups in pricier cars. The center stack is decked out with high-gloss piano-black surfaces, which look quite nice when just cleaned, but not so long after. Toyota apparently spent considerable time quieting the new-gen Corolla's interior. Noise-attenuation measures include an acoustic glass windscreen, a seal between the cowl and windscreen, better floor-carpet insulation, fender sound insulators, and a silencer pad on the inner dash. Continued...

New 2013 Lexus LX 570 Prices

A full-size luxury SUV, the 2013 Lexus LX570 is powered by a 5.7-liter V8 engine that produces 383 hp for a towing capacity of 7,000 lbs. 4WD is paired with a 6-speed sequential shift automatic transmission that produces 12 mpg city and 17 mpg highway. Features include eight passenger seating, four-zone climate control, premium audio, 20-inch wheels, backup camera, front/side monitor, intuitive parking assist, dual-screen DVD rear seat entertainment system, surround sound audio system, cool box, and hands-free phone capabilities. Safety is comprised of advanced airbags, pre-collision system, smart stop technology, anti-lock braking system (ABS), and vehicle stability control (VSC). The LX570 is backed by a 4-year/50,000-mile warranty. 

New 2013 Infiniti FX37 Prices

A mid-size luxury SUV, the 2013 Infiniti FX37 is powered by a 3.7-liter V6 engine that produces 325 hp. Both drivetrains, standard FWD and optional AWD, are paired to a 7-speed automatic transmission that enables the FX37 to achieve 17 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. Features include HID headlights, LED brakelights, glass moonroof, power rear liftgate, dual exhaust with polished finishers, push-button ignition, heated/cooled seats, leather seats, 11-speaker sound system, steering-wheel mounted controls, hands-free phone capabilities, navigation system, rearview monitor, and voice recognition. Safety is comprised of an advanced airbag system, electronic brake force distribution (EBD), brake assist (BA), anti-lock braking (ABS), blind-spot warning, lane departure warning, traction control, and vehicle dynamic control (VDC). The FX37 is backed by a 4-year/60,000-mile warranty. 

New 2013 Mazda CX-9 Prices

Updated with redesigned front and rear fascias, the 2013 Mazda CX-9 is a full-size crossover vehicle with seating for seven. The CX-9 is powered by a 3.7-liter V6 engine that produces 273 hp and 270 lb-ft of torque. Drivetrain options consist of a standard FWD and an optional active torque split AWD. Equipped with a 6-speed automatic transmission the CX-9 achieves an EPA estimated 16 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. Features include HID headlights, power moonroof, 20-inch wheels, three-zone automatic climate control, back-up camera, hands-free phone capability, keyless entry, leather trim, heated seats, premium surround sound, and navigation. Safety is comprised of advanced airbags, rollover protection, anti-lock braking, electronic brake force distribution, dynamic stability control, traction control system, roll stability control, and blind-spot monitoring. The CX-9 is backed by a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty.  

New 2013 Chevrolet Equinox Prices

Now available with new colors and a brand new engine, the 2013 Chevrolet Equinox is a mid-size crossover SUV with a towing capacity of 3,500 lbs. Under the hood drivers will find a 2.4-liter direct injected 4-cylinder engine that produces 182 hp and 172 lb-ft of torque. For increased performance Chevrolet offers an optional 3.6-liter direct injected V6 that yields 292 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque. FWD is paired to a 6-speed automatic transmission enabling the Equinox to achieve an EPA estimated 22 mpg city and 32 mpg highway. Features include 19-inch wheels, heated leather seats, 8-way power adjustable front seats, USB port, available rear seat entertainment system, Chevrolet MyLink, and a power liftgate. Safety is comprised of advanced airbags, StabiliTrak, Electronic Stability Control System (ESC), traction control system (TCS), electronic brake force distribution (EBD), and anti-lock braking system (ABS). The Equinox is backed by a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty. 

2014 Chevrolet SS: Chevy's RWD LS3-Powered Flagship

Ages from now, when we look back at 2008–2013 with 20/20 hindsight, we'll likely deem GM's quick-rinse bankruptcy a blessing. Case in point: the 2014 Chevrolet SS sedan arriving later this year. This car is an amalgam of a once-revered nameplate (SS) and one of the best cars developed by pre-Chapter 11 GM, the Pontiac G8. Without GM's trip through the reorganization wringer, a rear-drive Chevy flagship might not have happened.

Way, way back in the company's rowdier days, Corvette patron Zora Arkus-Duntov affixed an SS badge (double-secret code for "super sport") to GM's first purpose-built racer. Thanks to a magnesium body draped over a steel-tube space frame inspired by the Mercedes 300SL's skeleton, the Corvette SS weighed a lean 1850 pounds dry. A front-mounted 4.6-liter V-8 equipped with fuel injection and aluminum heads delivered 310 horsepower at 6400 rpm. Piloted by the best shoes of the day—Fangio, Fitch, Moss, and Taruffi—the two-seat SS was quick, but a lack of development stopped it after only 23 laps at the 1957 12-hour Sebring Grand Prix.

