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It may look like yet another boring SUV, but the GMC Terrain brings the SUV, and GM itself, into this millennium. A direct injection 3-liter V-6 offers plenty of power, an option over the standard direct injection four-cylinder. The interior looks particularly nice, especially considering a base price in the mid-20s. And we were most impressed with GM's new navigation system, a hard-drive-based unit with traffic detouring. The Terrain could change your mind about GM.
The midsize sedan segment is far from exciting, but Nissan attempts to add some thrills to its Altima by giving it a coupe treatment. In coupe form, it gains a more striking profile, while losing rear doors and a little headroom. We had the least sporty of the Altima Coupe variants, with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and a continuously variable transmission (CVT). It's a good thing that Nissan makes the best CVT in the business, offering a manual-transmission feel and excellent fuel economy.
You would be hard-pressed to find a car with a smaller engine for sale in the U.S., and have equal difficulty finding on in this price range that offers navigation as an option. The 2010 Fit Sport is a practical little city car with an interior that somehow seems bigger than the exterior. From a tech perspective, it has its faults, such as a pretty average drive train, and it also faces increased competition from Toyota, Nissan, and Kia. But it still manages to hold its own.
So far, Audi's odd-numbered cars have been pretty desirable. The A3 is a practical and sporty little wagon, while the A5 is one of the better-looking cars to come out recently. But now Audi is replacing the A4 Cabriolet with a convertible version of the A5. Gone is that gracefully sloping roof, replaced by what is basically an umbrella, albeit one with acoustic damping built in to lessen road noise.
But Audi does equip the 2010 A5 Cabriolet with plenty of tech, including a navigation system with absolutely beautiful 3D maps. The drive technology is also interesting--it features a direct-injected turbocharged four cylinder, which strangely doesn't deliver on its promise of power and fuel economy.
Before we drove it, the idea of an X5 M seemed outlandish, and we suspected BMW's motives had more to do with marketing than the company's engineering reputation. How could an X5 all-wheel-drive SUV live up to the M badge? We should have trusted BMW, whose engineers are so pure of heart they would never let a vehicle wear the M that didn't deserve it. The X5 M is a monstrously powerful beast that handles like a sports car. In fact, we had to drive up next to other cars for a height comparison to remind us we were in an SUV.
Treating gasoline as fine whiskey, the hybrid Lexus RX450h sips rather than gulps. This luxury vehicle turns stereotypes of SUVs on their heads, getting excellent fuel economy while offering Lexus' latest cabin tech. It pampers occupants with interior and ride quality that rise above most luxury vehicles today.
We took the VW GTI out to a former Naval Air station, which had plenty or room to test out the car's handling.
(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET)
The fact that Volkswagen didn't change the turbocharged 2-liter engine from the 2009 to the 2010 GTI might make you think this model update is all cosmetic, but you would be wrong. With a direct injected four-cylinder engine and the optional Direct Shift Gearbox, a dual-clutch automated manual, there just wasn't much room for improvement in the power train. So Volkswagen took on the handling tech, putting an electronic power steering in the GTI and adding an electronic limited slip.
And sure, the body presents smooth sides, a style very much in vogue now among automotive designers, and a new, wide front grille look. But the GTI also gets greatly improved cabin tech, taking on Volkswagen's new hard drive-based navigation system and a Dynaudio sound system. And even without the navigation option present, the car still gets a touch-screen LCD for the stereo.
Through the cones
We spent some time with the 2010 Volkswagen GTI, getting the opportunity to run it through a couple of autocross courses, a track marked out by cones with sharp turns that really test the car's handling. We also put the car through its paces on some public roads, and dug through the cabin electronics.
This cone slalom let the GTI show its speed.
(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET)The GTI's ride is reasonably comfortable, which is actually impressive considering how it performed on the autocross course. As we threw it into hairpin turns and guided it through S curves, all the action was at the front wheels.
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The PowerFuze keeps your USB devices juiced in the car and at home.
(Credit: Scosche)You should see the mess of cables, chargers, and charging cables that clutter my backpack every day. Moving from car to car and home to work while testing a variety of devices means that iPod sync cables, USB cables, Mini- and Micro-USB cables for mobile phones and GPS devices, 12-volt car chargers, and 110-volt wall chargers eat up a good deal of my bag space. For me, this is why Scosche's PowerFuze charger system looks interesting. This charging solution should let you replace a number of cables and chargers for an all-in-one approach. It's a car charger and a wall charger. Ideally, it's the best of both worlds.
The PowerFuze system crams a few different charging configurations into one package. When you're at home, it is a two-port "Made for iPod" and "Works with iPhone" certified USB AC charger that plugs into a 110-volt wall outlet. When you're on the road, a 12-volt USB charger pulls out to take advantage of your vehicle's DC power port. If you have 12-volt DC car accessories that you want to use indoors, the vacant 12-volt port will work as a power inverter to accommodate them. With 1 amp of current split between the two channels, you shouldn't expect to power a 12-volt air compressor on the PowerFuze, but there's more than enough overhead for most portable devices.
Then again, most users only have one car, so they won't really see the point of carrying around the 12-volt charger. That little bugger will probably find itself perma-lodged into your car's DC power port after the first week--when you get sick of bringing it into the house every day. That being said, I still think it's nice to be able to pick up both chargers for one reasonable price and have the flexibility to use them together if you should decide to do so.
The PowerFuze and the PowerFuze Pro (with an included iPod sync cable) sell for $34.99 and $44.99 respectively. If you only need a car charger, look for the PowerPlug and PowerPlug Pro with sync cable for $19.99 and $29.99, respectively. Check out Scosche.com for more details on this cool little stocking stuffer.
Slinging the RDX through corners, we were impressed by this little SUV's handling. Acura's all-wheel-drive system does amazing things for keeping the car settled when inertial forces attempt to drag it over a cliff. But we weren't so impressed after a glance down at the trip computer's fuel economy number. The turbocharged four-cylinder was drinking up the gas like a frat boy at Oktoberfest.
A good cabin tech update added to the driving experience, its new iPod integration letting us listen to a variety of music over the excellent ELS audio system. Navigation and weather are also new features for the navigation system, letting us avoid the bad traffic jams.
Lexus scores well with the model update to its RX 350. This luxury SUV gets new cabin tech for the 2010 model year, a suite of electronics long overdue for the brand, adding important capabilities such as traffic integrated with the navigation system, dial by name with the Bluetooth phone system, and iPod integration.
We've already seen this equipment in the HS 250h and the IS 350 C, and look forward to seeing Lexus refresh its other models similarly.
