2007 Model Reviews

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Nissan may have been very late coming to the hybrid party, but their first crack at building one turned out pretty good. It’s a gas/electric version of their midsize Altima sedan, and it’s designed to go head-to-head with the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Since they were a late arrival, Nissan didn’t start [...]

Kia Offers Bargain-Priced Wagon For Seven What’s a Rondo? Well, if you ask the people at Kia, they would tell you that it’s a “crossover utility vehicle.” However, you could also call it a small minivan, but unlike its competitor, the Mazda5, it doesn’t have sliding doors. I see it as a tall compact wagon. [...]

Zoom-Zoom And Room Too I didn’t get a chance to spend a lot of time in the Mazda CX-9, but in the few days that I did drive it, it made a favorable impression. To start with, it is nicely styled inside and out. The exterior bodywork is sculpted in a way that minimizes its [...]

Mercedes Improves the SL for 2007 When the 2003 Mercedes SL500 arrived on our shores it created quite a sensation. Its new styling and retractable hardtop roof put it in a class by itself. Anywhere I took my test car, I could draw a crowd, just by putting the roof up and down. Since that [...]

Toyota Redesigns Camry and Adds Hybrid Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the Toyota Camry is a hugely popular car. In fact, it’s been the best selling car in America for eight out of the last nine years. And the 2007 model that may become the most popular Camry yet. Why? [...]

Sebring Takes On Camry and Accord When Chrysler CEO, Tom LaSorda, introduced the 2007 Sebring, he boasted that it would be “… as good or better than other midsize cars in its class, period.” Of course, not everyone would agree with that statement, especially Toyota Camry and Honda Accord owners. But I think that there’s [...]

It’s Changed, But It Looks The Same Unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool MINI fan, you’re not likely to see much difference between this latest model and last year’s car. The 2007 MINI is a couple of inches longer, and BMW, the MINI’s parent company, says all the sheet metal is new, but the look is [...]

LOTS MORE ZOOM-ZOOM The Mazdaspeed3 defines the term “pocket rocket.” It has a feisty look, awesome power and sports-car-like handling. The heart of the Mazdaspeed3 is its powerful engine. Mazda equips its little hotrod with a 2.3-liter, turbocharged, four-cylinder power plant that cranks out 263 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque. The turbo produces a [...]

Mercedes Gives E-Class More V-8 Power In its on-going horsepower battle with archrivals BMW and Audi, Mercedes has upped the ante with a 5.5-liter, V-8 in its mid-size E-Class sedan. This engine generates a hefty 382 horsepower and 391 lb-ft of torque. The E550, as it now known, is available as a sedan with rear-wheel [...]