pow

The Prius, Escape, and VUE will be plug-in hybrids, whereas the Volt, Nissan's, and now Mazda's will be full-on electric cars, with the option of a range extender. Toyota may beat GM in plug-in hybrids, but they are nowhere as close to GM with E-REVs.

Both HHR and Vivant can coexist, both as Chevrolets, both resting on Delta, IMO. HHR could be the standard C-segment family wagon (Focus Estate, Astra Caravan, Golf Variant) albeit with distinctive Americana styling. Some say it's hard to redesign retro models, but the HHR could stand to be even more expressive, more art deco, and less cartoony. Vivant could be the C-segment MPV (C-MAX, Zafira, Touran) and focus more on load capacity and passenger space. Personally I'm a huge fan of the Citroen Berlingo Multispace, a small commercial van turned into a cheap and cheerful people hauler. You can get it with interior roof boxes, shelves, skylights, and whatnot... Having missed the recent minivan boom, the Vivant is a good opportunity for GM, as Honda and Toyota are likely to downsize their Odysseys and Siennas and offer four-cylinder engines. Here's the Estima (nee Previa) Hybrid, sold in Japan and Hong Kong... And here's the Stream, which is coming to the US...

It turns out the rear cargo area increase is not limited to the Traverse. The 2009 Enclave gets more cu ft, too.

It got a "marginal" rating, because the side structure didn't hold up. On the upside, the Ford Escape and Jeep Patriot/Compass (when equipped with optional torso airbags) did well.

Nice. Good thing they didn't have to use materials from the AURA.

The Prius has a fuel tank bladder to reduce emissions, which means total volume varies between fill-ups. A mere 160 miles isn't enough to make a conclusion on fuel consumption.

I actually dislike power hatches, because you can't cram bags and crap without the pinch-protection system interfering. Does voice recognition/song selection work for hard drives/USB sticks as well? Or is it an iPod/MP3-player thing only?

More pics here... http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2011-chevy-cruze/991572/ Looks better in baby blue than in red.

I do like the fact it has a telescoping steering wheel. I couldn't get comfortable in a rental Cobalt because the wheel was too far away.

Great choice. The Taurus X is packaged very well, and while the Edge may be better looking, the X seats more people more comfortably, which is surely the whole point of getting a big V6 crossover. I like the slight contrast on the seats!

Hm, he has a 1967 Corvette...

Yeah, heard about that in the WSJ: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/08/22/o...oints-to-biden/

That I agree with. I'd prefer a more vertical C-pillar, which would clean up some of the lines and improve rear seat access and outward visibility.

Actually, I meant to say "everything aft of the A-pillar", but somehow I typed B-pillar instead... Basically I like the front clip. I agree with reg that the side is Sonata and the rear is Epica.

The Insignia is miles better than this. It's almost as they intentionally made the Chevy uglier for the low end of the market, and to leave room for Opel. Ford doesn't have this problem, and based on what we've seen so far, I think I'll prefer the upcoming Focus. I know the Fiesta is one segment smaller, but that's better looking, too.

I like the front clip. Everything aft of the B-pillar looks generic.

I prefer the sedan. Coupes with long doors are a PITA in tight parking spaces. And buying the Cobalt for the sake of style... well, there are other cars for that purpose. The SS sedan is a looker anyway...

Current pet peeve with the Olympics... the NBC announcers hyperforeignizing the word "Beijing" by calling it "Beizhing." It's a normal English "j" (bay-jing), guys, not the French "j" as in azure or au jus.

Nice. I had some in the former Portuguese colony of Macau. A lot of Cantonese dim sum places have similar custards. For me, coffeehouses are primarily a nice place to chat. I'm not too big of a coffee drinker, though I do enjoy the occasional sip or two. The best espresso I had was from a place called Cafe St Eustachio in Rome.

Really? All the new Ferraris look pretty barftastic in their red and plastic and stupid yellow painted caliper misery, IMO.

I agree with all of that except for the XK (shouldn't be on the list), RS6 (too vulgar), and 8C Competizione (looks nice, like a jumped up Solstice, but not first place worthy). I love the Brera, C6, DB9 (DBS even more), and CTS. Honestly there are so many good looking cars out there it's difficult to put them in a list.

Nice. That's more than $5K off MSRP on a CTS 3.6 DI. Or $8K off a $30K Sierra 1500 2WD SLE.

3.6 DI is the only way this sort of vehicle can succeed, especially once all the enthusiasts have finished buying the V8. A ~250 hp 3.2 DI might be even better... hey, the old Grand Prix only had 200.

Wow, there's quite a difference... The Escape has slowly but surely improved over the years. When it first came out in 2001, it was rated "marginal" in the front crash; in 2005, it improved to "acceptable"; and now for 2009, it's finally a "good." The new Chrysler cars - Patriot, Caliber, Avenger, Sebring - all have good "bones" (all have good structural ratings), and they're only let down by inadequate supplemental restraints. This seems to reflect the rest of their vehicles well - all of them have strong fundamentals but lack that attention to detail.

BMW did an excellent job with Range Rover and Rolls, too. The Phantom, for instance, has presence and this dramatic, artful quality to it, whereas late VW Bentleys look like, well, VWs.