Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Part 2

Plato was interested in ideal forms. Your eyes are round, he taught, because somewhere there exists a perfect circle. May I present to you the archetypal SUV. In fact, the 2007 Wrangler is so perfectly formed, I can't even imagine how, say, a 2013 model can be made to look...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Part 3

The 2007 Wrangler Rubicon is Jeep, not a Jeep. Like a Zippo or a pair of Levis, the Wrangler is an icon, and Jeep's perfected its looks. Best-in-class off-road performance. Best-in-several-other-classes off-road performance. Detachable front sway bar is the killer app. Much more livable in grocery getting situations than all...

Nov 15, 2024

How Not to Buy a Car, by Tom Megalis

Car-buying rule number whatever: If you haven't been rogered by a car salesman sometime in your life, wait five minutes. Just listen to , an artist, animator, voice-over guy, ad creative director and stand-up comic from Ohio, as he articulates the car-buying experience. And by "articulates" we really mean disarticulates...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Ford Focus PZEV, Part 1

About halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on California Route 1 stands the Hurst Castle. While William Randolph Hearst himself perhaps made the drive up from LA or down from SF in a Dusenberg with some aspiring starlet in the passenger seat, I'm on a bit less of an...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Ford Focus PZEV Part 2

The Focus has embodied polarizing exterior styling since its inception. Fans of hatchbacks and high taillights will continue to be entertained. The rest will exclaim a love it or hate it difference of opinions. Overall the design seemed to work better without the sharp front fender creasing, absent from more...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Ford Focus PZEV Part 3

Because you want a functional runabout on a budget that holds the bonus of being really fun to drive. Because you care about engine emissions and the environment, yet want to discount the cost and complexity of a gas electric hybrid. Because you want to take the money saved by...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Dodge Nitro R/T 2WD, Part 1

Recently, a friend and I stood staring at the massive, awkward fascia of a Dodge Nitro, trying to make heads and/or tails of it. The otherwise monumental Crossfire motif of the grill was, in fact, dwarfed by the bulging bumper and drooping ground effects. "I think I think it's ugly,"...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Dodge Nitro R/T 2WD, Part 2

As ungainly as it is, I like the way the Nitro looks. The high belt line and gun-slit windows scream "Don't look at me while you're looking at me." The busy front is its worst side, but at least the hodgepodge of tough-guy cues is unique. The over-rendered wheel arches...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Review: 2007 Dodge Nitro R/T 2WD, Part 3

: Looks matter to you most of all. It's impossible to lose in the mall parking lot. You and three of your adult friends go out to eat a lot, and want to do so in comfort. Armored car side metal makes you feel safe and/or secure. You just love...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Ford F250 Outlaw — He Drove He Drove Edition — Part 1

OK, so let's just put this out in the open. You drive a decades-old Toyota Starlet and I drive a tuner-kid, boy-racer WRX Sport Wagon (eat it, Johnson). We agree that the Honda Fit is one of the best cars for sale at the moment, yet we both love the...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Ford F250 Outlaw — He Drove He Drove Edition — Part 2

The Darth Vader blackout grille treatment was most impressive, especially considering the huffing turbocharger more than trumps Vader's wheezing. The rest of the slab-sided truck imposes massive size from every angle. Giant chrome wheels would be better off glossy or flat back to complete the doom-laden dark Sith lord character...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Ford F250 Outlaw — He Drove He Drove Edition — Part 3

Because you need a super duty heavy hauler possessing nearly unlimited power along with with a degree of factory installed luxury and exterior style. Because you enjoy being able to move around an extremely large pickup truck with ridiculous ease at the touch of the throttle. Because you cannot live...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Honda Fit Sport, Part 1

Back in the punk rock days of the early eighties Boston, a weekly paper called Boston Rock published a comic called . Like Picasso, Steven had a friend named Brock. Unlike Picasso's pal Braque, Brock lived in a refrigerator box. From the outside his box looked like a box, but...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Honda Fit Sport, Part 2

Fans of Hello Kitty's ber cuteness will likely enjoy the Fit styling a bit more than those who dig GI JOE with lifelike hair. We could also be wrong about that. The design is entertaining if not a textbook case of form following function. Sport version adds trick rear spoiler...

Nov 15, 2024

Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Honda Fit Sport, Part 3

Because you want an economical yet sporty car that gets very respectable fuel mileage, has a good measure of practicality, and throws fun to drive into the soup pot of miserly subcompact automotive selections. Because you fancy yourself a apex-carving Pompurin. Because you have lived your life maintaining that economy...

Nov 15, 2024