The SS evolved into the more successful Sting Ray racer that begat the 1963 Corvette (C2) Sting Ray production model. In 1961, Chevy resurrected the badge for an optional ($54) Impala package consisting of various chassis, interior, and exterior upfits. Over the years, the double-S escutcheon has been hung haphazardly on Chevys ranging from convertible pickups to front-drive Impalas to current V-8–powered Camaros.

The new Chevrolet SS is an updated version of the Australian-built Pontiac G8, which thrived for barely 18 months before sinking, along with GM's "excitement" division, in 2009. When it knocked off Dodge's Charger R/T in our June 2008 comparison test, we dubbed the G8 GT "the BMW that Pontiac always wanted to build." When it perished the following year, GM's Bob Lutz said the full-size four-door G8 was too good to waste, and he pledged that it would reappear as a Chevrolet.

Lutz's forecast was dead-on accurate. The Chevy Camaro, essentially a shorter-wheelbase (112.3-inch) coupe version of the G8, arrived before the onset of Pontiac's death throes. In late 2009, Chevrolet announced a 118.5-inch-wheelbase Caprice PPV perp coach built on GM's large rear-drive platform, which was formerly code-named Zeta. The new SS is the meat in the sandwich. It rides on the size-medium 114.8-inch wheelbase of the old G8, but features a host of updates such as re-creased sheetmetal, a new electrical architecture, a retuned chassis, and contemporary Chevrolet interior and exterior earmarks. All Zeta siblings have unibody construction, front struts, and a multilink rear suspension.

The production SS due this fall will have an LS3 6.2-liter V-8 burbling under its hood, backed up by a six-speed automatic with standard paddle shifters. Packing 415 horsepower and 415 lb-ft of torque—as well as a 3.27:1 final drive—Chevy says the car should sprint to 60 mph in the five-second range.

Decelerative responsibilities fall on Brembo brakes; hardware includes 14-inch front rotors, 12.8-inch rear rotors, and four-piston fixed front calipers. Sticky Bridgestone performance rubber—measuring 245/40 at the front and 275/35 out back—cozies up to 19-inch forged wheels. The hood and trunklid are aluminum. There are, of course, LED daytime running lights.

SSs will be sold fully loaded with top-shelf infotainment gear, HID headlamps, stitched leather trim, the latest collision-warning equipment, and Chevy's first application of automatic parking assist. The only option will be a power sunroof, so expect a sticker crowding $40,000 when the car arrives in showrooms at the end of the year. Since the efficiency upgrades of the new LT1 V-8—direct injection, variable valve timing, and cylinder deactivation—are not included, factor some gas-guzzler tax into your budget.

The SS is Chevy's new nameplate hero in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series. After winning 10 straight manufacturers' championships with "Monte Carlos" and "Impalas" from 2003 to 2012, Chevy is now the only brand with a racer profiled after a pukka V-8, rear-drive production model. (Dodge withdrew its "Charger" from NASCAR after Brad Keselowski piloted one to the 2012 drivers' championship; Ford races "Fusions," and Toyota competes with "Camrys.") The Chevrolet SS race car debuts at this year's Daytona 500 as a 17-car phalanx fielded by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, Furniture Row Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Phoenix Racing, Richard Childress Racing, and Stewart-Haas Racing.

The SS is essentially a spear aimed at the hearts of the Chrysler 300 SRT8, Dodge Charger SRT8, and Ford Taurus SHO, but it's a stopgap measure. That could change in a couple of years when the production baton is expected to pass from GM's Elizabeth, Australia, plant to a U.S. assembly facility, and the heavy, elderly underpinnings of the old platform are replaced by a new large rear-drive platform engineered to serve under Chevrolet, Cadillac, and possibly Buick flagships. (More on GM's future RWD plans here and here.)

Meanwhile, for our role in pulling GM back from the abyss, we tax-paying enthusiasts deserve this street-fighting SS with LT1 power and a stick shift.

2015 Ford Mustang: Getting Sprayed Down with a Can of Retro-Be-Gone

Call it Ford's Declaration of Independents. After half a century of log-axle Mustangs with only one brief experiment with an independently suspended rear end (the 1999–2004 SVT Cobra), Ford will hang a split-and-jointed drive axle beneath the 2015 Mustang's hindquarters. Considering that both the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger already have independent rears, it's not quite as revolutionary as "We hold these truths . . ." But even with today's outdated rigid axle, the Mustang is already our favorite in this class, and a new unibody platform with its wheelbase and front and rear tracks all cinched tighter should help keep the Ford ahead of its peers.

While the current Mustang is slavishly, unimaginatively retro, Ford has pretty much mined out its glory days, the as-yet unrealized Mustang II redux notwithstanding. So the next car will be fearlessly modern. Many Mustang faithful are up in arms at the ­prospect of Ford's next hot rod looking too much like the 2011 Evos concept car, but we have confidence. Between the Focus and the Fusion, Ford's styling department is on a hot streak.

