By Mark Gearhart

powerTV Media

Much noise has been made about the 2011 Mustang since it was unveiled late last year at the L.A. Auto Show. Following on 2010’s sharp new look come two all-new engines, the 5.0 liter V8 and the 3.7 liter V6. These engines came as a response to both GM and Chrysler, which offered 400+ horsepower V8’s in their respective muscle cars for under $40,000.

By now, you’ve no doubt read many a review on the 5.0 engine and its 412 horsepower and 390 ft-lbs of torque. You’ve heard it compared to both Camaro and Challenger, and no doubt it came out on top. And I’d be lying if we said the 5.0 didn’t titillate me with its impressive variable timing technology and all new intake design. But I have come to expect great V8 engines from Ford. V6 engines? Not so much.

For over a decade and a half, the Mustang has been weighed down by an anemic 4.0 liter V6. That particular engine produced a paltry amount of horsepower (even by V6 standards) and turned the base Mustang into a very bland and uninspiring experience. So when I heard that the new 3.7 liter V6 would make almost as much horsepower as last year’s 4.6 liter V8, I knew I had to get behind the wheel and take this new car for a test drive.

Click here for the full review on Stang TV.

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

Keith Buglewicz of Automotive Traveler just concluded a review of the new Lexus HS 250h Hybrid Sedan, testing the car in and around Newport Beach, California. Newport Beach is perhaps the perfect place to introduce the 2010 Lexus HS 250h, the company’s first hybrid-only vehicle. After all, the coastal town combines the two qualities that Lexus itself hopes to blend with its new car. It is, of course, an extremely affluent area, with housing prices often well into seven digits or higher. Yet since this is California, it also has an environmentally friendly bent; you could practically walk on Toyota Prius roofs from Crystal Cove to Balboa Island. It is those Prius drivers that Lexus hopes to tempt with its new hybrid. The HS 250h will offer a hybrid drivetrain and fuel economy superior to any other Lexus–and virtually every other luxury car of this size–but in a uniquely styled package that will make more of a statement than a hybrid version of one of the company’s other cars will make.

If you want to read his conclusions on this Lexus hybrid, continue reading at Automotive Traveler.

Continue reading "First Drive: 2010 Lexus HS 250h" »

By Ryan Douthit

Drivingsports.com

The 1970 Clean Air Act was, in its time, the most stringent emission standard in the world. Under the new law, the carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide levels in emissions of 1975- and 1976-model vehicles had to be at least 90% lower than for 1970 and 1971 models. That’s a massive leap forward in thinking.

What was considered a detriment by the U.S. auto industry, created a unique opening for a virtually unknown car maker out of Japan: Honda. In 1972 it debuted a car equipped with the first new motor designed for the stringent requirements. That motor was dubbed the CVCC, but since it’s impossible to pronounce words without any vowels, Honda eventually renamed the car the Civic.

Continue reading after the jump.

Continue reading "2009 Honda Fit Sport" »