Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Mazda MX-5, Part 3

The MX-5 is the bonsai tree of sports cars: a perfectly formed thrashmobile writ small. All the roadster s major controls work with infinite precision and perfect linearity. There s so much intimate feedback through the wheel, pedals and seat that the Moroni Monroney [window sticker] should include a XXX...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2005 Nissan Maxima SL, Part 1

The Nissan Maxima SL would have made a hell of a Buick. One shake of its golf-bag-devouring bustle, one blip of its throttle, and the fictional Buick Maxima would have drawn a crowd of Geritol guzzlers on the lookout for something Detroit is loathe to give them: a hot toddy...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2005 Nissan Maxima SL, Part 2

With the Altima and Maxima starting to look like fraternal twins by 2002, Nissan resolved to keep designers of the next-generation models as far removed as corporately possible - the Altima team at Nissan Design America in La Jolla, California and the Maxima team at the Nissan Technical Center in...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2005 Nissan Maxima SL, Part 3

You're a multiple-personality type seeking a luxury fix, but would rather not have to pop a dramamine every time you buckle up. Or you'd rather be in a sports car, but have kids (or more than one friend) or suffer from that fear of being flattened by a wayward SUV....

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Porsche Carrera 4, Part 1

The Porsche 911 Carrera 4 has been described as the Swiss Army knife of sports cars. Hmmmm. As far as I know, no homicidal maniac has ever practiced his wet work using one of Switzerland s multi-bladed marvels, whereas the new C4 can dissect a twisting road and leave it...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Porsche Carrera 4, Part 2

The 911 s highly-evolved form is a bit like democracy: you love it to the very core of your being, but you re not in love with it. The new gen 911 s Coke-bottle-meets-suppository shape is slightly more emotive, but it s still a sports car in an Armani suit:...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Porsche Carrera 4, Part 3

Because you re not a getaway driver, but you d sure as Hell like to be. Once you get on the 911 ownership express, you can t get off. Don t get me wrong: sexually, you re still good. I mean there s nothing else on four-wheels worth buying —...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Hyundai Sonata, Part 1

Hello, my name is Robert and I m a sports car snob. [Hello, Robert — ed.] It s been a week since I last drove a Porsche. I ve had a rough time since then, but like the last guy said, it s all about taking life one nondescript set...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Hyundai Sonata, Part 2

The Sonata s schnoz is the fifth grill treatment across Hyundai s current model range. While it does nothing for the Korean manufacturer s branding, it s a segment winner: completely unobjectionable and instantly forgettable. From the side, the Sonata is an Audi doppelganger (especially where the rear pillars join...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Volvo S40 T5 AWD, Part 1

We re piloting the 2006 Volvo S40 T5 AWD test car through a mid-October rainstorm, both hands to the wheel, right foot goading the accelerator, eyes scanning for semis in the mist. We're swathed in a billion bucks worth of safety technology - a kind of structural beneficence granted by...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Hyundai Sonata, Part 3

Because it s so damn sensible it hurts. Because it s so damn sensible it hurts. · Speed Merchants: No · Fashion Victims: No · Treehuggers: No · Mack Daddies: No · Tuner Crowd: No · Hairdressers: No · Penny Pinchers: · Euro Snobs: No · Working Stiffs: · Technogeeks:...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Volvo S40 T5 AWD, Part 2

The S40 could be the best-worst looking car on the road. On one hand, its design is a thrillingly modern (or postmodern, if you re French) comment on traditional Volvo blockiness; on the other it s an awkward, slabsided mess. And that s not just from different angles - that...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Volvo S40 T5 AWD, Part 3

You're committed to buying a great-handling $30,000+ sports sedan, but the BMW 3-Series is too much money and the Subaru WRX STi is too much car. Being behind doors as thick as a bank vault's keeps your panic attacks at bay. Being behind doors as thick as a bank vault's...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Lexus GS 300, Part 1

Get the hook. The Lexus GS300 is no more a $45k (and up) luxury car than I m an international man of mystery. Less, in fact. While I ve faced death by cafe and kuchen at VW s ill-fated Phaeton customer delivery center in Dresden, the GS300 is a luxury...

Dec 18, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Lexus GS 300, Part 2

Although there are pistonheads who worship the deeply dippy SC, the GS300 is Lexus s coolest ever (first cool?) car. Working within Japan s emerging "car as designer refrigerator" aesthetic, its sensual shape and hunkered stance project power and athleticism. The rear end is a disgrace: a less effective attempt...

Dec 18, 2024