The next Mustang will have at least one retro cue, though: an available turbocharged four-cylinder engine. Absent from the lineup since the 1986 SVO, the forced-induction four returns in the guise of Ford's EcoBoost 2.0-liter, which makes 252 horsepower in the Focus ST. Don't expect that figure to change much for the Mustang, where the 2.0 will sit between the car's two currently available engines. Priced higher than a revised version of the 3.7-liter V-6—rated at 305 horses in today's car—the four will be pitched as a balance of power and efficiency. Ford's 5.0-liter V-8 will top the range. The Blue Oval can't afford to leave the Camaro ZL1 unchallenged, and so another GT500 is a certainty; less certain, however, is what will power it. Pedestrian-protection standards will restrict the underhood clearances in the next car, cutting the space available not just for the Shelby's top-mount supercharger and intercooler, but also its tall-deck engine block. We suspect Ford will find a way to nestle a pair of turbos against the 5.0's block. With all engines, a six-speed manual will be standard, and we hear that an eight-speed automatic will arrive fashionably late.

Commonly referred to as a "1964-¹/₂" but technically a 1965, the first Mustang appeared at the New York World's Fair on April 17, 1964. Ford isn't going to miss the opportunity to throw the Mustang one heck of a 50th birthday party. April 17, 2014 will be a Thursday. It should be significantly more exciting than your average Thursday.

2014 BMW M4: What's to Become of the M3 Coupe

What It Is: The high-performance version of the BMW 4-series and successor to the M3 coupe and cabriolet. Like the M3s before it, the M4 is designed for serious track- thrashing, yet it offers the comfort and amenities of a premium coupe.

Why It Matters: Stepping into the Sasquatch-sized shoes of the M3 coupe, the M4 needs to repair the M division's heavily dinged reputation.

Platform: Based on the F30 platform, which underpins the 3- and forthcoming 4-series, it incorporates aluminum and carbon fiber to reduce weight. The chassis will be tuned for performance and the body will be reshaped to drive home the point.

Powertrain: A twin-turbocharged, 3.0-liter inline-six with around 420 horsepower. BMW will offer both a six-speed manual and a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.

Competition: Audi RS5, Cadillac ATS-V, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG.

What Might Go Wrong: The same guys who tuned the M5 to be a soggy, sorry excuse for an M car may still be on the payroll. Going back to a straight-six is a great move, and the styling of the M4 seems sure to please BMW aficionados. The four-door will continue to be called the M3, so no charging the barricades, please.

Estimated Arrival and Price: The M4 will arrive in 2014, with a price starting around $60,000.

New 2012 Ford Escape Prices

The 2012 Ford Escape is a compact FWD SUV that is available in AWD and a hybrid trim level. The base Escape is powered by a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine that produces 171 hp and 171 lb-ft of torque. For increased performance Ford offers a 3.0-liter V6 engine that yields 240 hp and 223 lb-ft of torque. A hybrid Escape is also offered, powered by a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine the Escape Hybrid produces 177 hp and 136 lb-ft of torque. Transmission options consist of a 5-speed manual (4-cylinder engine), 6-speed automatic transmission (4-cylinder and V6 engine), and eCVT transmission (hybrid). Fuel mileage falls within an EPA estimated range of 20 (34 hybrid) mpg city to 31 mpg highway, depending on engine and drivetrain selection. Features include 17-inch wheels, power moonroof, hands-free phone capabilities, navigation system, active park assist, rear view camera, and DVD entertainment system. Safety is comprised of roll stability control, traction control, advanced airbag system, anti-lock braking, and tire pressure monitoring. The Escape is backed by a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty. 

New 2013 Ford Fusion Prices

Drastically re-designed for 2013, the Ford Fusion is a mid-size sedan with seating for five and the option of three different engines. The standard Fusion is powered by a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine that produces 175 hp and 175 lb-ft of torque. Optional engines consist of a 1.6-liter 4-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost engine (178 hp/184 lb-ft of torque) and a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost engine (240 hp/270 lb-ft of torque). FWD can be paired to 6-speed manual, 6-speed automatic, and 6-speed automatic with paddle shifters. Fuel mileage, for the standard Fusion, falls within an EPA estimated range of 22 mpg city and 34 mpg highway. Increased fuel economy can be found in the Fusion Hybrid (capable of 47 mpg) and Fusion Energi Plug-In Hybrid. Features include 19-inch wheels, SYNC® with MyFord Touch®, navigation system, HD radio, leather seats, and dual-zone climate control. Safety is comprised of advanced airbags, anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC), electric-power-assisted steering, AdvaceTrac® electronic stability control (ESC), and tire pressure monitoring (TPMS). The Fusion is backed by a 3-year/36,000-mile warranty.